Category Archives: Middle Grade 8-12

Review: A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,
Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner cover shows a boy walking to the right with a large black scribble cloud behind him.

A Work in Progress
Jarrett Lerner
Aladdin
Published May 2, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About A Work in Progress

A young boy struggles with body image in this poignant middle grade journey to self-acceptance told through prose, verse, and illustration.

Will is the only round kid in a school full of string beans. So he hides…in baggy jeans and oversized hoodies, in the back row during class, and anywhere but the cafeteria during lunch. But shame isn’t the only feeling that dominates Will’s life. He’s also got a crush on a girl named Jules who knows he doesn’t have a chance with—string beans only date string beans—but he can’t help wondering what if?

Will’s best shot at attracting Jules’s attention is by slaying the Will Monster inside him by changing his eating habits and getting more exercise. But the results are either frustratingly slow or infuriatingly unsuccessful, and Will’s shame begins to morph into self-loathing.

As he resorts to increasingly drastic measures to transform his appearance, Will meets skateboarder Markus, who helps him see his body and all it contains as an ever-evolving work in progress.

My Review

I feel like this graphic novel was an unusual choice for me, but the topic and the fact that it’s told in verse really made me want to read it.

The story itself has some truly heartbreaking scenes. It shows the terrible power words can have when they’re weaponized against someone. It shows the power the words we use about ourselves have over us, too. My favorite thing, though, is its message about the power of friendship. I loved the message about how being truly seen by another person can be a huge step toward healing.

I also love the message about all of us being a work in progress, that we are changing all the time. That we have the power to change. It’s such a powerful, hopeful message. This is definitely a book worth reading, whether you’ve experienced the kind of bullying or loneliness Will has or not.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Characters are white. Will struggles with body image and disordered eating.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Will has a crush on a girl at school.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A boy calls Will fat in a cruel way, and he begins saying cruel things to himself. He stops eating at one point.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of A WORK IN PROGRESS in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Also, it’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday! Check out the other MMGM posts at Always in the Middle.

Review: The Secret Life of Bees by Moira Butterfield

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, Nonfiction, , , , , ,

The Secret Life of Bees: Meet the Bees of the World with Buzzwing the Honeybee
Moira Butterfield
Illustrated by Vivian Mineker
Words Pictures
Published May 11, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Secret Life of Bees

Follow Buzzwing the honeybee on a beautifully illustrated journey through the world of bees filled with amazing science and intriguing folklore.

Welcome to my honey hive home.
It’s where I live with my family.
I’m small and fuzzy and striped black and gold.
I’m Buzzwing the hard-working honey bee!

Did you know that bees love to dance? Or that they have an amazing sense of smell to help them find the best flowers? In THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, Buzzwing shares with you all the details of her life as a bee, in and out of the hive, starting with the day she was born.

Learn the secrets of this worker bee’s tiny world, including:
The bee life cycle.
Bee anatomy.
How bees collect nectar and make honey.
What happens inside the hive.
The different types of bees.
Why bees are so important to humans.
How bees can thrive in the city.
Bee folk tales from around the world.

With things to search for and find throughout, tips for making your own environment welcoming to bees, and even a poetry-writing exercise, THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is brimming with reasons to admire and respect the hardworking honeybee.

Sumptuous and detailed illustrations have pride of place in this magical guide to bees that mixes natural history with a splash of fantasy—a book to be pored over time and again.

My Review

I’ve actually had this book for a long time, but somehow I missed reviewing it on my blog before now. I thought of it when I did my post on great books on the environment for kids in April for Earth Day, and I was surprised that when I looked, I hadn’t posted a review.

So now here I am, reviewing. At last!

SECRET LIFE OF BEES is one of those slightly deceiving books– from the outside, it looks all cute and maybe a little bit silly. But inside, it’s packed with a ton of real information about how bees live. There are descriptions of different types of bees and where they make their hives. There is a really great breakdown of how a honeybee hive operates.

Another great thing that’s included are short folktales or stories about bees. So the book really covers a lot of bases in terms of teaching kids about bees as an animal, some folk tales about them, and the last section of the book discusses conservation and what we can do to help protect bee populations.

SECRET LIFE OF BEES is a book that we’ve picked up off our shelf to read many times. The pictures are really engaging, and it’s truly packed with great information. I think any young readers interested in gardening or nature or conservation will love it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
All about bees.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Flip Turns by Catherine Arguelles

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , ,

Flip Turns
Catherine Arguelles
Jolly Fish Press
Published September 13, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Flip Turns

Thirteen-year-old Maddie just wants her classmate, Lucas, to leave her alone. He keeps asking her out—as if she hasn’t already said no a thousand times! Focusing on her competitive swim team, the Electric Eels, Maddie tries to ignore him, hoping he’ll go away.

