😷Ways to Unplug in the Time of Pandemic

Have your kids been on screens too much since the pandemic began and school was held remotely? Here are some suggestions for unplugging and having some challenging fun at the same time.

Build A Castle: 64 Slot-Together Cards for Creative Fun

illustrated by Paul Farrell

Rizzoli, 2020, 64 cards

Build a Castle isn't a book. It is a box with 64 printed cards that can slot into each other. The cards are printed with typical parts of a castle - arched doorways and windows, turrets, bricks, ramparts, flags, and the box does come with instructions for making a castle or kids can use their imaginations and be creative. Build a Castle, it turns out, is more like a 3-D puzzle and can help kids develop and understand spacial concepts. When the box arrived in the mail, my young neighbor, who lives across the hall from me and is 6-years-old, wanted to know what it was. So, after I checked it out, I gave it to him to try out. And he did - over and over and over. His mom said he had such a good time trying out different configurations, making up stories to go with his castles, including adding a toy dragon and even a dinosaur. The cards are brightly colored and made of thick, sturdy cardboard (similar to the cardboard that a board book is made from). After being used enthusiastically a lot, they are still in pretty good shape. Below are two views of the castle I tried making to test the cards out and I have to admit, I had a lot of fun doing it. Build A Castle is a nice imaginative activity kit that will keep kids unplugged and thinking creatively. 

You can pair Build A Castle with Build a Skyscraper (available September 8, 2020) for even more building fun:

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My Green Day: 10 Green Things I Can Do Today

written and illustrated by Melanie Walsh

Candlewick Press, 2020, 40 pages

This is a great book for introducing young readers to the kinds of things they can do to make everyday a green day. Suggestions range from helping to hang the laundry out to dry to recycling castoffs that can be made into new gifts to give to loved ones to baking their own snacks with the help of a parent. While this isn't an activity book per se, the simple suggestions can expanded and added to a child's everyday activities as needed. Walsh used a palette of bright colors and simple illustrations so that the straightforward message on each page isn't lost. When we first got this book, we made a book of our own based on it. We took construction paper, punched holes in the long side of each sheet, and tied them together with an old laundered shoelace. Then each time we can up with a new idea, the child who came up with the idea added to our Green Book. I wish I could show it to you, but it is sitting in an empty classroom right now.  

Pair My Green Day with 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World, also by Melanie Walsh, for even more ideas and suggestions for making earth a greener place to live:

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Where's Waldo? The Boredom Buster Book!

written and illustrated by Martin Handford

Candlewick Press, 2020, 220 pages

I love a good Wimmelbuch and the Where's Waldo? books are some of the best. But The Boredom Buster is so much more than simply finding Waldo in a crowd on each page. Instead, each page has a new challenge and only 5 minutes in which to find the solution. For example, challengers might have to find their way out of a maze, solve word problems, play games, connect some dots, color pictures, test their memory, and of course, search. The book is divided into five sections, each with its own theme. And there are a variety of different places to go to all through the book, from outer space to under the sea, from the past to the present to the future, and to everywhere and time in between, with a little magic thrown into the mix. And as if all that isn't enough, at the end of each section are suggestions for going back through the pages and spotting new things. It's is used a lot at home, but we also took this book on a car trip and for once there was no whining about "are we there yet?' or "I'm bored." And a big bonus was that it even promoted some teamwork when the kids worked on the challenges together. One kid timed while the others worked on a challenge and the job of timer rotated so everyone had a turn. 

Where's Waldo? has enjoy enduring popularity. You might be interested in discovering 14 fun facts about Waldo and his creator HERE

    

Pair Where's Waldo? The Boredom Buster Book! with one that has become a favorite of ours this spring and summer Where's Waldo? The Totally Essential Travel Collection for more challenging fun:

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The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs:

100+ Recipes That You'll Love to Cook and Eat!

