Knight of the Cape (Definitely Dominguita #1) by Terry Catasús Jennings, illustrated by Fatima Anaya

 

Knight of the Cape (Definitely Dominguita #1)

by Terry Catasús Jennings, illustrated by Fatima Anaya

Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2021, 144 pages

There's a new chapter book series in town and it's all about a girl with a great big imagination. Cuban American Dominguita Melendez loves to read even more than playing with the other kids in her class during recess. Lately, she's been reading Don Quijote, a book her grandmother loves, to feel closer to her abuela who has recently moved to Florida. But when the class bully, Ernie Bublassi, demands to know why she's reading it, she tells him she's studying to become a knight. Throwing the book into the playground dirt, he tells her girls can't be knights, making Dominguita all that much more determined to do exactly that and go questing for adventure...and to help people in distress.

Dominguita turns to her older brother Rafi for help. Maybe he could write a book about her knightly deeds to send to their abuela? Rafi agrees after finding out that one of the Bublassi bullies is behind Dominguita's idea - he has had run-ins of his own with Ernie's older brothers. The Bublassi's are the biggest bullies in otherwise quiet and friendly Mundytown.

Before long, Dominguita has acquired a lance, a helmet, some armor, and a cape and is transformed into Dom Capote. She also adds a squire named Pancho Sanchez and a trusty steed/stray dog named Rocinante or Roco for short, but will they find adventure on their quests besides rescuing stray bunnies from cats? Yes, indeed. Leave it to the Bublassi bullies to help Dom and Pancho find a new addition to their quests - Stephanie, after one of the Bublassi takes her leg brace. The three new friends roam around Mundytown and perform good deeds, but can they finally put an end to the Bublassi's bullying once and for all? 

This is a charming story about a young girl's adventures and how she finds new friends. Dom had also hoped that asking Rafi to help her write her adventures who serve to bring them close together again. Ever since he began high school, Rafi has had not time for Dom and they used to have so much fun together. 

I liked that both of Dominguita's parents and her brother Rafi are supportive of her adventures, though they encourage her to make new friends, too. Mundytown is such a friendly place to live. Even when Dom can't pay for her lunch at Pancho's uncle's restaurant, he gives her a job to do to work off the cost instead of getting mad. And the grocery store owner, Mr. Kowalski, is more than willing to go along with things and knight Dom with his heirloom sword. 

This is the first book in a new series, and like all first books, much of this one is spent setting the premise for future books. In fact, Book #2, Captain Dom's Treasure is already available (watch this space) and in August, Book #3, All for One, will also be available. These are sure to provide some good reading for younger elementary school kids looking for some fun books.  

And just in case you are wondering, yes, Knight of the Cape does include a windmill.  

This book is recommended for readers age 7+

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

Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem written by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem

by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

Candlewick Press, 2020, 96 pages

My young readers have always loved Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson and her Tales from Deckawoo Drive series. And now I'm excited at the possibility of being about to share the latest Deckawoo tale with them. Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem is the fifth volume in the series and I know my kids are already excited about it, thanks to Zoom meetings. I haven't read it to them (copyright laws), but this is pretty much what I have told them about it:

It's Stella's first day of second grade and it just so happens that her new teacher, Tamar Calliope Liliana, loves the same things Stella loves - 'listening closely, speaking softly, and singing loudly.' Second grade is definitely on course to be wonderful. Well, except for Horace Broom, the class know-it-all, who naturally knows the definition of metaphor when Ms. Liliana asks if the class knows what a metaphor is before assigning them homework - to write a poem with a metaphor in it. That ought to be easy, Stella thinks, especially since Ms. Liliana also agrees with Baby Lincoln - that anything is possible in stories and in poems, too.

But writing a poem that includes a metaphor AND the idea of that anything is possible isn't as easy as Stella thought it would. Needing some moral support and inspiration, Stella heads over to visit Mercy Watson and sure enough, she comes up with a lovely poem that includes Mercy.

The next day, proud of what she has written, Stella mistakenly lets Horace read her poem but when he comes to the part where Mercy is sitting on the couch, he insists that pigs do not do that, that it is not possible, that pigs live on farms. But Stella stands her ground and insists that Mercy lives in a house and sits on the couch - all the time. No longer 'speaking softly,' Ms. Liliana sends Stella and Horace to Mr. Tinwiddie, the principal, and it is a trip from classroom to principal's office like no other. But by the end of their adventure, Stella and Horace have become friends, and have learned to respect their differences, and look at things from the other's point of view. My young readers are just going to have to wait to find out what adventures Stella and Horace have on their to Mr. Tinwiddie's office. 