But then, when someone starts sabotaging Maddie’s family-owned pool—glass on the deck, ketchup in the pool, followed by a “code brown”—Maddie worries it’s her “admirer” trying to get even. After Maddie’s parents rule the problems at the pool just harmless pranks, Maddie and her best friend Ez decide to investigate on their own. Could it be Lucas? And how can Maddie get him to leave her alone once and for all? The future of the Electric Eels and Maddie’s family legacy are on the line.

My Review

I’ve been hearing about this book a lot on Twitter, so I was really excited to check it out. Plus the characters being on a swim team and the main character dealing with unwanted romantic attention both caught my eye– I wanted to see how those played out in a middle grade book.

I’ve never been part of a swim team or anything like that, but I loved the opportunity to read about a team. The story hit just the right balance between describing meets, races, and different strokes and making everything very accessible to readers who aren’t familiar with the sport.

I found Maddie’s character so relatable, especially as she deals with Lucas, the boy who won’t stop asking her to go out with him. She tries to be chill and calm, but inside, she’s really uncomfortable. She worries that whatever she does will just escalate his behavior. When the pranks start happening at the pool, she worries that’s exactly what is happening.

Maddie’s best friend Ez is also great. She’s a high-achieving, outspoken girl who helps Maddie face her fears and energizes her to do things that Maddie feels anxious about. She’s not pushy or over-the-top. I felt like those two were a great pair.

I also liked the way the story juxtaposes Lucas, who does not respect Maddie’s space or boundaries, with Nico, who does. While Nico isn’t perfect, he offers Maddie space when she needs it and takes responsibility when he’s wrong. I thought putting those two very different experiences with boys side by side helped create a bigger picture of relationships and how to navigate them in a healthy way.

Conclusion

All in all, I really liked FLIP TURNS. It has a little bit of intensity, but not too much for the target audience. It gently but clearly introduces ideas about boundaries and respect in relationships, which is a great message for middle school readers. And it’s all wrapped up in a fun, mysterious story.

I think fans of CHIRP by Kate Messner or THE QUEEN BEE AND ME by Gillian McDunn will really enjoy this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Maddie has anxiety. Nico is half-Latino. Maddie’s older sister is dating a girl. Two of the girls on her swim team are dating. Maddie’s best friend has alopecia.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Someone puts poop in the pool.

Romance/Sexual Content
A boy is making unwanted advances at Maddie. She’s told him no multiple times, but he continues pursuing her romantically. Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Maddie’s parents’ pool business receives a series of pranks, some obnoxious, others dangerous. Maddie finds glass next to the pool. A girl collapses after inhaling chlorine fumes.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of FLIP TURNS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Betrayal by the Book by Michael D. Beil

Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , , , , , ,

Betrayal by the Book (The Swallowtail Legacy #2)
Michael D. Beil
Pixel+Ink
Published April 18, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Betrayal by the Book

A writer’s conference brings twelve-year-old Lark’s favorite writer–and a suspicious death–to Swallowtail Island, in the second book in this middle grade mystery series by an Edgar Award-nominated author.

Swallowtail Island is hosting the Swallowtales Writer’s Conference. Lark’s ecstatic to be chosen as a “page” for her favorite author, Ann E. Keyhart.

But they say you should never meet your idols. When Keyhart arrives with her personal assistant in tow, she is nothing but a terror. And within a few hours, the assistant is dead! But the explanation isn’t sitting well. Not when lots of people had reasons to want to be rid of Keyhart, and especially not after it’s revealed the assistant recently completed a hot new novel and the file’s vanished from her computer.

Then Lark finds out the assistant had a bird–the match to the one she found hidden in her mom’s book–and she needs answers. It looks like Swallowtail Island still has secrets to reveal, and Lark’s going to uncover them.

A gripping new chapter in the Swallowtail Legacy series, Mike D. Beil spins another clever clue hunt that seamlessly slips in alongside the best classics of middle grade mystery.

My Review

I read the first book in this series, WRECK AT ATA’S REEF last year, and really enjoyed it. So, I was excited to see that this second book was coming out this year. Like the first, it’s set on a small island, and features some of Lark’s many family members.