America's Test Kitchen, 2018, 208 pages

Get the kids away from their screens and into the kitchen with this cookbook perfect for young home chefs. Whether they are beginners or more advanced, this book will introduce them to kitchen vocabulary, kitchen tools, kitchen safety, including how to use a knife, as well as all the other tools of the trade. There's everything they will  need to know to make delicious meals and snacks. And there is nothing so rewarding as cooking a new favorite meal for the family. I gave this book to one of my nieces when she came to stay with me for the summer, and as we worked our way through it, we really got to know each other some much better while working in the kitchen. So much so, that I think my Kiddo got a little jealous. The solution - I put her and my niece in the kitchen together. The talking, the laughing, the delicious food was well-worth it. And the bonus is that cooking can help kids with their math thanks to the measuring they have to do. I loved it when the light went on my niece's eyes the day the measuring cups and spoons made fractions more understandable (she was only 8 at the time and not a math fan). Our favorite recipes: monkey bread, pesto flatbread pizza, beef and bean chili, among others.   

Pair The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs with its companion book The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs, because what's a great meal without a great dessert?

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Can You Crack the Code? A Fascinating History of Ciphers 

and Cryptography

written by Ella Schwartz, illustrated by Lily Williams

Bloomsbury, 2019, 128 pages

I love ciphers, codes and puzzles and have ever since I was a young girl. What I didn't know was the history of coding, and it is a fascinating one. Ella Schwartz has put it all together in this book along with some fun and challenging examples that kids can solve and use in their lives. Coded messages are known to have been used over two thousand years ago when the Roman emperor Julius Caesar used the Caesar cipher, which simply substituted one letter for another. Of course, with any code or cipher, the recipient must know the key in order to understand the message. This is a well-written history by an expert in the field of cybersecurity. Today's kids will be interested in what she has to say about computer coding. When I was a classroom teacher, I always taught my kids a few coding basics and we would make a cipher wheel like this one (I've included the template we used below with instructions). 

Pair Can You Crack the Code? with Explorer Academy Codebreaking Activity Adventure. Even if your kids aren't into the Explorer Academy series, this is a fun scavenger hunt based on different codes, ciphers, and puzzles.

To Make a Cipher Wheel:

Enlarge and print the template below. I use card stock. Cut each circle out and fill in the spaces with the complete alphabet. Put them together, punch a hole in the center, and attach them to each other with a prong fastener. I like to put reinforcements around the holes to strengthen them. If your kids decide they like coding with a cipher wheel, it will get a lot of use.

To send a coded message:

1- First, agree with the recipient of your message what the key will be for each message. FYI: the outside wheel is called the plaintext while the smaller, inside wheel is called the cipher text. Then pick a letter on the outside wheel to be your key. For my example A = C.

2- Turn the inner wheel so that the letter C is directly under the letter A on the outside wheel.

3- Without moving the wheels, so the A always remains above C, find each letter of your message on the inner wheel and write the corresponding letter from the outer wheel. My coded message looks like this:

agnjgpq ypc dsl

To decode a message:

1- Turn the inner wheel so that the letter C is directly under the letter A on the outside wheel.

2- Without moving the wheels, so that the A remains above the C, find each letter of your message on the outer wheel and write the corresponding letter from the inner wheel. The message should say 

ciphers are fun

You can print this template out or make your own circles using a protractor. Click to open and enlarge, the print or save:

Have fun, everyone, but remember to Mask Up when you go outside.
 

Dark Was The Night: Blind Willie Johnson's Journey to the Stars by Gary Golio, illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson's Journey to the Stars 

by Gary Golio,

illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020, 32 pages

One of the things I love most about being a reviewer is that I get to read all kinds of picture books and share them with my young readers. And one of my favorite picture book genres is biography. I have been introduced to so many people I  probably never would have known about otherwise thanks to picture book biographies.  

Take for example this new biography about Willie Johnson, an African American musician. Willie was born in 1897 in a small Texas town. As a young boy, he lost his mother and at age seven, he lost his sight. 

Despite being blind, Willie made music - at first, with a cigar box guitar his father made for him, then in church and later busking on the streets, traveling about Texas with a guitar and a tin cup, hoping for enough money to buy food and get a rented room.

And Willie knew how to sing the blues, sliding his pocket knife up and down the steel strings of his guitar, and giving it a voice of its own.

Discovered on the street by a man from a record company, Willie was given a chance to make a record his music and went on to enjoy a music career. But the one recording that Willie became best known for was a heartbreaking yet hopeful emotional gospel blues song called "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground." 

Small wonder that in 1977, when NASA was choosing what to include on the Golden Record they were sending into space that reflected the diversity of who we are as a people on Earth, a recording of Willie Johnson performing "Dark Was the Night" was chosen with its simple message of hope and a reminder that we are not alone.