Stella's story, like all the Deckawoo tales, is just charming. DiCamillo has taken something a simple as a poem and a walk to the principal's office to highlight Stella and Horace's different and opposite personalities, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and has shown us how adversaries can learn to use them to help each other and even forge a friendship. 

I've read the Mercy Watson and the Deckawoo tales to a lot of kids and one of the things they really like about them are the recurring characters, and not only that, but the characters are always consistently who the kids expect them to be, in both the action of the story and the illustrations. And kids like that - it's familiar and comfortable and feels like they are seeing old friends each time they visit and revisit Deckawoo Drive. And yet each story is refreshingly new and has a gentle lesson that even my youngest readers can grasp. And Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem is no different.  

And luckily, there is a treasure trove of Tales from Deckawoo Drive. Have you read them all?

This book is recommended for readers age 6+, but 5-year-olds like it, too.

This book was an EARC gratefully received from NetGalley and the publisher, Candlewick Press.

Lola Levine and the Halloween Scream by Monica Brown, illustrated by Angela Dominguez

This is the 6th Lola Levine book (and my first), so fans already know all about her, but others new to the series may not. Indulge me while I introduce Lola. Lola is multiracial - her father is Jewish and her mother is a Peruvian Catholic. She has a younger brother named Ben, and her best friend is Josh Blot, the principal’s son. Lola and Josh are in second grade, and their teacher is named Ms. Garcia. Lola also keeps a diary - Dear Diario - with entries scattered throughout her stories.

In this book, it’s Halloween week and Lola couldn’t be more excited. She loves being scared and scaring other kids, especially her brother Ben. In school it’s a week of autumn fun. First, Ms. Garcia introduces the ways different cultures around the world celebrate autumn. Then, Lola’s class goes on a leaf gathering trip and everyone makes a leaf book with their findings. 

In the middle of the week, there is a trip to an apple orchard where kids get to pick their own apples. While there, the class learns about scarecrows, and Lola thinks maybe that is what she will be for Halloween. After all, she has been really wanting to wear a scary costume, but then, to Lola’s amazement, her friend Bella tells her she doesn’t like being scared by anything.  

Lola really doesn’t understand Bella’s feelings, but she is getting more and more excited about the costume parade on Friday now that she knows what she wants to be. It’s a great parade, especially since leashed pets can be part of it.  Afterwards, on Friday afternoon, sad that Halloweek is over in school, but looking forward to trick-or-treating on Sunday with Josh and Bella, Lola decides to surprise them with a scary joke as they leave school. But when the joke backfires, Lola learns an important lesson about listening to and respecting what her friend told her about not liking to be scared. Now, can Lola fix her mistake in time to still go trick-or-treating with Josh and Bella? Or will they still be mad at her? Can Lola come up with a way to tell them she's sorry?

This is a nice chapter book and a great addition for fans of series books like Ivy and Bean or Junie B. Jones. Lola is a well-meaning 7 year old, but still has a few things to learn (as do all these young protagonists). The problems they have or the situations they find themselves in, like learning to respect the feelings of other kids, are so relatable to that age group when excitement and enthusiasm can lead to some pretty keyed-up behavior and a few mistakes. 

Maybe this is a spoiler:

Lola’s parents are great - they’re understand and really there for Lola and Ben, involved in their children’s lives at home and at school. But when they take most of Lola and Ben’s Halloween candy, then hide it and sneak eat it - that just wasn’t right. When they caught, the candy was all thrown away. Why couldn’t they put it away, and take some out on special occasions to enjoy as a family? 

If you want to learn more about Lola and her friends and family, an Educator’s Guide chock full of learning activities is available from the publisher, Little, Brown. It only covers the first two Lola Levine books, but can easily be tweaked for any book in the series.

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Ashes (Seeds of America Trilogy - Book 3) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Ashes continues the story of Isabel and Curzon begun in Chains and continued in Forge, picking up the threads of their story 3 years later, beginning on June 25, 1781, and ending on November 5, 1781.  And while Chains was told from Isabel's point of view, and Forge was told from Curzon's point of view, in Ashes the story is again narrated by Isabel.

Three years have gone by since Isabel and Curzon escaped from Valley Forge and their enslavement by the cruel, sadistic Mister Bellingham. Now, as runaway slaves, they have already walked nearly 1,000 miles from Pennsylvania to Virginia to South Carolina in search of Isabel's younger, epileptic sister, Ruth, and dodging British and Continental patrols, armed Loyalists and bounty hunters along the way.

