Book Reviews
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I Speak Boy
A phone-obsessed twelve-year-old girl, frustrated by the cryptic boys in her life, discovers a magic app that can read boys’ thoughts.
After a matchmaking attempt for her best friend, Harper, goes wrong, Emmy is fed up. Why are boys so hard to figure out? But then something amazing happens–she wakes up with a new app on her phone: iSpeak Boy! Suddenly Emmy has the information every girl wants to know–the super-secret knowledge of how boys think . . . and who they like!
Now Emmy is using her magical app to make matches left and right. But can she use it to help Harper, the only person who doesn’t seem to buy into Emmy’s “gift”? And when her secret gets out and the app ends up in the wrong hands, can Emmy figure out how to undo the damage she’s caused?
By author Jessica Brody for Readers 10 and up.
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Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy.
But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s notebook. Tristan chases after it–is that a doll?–and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world.
Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price.
Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?
For Readers 8-12.
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Ways to Make Sunshine
Ryan Hart has a lot on her mind–school, self-image, and especially family. Her dad finally has a new job, but money is tight. That means some changes, like selling their second car and moving into a new (old) house. But Ryan is a girl who knows how to make sunshine out of setbacks. As her brother says when he raps about her, she’s got the talent that matters most: it’s a talent that can’t be seen, she’s nice, not mean!
Ryan is all about trying to see the best in people, to be a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend. But even if her life isn’t everything she would wish for, when her big brother is infuriating, her parents don’t quite understand, and the unexpected happens, she always finds a way forward, with grace and wit. And plenty of sunshine.
From author Renée Watson for Readers 7-10.
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Pahua and the Soul Stealer
Pahua Moua has a bit of a reputation for being a weirdo. A lonely eleven-year-old Hmong girl with the unique ability to see spirits, she spends her summer days babysitting her little brother and playing with her best friend, a cat spirit no one else can see.
One day Pahua accidentally untethers an angry spirit from the haunted bridge in her neighborhood–whoops. When her brother suddenly falls sick and can’t be awoken, Pahua fears that the bridge spirit has stolen his soul. She returns to the scene of the crime with her aunt’s old shaman tools, hoping to confront the spirit and demand her brother’s return. Instead, she summons a demon.
Thankfully, a warrior shaman with a bit of an attitude problem shows up at the last minute and saves her butt. With the help of this guide, Pahua will have to find her way through the spirit worlds and rescue her brother’s soul before it’s too late. Little does she know she’ll have her own discoveries to make along the way.
Rick Riordan and author Lori M. Lee present for Readers 8-12.
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Lexi Magill and the Teleportation Tournament
Twelve-year-old physics whiz Lexi Magill won’t let anything stop her from winning Wisconsin’s Teleportation Tournament–the annual competition where teams teleport around the world to solve science-based puzzles. She needs the prize money if she wants to re-enroll in the science academy her parents can no longer afford. Added bonus: she’ll be able to reconnect with her best friend Haley.
But Lexi’s two teammates put a wrench in her plans. When one misreads a clue that lands the team in a castle in Germany, and the other loses her teleportation medallion in Poland, Lexi wonders what she’s gotten herself into. Struggling to keep her team under control as the race rages on, Lexi not only has to figure out how to get back on course (literally), but she must decide how far she’s willing to go to win, and who her real friends are.
For readers 8-12.
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The Tail of Emily Windsnap
A young girl learns she’s half mermaid and plunges into a scheme to reunite with her father in this entrancing, satisfying tale that beckons readers far below the waves.
For as long as she can remember, twelve-year-old Emily Windsnap has lived on a boat. And, oddly enough, for just as long, her mother has seemed anxious to keep Emily away from the water. But when Mom finally agrees to let her take swimming lessons, Emily makes a startling discovery — about her own identity, the mysterious father she’s never met, and the thrilling possibilities and perils shimmering deep below the water’s surface. With a sure sense of suspense and richly imaginative details, first-time author Liz Kessler lures us into a glorious undersea world where mermaids study shipwrecks at school and Neptune rules with an iron trident — an enchanting fantasy about family secrets, loyal friendship, and the convention-defying power of love.
For Readers 8-12.
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Secret Agent 6th Grader
My name is Brody Valentine (please don’t make fun of my last name), and this is the story of how I accidentally became a 6th grade secret agent at my school. My life is plain and boring, but I do my best to keep it that way. That’s why when a dangerous secret fell into my lap, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy. Everything I knew to be true was completely flipped around and suddenly I’ve found myself buried in special codes and conspiracies. Now I’m being hunted after because my brain knows a secret so huge your head would explode if you heard it.
Kids who love action-packed middle school books will love this 4-book series about 11-year-old Brody Valentine and his funny adventures in middle school.
Author Marcus Emerson has created another great series for Readers 8-12.
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Mitch and Amy
Newbery Medal-winning author Beverly Cleary brings her classic warmth and humor to this story about sibling rivalry and teamwork.
Mitch and Amy both think being twins is fun, but that doesn’t stop them from squabbling. Amy is good at reading. Mitch is a math whiz. Amy likes to play pretend. Mitch would rather skateboard. They never want to watch the same television show. And they always try to get the better of each other.
Then the school bully starts picking on Mitch—and on Amy, too. Now the twins have something rotten in common: Alan Hibbler. Can Mitch and Amy set aside their squabbles and band together to defeat a bully?
For Readers 8-12.
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A Videogame Stole My Sister
Lucas is like every other tween in that he just wants to have fun with his friends and get the ultimate score on his VR game. Racing, ninjas, undead, and a zombie king? No problem!
But problems galore find him when he leaves the game for a minute only to find that it somehow took his sister! Now he has to find a way in, race and battle all those creatures he only ever dreamed of facing and hope he can find his sister in time to save her.
Little does he know, she’s having the time of her life, and they might just have the best adventure anyone’s ever had.
For Readers 8-12 by author Justin M. Stone.
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Up the Creek!
Four best friends, one raging creek. What could possibly go wrong?
When four friends set out on a canoe trip down Milligan Creek during spring runoff season, little do they realize their voyage through small town Saskatchewan is about to turn into one of the wildest experiences of their lives–if they survive! Facing raging rapids, frigid “icebergs,” spinning whirlpools, roaring culverts, and their own recklessness, soon the boys find themselves in uncharted waters with no clue how they’re going to get home. With night falling fast and no one to rely on but each other, the boys must figure out how to work together or risk falling victim to the merciless powers of nature–and their parents’ wrath!
This is a perfect book series for boys and girls ages 7-12 who love humor, adventure, mischief, and the outdoors.
Books in the Milligan Creek Series:
- Up the Creek!
- Unlimited
- The Water War
- The Great Grain Elevator Incident
- Snowbound!
- Quiet on Set!