Dark Was the Night is not exactly a picture book biography filled with facts, dates and places, and yet, after I finished it, I felt like I knew the real Willie Johnson, the persistent musician who could use music as if it were his own voice to express himself and his truth. And one of the ways the author did this was by contrasting the sources of lightness and darkness that impacted Willie throughout his life. 

And Golio's writing is a perfect compliment to his subject- full of emotion and musicality. He begins Willie's story in deep, dark space and brings it full circle, where his music "shined a light in the darkness and finally touched the stars." 

Adding to Golio's lyrical text are E.B. Lewis's subtle watercolor illustrations done in a palette of predominately dark blues and bright yellows. This is one of my favorite illustrations because I feel it really captures the sense of light and darkness that was so much a part of Willie's life, but not allowing either one to dominate it.

Be sure to read the back matter to learn more about Willie Johnson and the Golden Record that carried his beautiful music into the far reaches of the Universe.

And if you would like to hear Willie playing "Dark Was the Night,", you can find it on YouTube HERE. I have been listening to it repeatedly and I guarantee it is well worth your time.

This book is recommended for readers age 6+

This book was gratefully received from the author, Gary Golio

⚾️Ballpark Mysteries Super Special #3: Subway Series Surprise by David A. Kelly, illustrated by Mark Meyers

The yearly Subway Series between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets may have been cancelled once again for the 2020 season, but young baseball fans can still enjoy some Subway Series excitement, thanks to David A. Kelly's Ballpark Mysteries Super Special #3: Subway Series Surprise. 

It all begins one Friday afternoon at Brooklyn's  Cyclone Stadium just off the Coney Island boardwalk. The Cyclones are a minor league team and during the seventh inning stretch, there's going to be a hot dog eating contest between Met fans and Yankee fans. And cousins Mike Walsh and Kate Hopkins are the lucky kids who get to help out. After helping out, they are given a hot dog paid for by a mysterious fan - one wearing a Mets jersey AND a Yankee hat, who left a puzzle on their napkin for them to figure out.  

Later, when Kate's mom picks them up, they are off to Mets stadium in Queens, where the first game of the Series is scheduled. Mrs. Hopkins, a sports reporter, tells them that someone has broken into the press box there. Then they discover that the only thing taken are Mrs. Hopkins' research notes. And it seems that the person who was last seen leaving the press box was wearing a Mets jersey and a Yankee hat. But the one person who fits that description is Rocco Sampson, the Mets Apple Manager, who has invited Kate and Mike to visit him if they are around for game 3. And he seems to have an airtight reason for mixing his teams, after all, it is the Subway Series.

But when Kate and Mike overhear someone they recognize talking on a cell phone in Grand Central Station's Whispering Gallery, suddenly all the pieces seem to fall into place so they can figure out who took the research notes, but not why? Boy, are they in for a surprise!

Subway Series Surprise is really a fun book for young readers. It has everything that makes a book exciting. There's a mystery, lots of baseball playing, some interesting baseball history, and a few New York City fun facts - like why Mike and Kate could hear a conversation even though they weren't near the speakers. At the back of the book, fans will find even more information about the New York Yankees and New York Mets, as well as the Whispering Gallery in Grand Central Station. 

Kelly really knows how to craft a book so that is ideal for the target age. The vocabulary is perfect for them, the story isn't so complicated that they got lost or bored, and the characters are believable and relatable.  

I read this to some 6- and 7-year-olds. Most of them aren't baseball fans yet, but have parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and older cousins who are so I know it's just a matter of time. And what could be more complimentary then to have a young reader ask for more books in a series, which is just what happened. 

This book is recommended for readers age 8+

This book was purchased for my personal library

I come from a family that has a serious Mets and Yankees rivalry going on, so I know what a disappointment it is for them to have to forfeit the Subway Series twice in one summer. 

Summer and July by Paul Mosier

It's July 1st and Goth girl Julliet, 12, is on a plane with her mother traveling from Michigan to Ocean Park, California, where her mom, a doctor, will be working in an ER. Julliet's parents are divorced, and her dad is in Switzerland with his new younger girlfriend. Julliet is also a girl who is fraught with fears, all shared with her best friend Fern, whom she is forbidden to hang out with after a misunderstanding. 