I really liked that the story takes place during a writer’s conference at which Lark is a volunteer helper to her favorite author. Though the conference itself stays more in the background, it still managed to hit a lot of key moments from a conference: panels, hurt feelings over harsh feedback, encouraging words from a beloved author, and disorganized statements from someone clearly underprepared.

I had very strong suspicions about who was responsible for the assistant’s death even before I read the first page of the story, and I was right. So, that made it a little difficult for me to enjoy Lark’s journey unraveling the clues.

I also expected the bird figurine to tie into the mystery somehow? It remained pretty separate, though. Because that thread began in the first book, I kind of wonder if it’s something that will be the center of a mystery in the next book in the series? I haven’t heard anything, so I don’t know.

All in all, I think I’d have enjoyed this one a bit more if I hadn’t figured out the mystery so quickly. I still enjoyed the island community and Lark’s role as a conference volunteer. I’m not sorry I read the book. The series still makes me think of the Northwoods Mysteries by Margi Preus.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Lark wonders whether she’s attracted to a boy on the island.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Lark responds to a scream and sees the dead body of a woman who has apparently died of an allergic reaction. (No blood, just open blank eyes, clearly not breathing, cold to the touch.)

Drug Content
Ann Keyheart gets drunk in several scenes and slurs her words or behaves rudely.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of BETRAYAL BY THE BOOK in exchange for my honest review.

Middle Grade Mondays!

Greg at Always in the Middle does a Monday roundup of posts about middle grade books and news. Check out today’s Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays!

Author Q&A with Bookerlunds Taya and Nathan Okerlund

Author Interview, Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, News and Fun, , , , , ,

Author Q&A with Bookerlunds Taya and Nathan Okerlund

I knew from the moment that I first read about this book that I would request to review it. The book description and email from the author were so cleverly worded and in such a great voice! I couldn’t resist. So, I was even more thrilled when the authors offered to let me host them for a Q&A post.

If you haven’t checked out my review of NEVER LORE, please pop over there either before or after reading this post because if you like fantasy adventure middle grade books, you do NOT want to miss this one.

Let’s get to the Q&A with the Bookerlunds!

1. I find that a story was often inspired by a question. Was there a question that inspired you?

Never Lore is a spy story and spy stories are full of deceit. Early on in my career, after receiving my security clearance, I learned about people who could avoid detection in their lies by being strictly factual, without a hint of honesty. Honesty is a nuanced thing and the way adults typically model it for children, it can be kind of hard to crack. I raised a number of questions for kids to think about in this story. I hope I used enough restraint in not answering all of them for the reader. It’s a fact, I come down on the side of truth, but a story won’t really resonate when it lies to you. And I wouldn’t do that.

2. Who is your favorite character? Are there things about your favorite character which couldn’t be included in NEVER LORE?

Annabelle was partly inspired by my fearless niece. In fact, her name is Annabelle. She’s pretty grown up now, but wow was she a firecracker when she was nine! So many stories about that kid! So many broken bones! Is she up to eight or nine? I’m not sure I captured her with quite the same spirit, but I gave it a go!

3. What was the most difficult thing about writing NEVER LORE?

This book was at least six years in the making. While it is crucial to follow the rules of story craft and to accept feedback, an author can lose her way by caring too much about what someone else thinks of her book. This one took me time to find the all-important-element that no story expert can give a writer—Voice. 

4. Is there a scene or moment in your novel that really sticks with you? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

I still love the night hyena scene. My daughter was only four when I began writing Never. At the time, we watched quite a few nature documentaries together, and there was this episode where an injured mother hyena was turned out of her pack with her babies. The little exiles didn’t make it, and it gutted my little girl to see this, so she asked me to put hyenas in the story. I wrote up the scene, and thought it was pretty good, until my husband got hold of it and proceeded to set it on fire! It’s still my favorite scene, mostly because it’s the product of our whole family collaborating together.

5. What was the most challenging thing you had to overcome as a writing team in order to finish NEVER LORE?

I don’t like to talk about this, because it’s still tender to me, but I went through years of painful disability and a slow and painful healing process before I was able to both finish and see Never through to publication.

6. What do you most hope readers take away from your novel?

I hope readers have a great adventure! As a bonus, I hope they will sometimes think about hard questions like: what is a lie? What is the truth? And in either case—what happens next?

7. What is one question about your novel you are often asked by readers?

As I mentioned, Never was a bit of a family project, and so people might wonder what or who BOOKERLUNDS is. Our family name is Okerlund. So we added a couple of letters and thought we were being clever. In any case, we are definitely bookish people.