On her first morning, Julliet finds a note from her mom listing possible goals for her, including exercise, fresh air and work on her fears. Later, she meets Summer, an energetic surfer girl who wants to be friends. At first reluctant, Julliet, whom Summer insists on calling "Betty," slowly begins to warm up to Summer, and Summer for her part, patiently puts up with Julliet fears, while slowly, and even more patiently helping her deal with them. 

At first, they simply walk around town, checking out stores and just hanging out. Summer, who lives year round in Ocean Park knows everyone. Like Julliet, she's mostly on her own because her parents both work. Eventually, Summer gets Julliet to go to the beach and into the water, introducing her to surfing culture. Always at her side when Julliet confronts a fear, the two begin with skateboarding at the beach, then graduate to boogie boarding, all the while continuing to pal around, visiting to Santa Monica pier, and just having fun. But once in a while, Summer isn't available and Julliet wonders why. It seems Summer has a secret and isn't ready to share it with Julliet, at least not until Julliet is ready to finally try surfing. 

I don't think I've read a good surfing book since I found my sister's old copy of Gidget in the late 70s. So surfing culture isn't exactly something I'm up on. But I am a girl who spent summers on the Jersey shore, and I do love the ocean, and enjoyed reading a book that is set in an ocean community. In fact, the setting in Summer and July is so realistic, I could practically feel the sand and smell the salty ocean breeze.

I loved reading Julliet's transformation as she became more of a Betty, as her "fears" dropped away and she seemed to feel a much less antagonistic towards her mother. Her summer with Summer gives her a confidence that she lacked before arriving in Ocean Park, even allowing her to explore her sexuality. To his credit, Mosier never lets the reader think that Julliet's fears and her Goth look are anything more than an affectation she's picked up from Fern and defense mechanism which suits her anger at her parents for divorcing and the way they dealt with the aftermath of that divorce. Right from the start, it's clear there is someone else under the heavy black eye make up and clothing.

Summer, on the other hand, is such charming, natural, and kind character without any of the shallowness you might associate with pretty blond surfer girls. Summer has an inner strength that enables her to face everyday with a smile and a positive attitude, despite what has happened in her family. And it's this inner strength that she uncovers in Julliet. I also think that by always calling her Betty, she gives Julliet the freedom she needs to find herself away from her everyday life.

Summer and July is an textured, multilayered coming of age story that turned out to be one of the most satisfying books I've read this summer.     

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

This book was an EARC gratefully received from Edelweiss+

Two Very Punny Whodunits by Tara Lazar, illustrated by Ross MacDonald

Teaching kids about puns hasn't always been the easiest lesson I've had to teach. Explaining that a pun is simply a joke that uses the different meanings of a word or phrase in humorous ways isn't always sufficient, even when I've begin the lesson with the old joke: Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 ate 9." However, Tara Lazar has taken that dusty old joke and turned my lessons into a fun way to teach and learn about the concept of puns.

7 Ate 9: The Untold Story (Private I #1)

written by Tara Lazar, illustrated by Ross MacDonald

Little, Brown BFYR, 2017, 32 pages

It all begins when a very scared 6 runs into the office of Private I of the Al F. Bet detective agency and tells him that word on the street is that 7 ate 9 and now 7 is after him. After taking the case, Private I tells 6, "Stay here. I'll get to the root of this." "I hope so!" says 6. "I fear my days are numbered." What follows is a caper that sounds like it is straight out of a 1940s film noir mystery as Private I tries to find clues about 9's disappearance. It has the same kind of hard-boiled old school way of speaking, but with the slangy language is replaced with punny language. And the number puns never stop. And Ross MacDonald's bold, colorful illustration, digitally created with colored pencils, and watercolors, are as energetic as the caper itself. This didn't work with my younger readers, but it was a real hit with older kids who are already somewhat math savvy. They really enjoyed finding and talking about the math references. Their favorite - Cafe Uno where customers can get a slice of 𝝿.