About Bookerlunds Taya and Nathan Okerlund

Facebook | Instagram | Website

The Bookerlunds are an author team composed of Taya and Nathan Okerlund and their daughter Mimi. (Mimi made meaningful contributions to this book by insisting that hyenas make it into the manuscript.) And we’re glad she did.

Nathan is a neuroscientist who works in a laboratory at the University of Utah, studying model organisms such as nematodes to try to unlock the mysteries of neuro degeneration, or declines in the functioning of the brain. He has published a lot of papers before in peer reviewed journals, but this is his first work of fiction.

Taya is a multi award-winning author of SHIN and other novels. NEVER LORE is her first middle-grade novel.

About Never Lore: Journey to Mt. Smolder

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads | My Review

NOTICE: Explosive content contained within. (Rebel boys and indomitable girls have always been a combustible combination.)

All the signs of Fairy’s unraveling were there: a strict rationing of pixie dust; the disappearance of a magical species; a reckless reliance on spies plucked from human orphanages. Annabelle was no orphan. Her father was perhaps the most infamous man in Childerbridge-and she’d never live down the shame of it, though she’d also never accept that the charges against him were true-not most of the time. 

She’ll have to go to the end of Never to prove what is true…about Never itself, about her father, and her own work-worn self.

Review: The Paper Daughters of Chinatown (Adapted for Young Readers) by Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown (Adapted for Young Readers)
Heather B. Moore and Allison Hong Merrill
Shadow Mountain
Published April 11, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

Based on the true story of two friends who unite to help rescue immigrant women and girls in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1890s.

When Tai Choi leaves her home in the Zhejiang province of China, she believes it’s to visit her grandmother. But despite her mother’s opposition, her father has sold her to pay his gambling debts. Alone and afraid, Tai Choi is put on a ship headed for “Gold Mountain” (San Francisco). When she arrives, she’s forced to go by the name on her forged papers: Tien Fu Wu.

Her new life as a servant is hard. She is told to stay hidden, stay silent, and perform an endless list of chores, or she will be punished or sold again. If she is to survive, Tien Fu must persevere, and learn who to trust. Her life changes when she’s rescued by the women at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls.

When Dolly Cameron arrives in San Francisco to teach sewing at the mission home, she meets Tien Fu, who is willful, defiant, and unwilling to trust anyone. Dolly quickly learns that all the girls at the home were freed from servitude and maltreatment, and enthusiastically accepts a role in rescuing more.

Despite challenges, Dolly and Tien Fu forge a powerful friendship as they mentor and help those in the mission home and work to win the freedom of enslaved immigrant women and girls.

My Review

First let me say that this was a really easy book to read. It took less than 24 hours to finish it, and I’d guess it took me something like two and a half hours to read.

I really liked that so much of the story is told from Tien Fu Wu’s perspective, even though her story is heartbreaking. I liked getting to follow her through her recovery to the point where she decided to help rescue other girls and where she was able to use her own experience to understand how to comfort other girls.

All I can say about Dolly Cameron is that she must have been truly a force to be reckoned with. I loved the way her friendship with Tien Fu Wu developed and the growth they both experienced along the way.

I haven’t read the adult version of this book, so I don’t know what content was removed. One of the things I wish this book had given a little more background information on was why the president and his wife visited the mission home. I wanted to understand how that happened. How did they know about the mission, and was there something that prompted them to visit?

Other than that, I thought the book did a great job describing the lives of girls like Tien Fu Wu and the obstacles that Dolly Cameron and the women at the mission faced in order to help them.

I think readers who enjoy books about history will definitely want to check this one out. The writing style seems more like narrative nonfiction, but it’s classified as a novel. Something about it reminded me of a book called LI JUN AND THE IRON ROAD by Anne Tait.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Tien Fu Wu and some other characters are Chinese. Dolly is white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Vague references to brothels. One scene discusses a girl forced to work as a prostitute. (The book doesn’t describe what this means.)

Spiritual Content
Dolly and other characters are Christian. Some of the Chinese women they rescue convert to Christianity, though they are not required to do so. Dolly and the other leaders also include traditional Chinese culture and language in the lessons at the school.

Violent Content
Brief descriptions of abuse. For example, Tien Fu Wu’s owner burned her face with a hot poker and pinched her arms, leaving bruises.

Drug Content
As they walk the streets, sometimes characters smell opium being smoked in the buildings nearby.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE PAPER DAUGHTERS OF CHINATOWN in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.