The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City (Private I #2)

written by Tara Lazar, illustrated by Ross MacDonald

Little, Brown BFYR, 2019, 32 pages

Capitalizing on the fun of her first book, Tara Lazar returns to the Al F. Bet detective agency for another caper. It seems Question Mark was all bent our of shape because all the uppercase letters in Capital City has gone missing and to emphasize his point, he had brought along Exclamation. Would Private I take the case? if he didn't solve this one, with all the capital letters gone, there would be incomplete sentences dangling everywhere. What results, as Private I tries to solve the case, is a punny introduction to punctuation when he tries to interview them. They are all too busy to talk, only the Quotation Twins are willing to talk: "Yeah, something's definitely up, besides us...But don't quote us on that." This is written with the same kind of hard-boiled film noir mystery way of speaking and illustrations as 7 Ate 9. Once again, I found it did not work with my younger readers who are 4-5 years-old, but it did work better with kids 6+. My favorite part was the appearance of the Grammar Police represented by Elements of Style and the Chicago Manual of Style. 

My older readers had some fun trying to come up with their own punnny jokes after reading these books. Both of them are delightfully funny, punny, fresh ways of helping students understand puns and word play and are ideal additions for classroom or home school libraries. 

MMGM: Dan Unmasked by Chris Negron

Dan Sumner, 13, and Nate Templeton, 12, have been best friends since elementary school and their two favorite things in the world are playing baseball for the Mira Giants and comic books, but not just any comic books. They are devoted readers of Captain Nexus. In fact, each month, on the day the newest issue hits the stands, Dan, Nate, and the rest of their team gather in the Templeton basement along with Nate's younger brother Ollie and Ollie's new friend Courtney, the only girl.

But one afternoon, when Nate takes a fly ball to the head during a game, he suffers a traumatic brain injury, and ends up being put into a medically induced coma. Dan and Ollie are suddenly at odds ends with themselves and each other, sharing a sense of helplessness that at times feels overwhelming. Dan blames himself for what happened to Nate. They had been talking about how Captain Nexus might escape the Nexus Zone where he was stuck with his arch enemy the Hollow and get back to his family in New Mexico when the ball hit Nate.

Then Dan discovers that Ollie and Courtney are working on a fan-fiction Captain Nexus comic to surprise Nate for his upcoming birthday, hoping he'll be awake by then. Dan has been invited to join them because of his excellent printing skills. Ollie isn't athletic like his brother but he is already an accomplished artist, and Courtney is the talent behind the storyline. Dan begins to really get into the comic's creation, impressed by Ollie's art. Soon, though, Dan convinces himself that if Captain Nexus can escape the Nexus Zone, it would show him the way to help Nate come back from his coma. It may be magical thinking, but it's all he has and Dan is desperate for answers. When he hears about a fan art contest sponsored by Tall Ship Comics, publisher of Captain Nexus, Dan talks Courtney into submitting Ollie's work, sure it will lead them to a meeting with comic's creator George Sanderson and the answer to Captain Nexus's escape. 

As if Captain Nexus magical thinking weren't enough, Dan is convinced that if the Mira Giants win the championship that will also help bring Nate back. And he actually manages to convince the team that winning is the thing to do.

No one is more surprised that Ollie when he wins the fan art contest and George Sanderson, who was blown away by Ollie's art, delivers the news in person. But as they get to know him and he gets to know them, some very painful secrets and truths are revealed. In addition, old relationships are renewed and new ones begin. But will any of this help Nate?

The combination of baseball and comic books in Dan Unmasked is sure to please young readers. And Dan, Ollie, Courtney, and even George Sanderson are very individualized and fleshed out characters, but I found the other characters are somewhat nebulous, including Nate, the reason everyone is pulling together, though we do learn more about him as the story goes on. I have to admit it did take me a while to warm up to Dan. In the beginning, I found him to be obnoxious and selfish, so it was nice to see him change over the course of the novel. I did think it was interesting that Sanderson only planned on publishing 16 Captain Nexus issues and stuck to that. Usually, a comic needs a little more that one and a half years to catch on. And I did like the way he incorporated his own life story in his comic, producing an exciting work, but without much cathartic benefit for him.

I'm not a baseball fan, and there was a lot of baseball talk in Dan Unmasked, but I suspect I'm in the minority on this point. Also, I took a hard ball on a fly hit by a grown man when I was ten and it left me with permanent damage to the right side of my head and ear. As a result, I have a real fear of speeding baseballs. Naturally, I could feel Nate's pain and wondered he would have baseballphobia, too, when he woke up. I am more of a fan of comics, having grown up on a diet of Archie, Superman, and Little Lulu, so I did like that aspect of Dan's story. 

Dan Unmasked is an excellent story about hope, friendship, family, and learning to come to terms with the things we cannot change. Ultimately, what really got me was the strength of Dan's magical thinking, which was as strong as his feelings for his best friend.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was gratefully received from Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media

Meet the Author:

Chris Negron grew up outside Buffalo, NY, where he spent a huge chunk of his childhood collecting Comic books and loving sports. But it was the hours playing Dungeons and Dragons in friends' basements that first gave him the dream of one day writing his own stories. That dream kept him company through college at Yale University and years of programming computers for big companies. Dan Unmasked is his debut novel, and he now lives outside Atlanta with his wife, Mary. Visit him at www.chrisnegron.com

You can also find Chris on Twitter and Instagram 

You can find an in-depth interview with Chris over at Literary Rambles, thanks to Natalie Aguirre 

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.

MMGM: A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Joy McCullough

The thing about robotics and coding that nine-year-old homeschooled Sutton Jensen likes is that is it always black and white - if you code correctly, your program responded as expected. Not like a mom and dad who marry and then get divorced, or a mom who's always off studying emperor penguins in Antartica and who sometimes misses big events in Sutton's life. Hopefully, she'll make it home for Sutton's upcoming 10th birthday. And now her dad Martin is dating a woman named Elizabeth and it's starting to get serious. He's finally taking her out for a fancy dinner. To ask her something?

Elizabeth's son Luis is also a bit uncertain about his mom dating Martin. But their first big dinner date does mean he gets to go on his first ever sleepover. Luis, who lost his dad to cancer when he was two, has serious, very serious food allergies and ends up in the hospital in the middle of his sleepover, ending his mom's date thanks to some guinea pig food. Luis is a regular at the hospital, and everyone knows him. Back home, his mom suggests a visit to the Museum of Pop Culture, one of Luis' favorite places. And Luis suggests they invite Martin and Sutton. But as much as Luis enjoys the MoPOP, Sutton is totally disinterested, after all, Luis' favorite Star Wars exhibit is science fiction, not real science. 

Clearly, Sutton and Luis have nothing in common, but Martin, who was very unhappy with Sutton's behavior at the museum, and Elizabeth decide to try getting the kids together again, and take them on an outing hiking in the woods at Discovery Park. Not really wanting to go, both kids nevertheless try a little harder to make the outing less disastrous than the first one. Then Luis spots a "narrow opening in a dense thicket of bushes," and imagines it's a secret passageway to another world. The opening is too small for adults, but the parents encourage the kids to explore it, and head to what they think will be the other side to meet them.

But when Luis and Sutton take a wrong turn at a dead end and get lost, will they be able to join forces to find their way out and back to their parents?  

A Field Guide to Getting Lost is narrated by both Sutton and Luis in alternating chapters, so that readers know each child's thoughts and reactions to their parents increasingly serious relationship, and to each other. And they couldn't be more different. Sutton is logical, all science and robotics, and a Ravenclaw. Luis has a great imagination which he turns into stories, and, like Martin, is a Hufflepuff. Despite also being a Ravenclaw, I didn't really like Sutton at first, but as she grew, she also grew on me and I began to see that change is hard for her, and she retreats into science as a way of dealing with disappointment. Sutton is apparently white, but lives in a diverse neighborhood, including Muslim, Chinese, and Indian neighbors. And I would love to try some of Mrs. Banerjee's golden milk when things get rough. 

I did like Luis right off the bat. Despite his life-threatening allergies that really limit what he can do, Luis is not homeschooled as you might expect for a person with his health problems, but he does carry an epipen. Luis also has a great attitude and I liked how he used his imagination to take him to places he couldn't otherwise visit through his character Penelope Bell. Luis is part Guatemalan on his dad's side, and part white on his mom's side. And even though he doesn't speak Spanish anymore, he keeps in touch with his abuelos who live there. 

On the whole, I thought Sutton and Luis' story was delightful to read, and even when they were lost, they weren't in real danger, just enough to let them get to know each other better and learn to appreciate and respect their differences. This very relatable book will definitely appeal to the younger age middle graders.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+

This book was gratefully received from the publisher Simon & Schuster 

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.