But when they finally find Ruth, Isabel doesn't get the reception she had been hoping for. Instead, Ruth is cold and won't even look at her sister.  She has been living with an elderly slave couple and a young boy named Aberdeen since being sent south in 1776. Though the couple love Ruth as if she were their own daughter, they tell her to go north with her sister and to do what she says. Ruth may be obedient to her sister's requests, but she still wants nothing to do with Isabel, refusing to even look at her, much to Isabel's disappointment.

Meanwhile, Curzon's loyalty is still with the Patriots, while Isabel feels that neither the British nor the Patriots will help enslaved people like themselves achieve freedom, no matter what they promise. The two argue about this endlessly, so when Curzon, Isabel, Ruth and Aberdeen meet up with the Continental Army at Williamsburg, Va, they decide to go their separate ways. Aberdeen chooses to work as a spy for the British, Curzon rejoins the Patriot army, and the two sisters find work in a laundry run by Widow Hallahan. With a promise to be paid money, Isabel also finds work washing up and later serving in a tavern owned by Widow Hallahan's son and frequented by the Americans and French. But once the armies move on the Yorktown, Isabel wonders what will happen. It doesn't take long to find out. Isabel rightly suspects that Widow Hallahan has plans for Ruth that don't include Isabel - shades of Mrs. Lockton's treachery in Chains that originally separated the two sisters.  Isabel quickly decides that it is time to leave, and the sisters make a daring exit from Williamsburg, following the armies to Yorktown, VA and finding work as cooks.

Though Isabel finds herself in the midst of the war, this last book in the trilogy is really about her, with the chaos and confusion of the war mirroring her thoughts and feelings about her and Ruth, and what the future will hold for them, and the place Curzon may or may not have in it. Isabel and Curzon have now known each other since she was 12 and he was 15. He is the only person she has ever really trusted, but as the war carries on around them, Isabel sees less and less of him, even as she thinks more and more about him. It takes a long time for Isabel to realize that Curzon can love her at the same time that he loves his country and he is willing for fight for both of them.

Laurie Halse Anderson has explored so many aspects of the Revolutionary War in her Seeds of America Trilogy that are not a part of the usual school curriculum.  And she has brilliantly woven them into the story of these young enslaved people who only want their freedom, paralleling their stories with that of the Patriots who are fighting for their freedom and independence from Britain. She offers readers a vibrant history of a war that we traditionally think of in terms of white soldiers and leaders being fought for white colonists, forgetting or not even knowing that there were many African American soldiers who also fought, generally in place of their owners, in the hope of gaining their freedom after the war is over, soldiers like Curzon; and girls like Isabel, who were charged with helping to care of the leaders of the war with no real hope of future freedom.

Ashes ends with the surrender of the British and the end of the war.  And for readers it is the end of Isabel and Curzon's stories, but Anderson offers us a hopeful conclusion to her Seeds of America trilogy, though there are no tidy answers about the future for Isabel, Curson, Ruth and Aberdeen. They must still head north, they are still considered to be runaway slaves, and there are still bounty hunters after them.

Chains, Forge, and Ashes are individually and as a trilogy so well-crafted that it takes my breath away when I think about it. They are honest, thought provoking, gripping adventure as they narrate the sensitive personal stories about people who traditionally have not had voice at that time. By giving Isabel and Curzon a voice, Anderson has opened our eyes to really thinking differently about the history of this country.

Be sure not to miss the extensive appendix at the end of the book which offers explanations and suggestions for further reading about many of the people, places and events included in Ashes.

I cannot recommend Chains, Forge, and Ashes highly enough.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was an EARC received from Edelweiss/Above the Treeline

Forge (Seeds of America Trilogy - Book 2) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Forge continues the story of Isabel and Curzon begun in Chains, picking up the threads of it almost 10 months later, beginning on October 7, 1777 and ending on May 18, 1778. And while Chains was told from Isabel's point of view, in Forge it switches to Curzon's voice.

Isabel and Curzon have gone their separate ways.  Isabel has run away, determined to find her sister Ruth while Curzon finds himself first in the midst of the Battle of Saratoga after saving the life of a Patriot soldier name Eben Woodruff of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment and nephew of the regiment's commanding officer. From Saratoga it was on to the winter encampment at Valley Forge. Curzon enlists in the army in the hope of gaining his freedom and in the process, besides Eben, he makes a few other friends and a few enemies.

Valley Forge proves to be a real challenge.  There are no barracks, so they are ordered to built huts that are always cold and leaky, many of the soldiers don't even have shoes anymore, and must stand in the cold snow in bare frostbitten feet, many are ill with disease and every one is cold and hungry all the time, desperate for food, warm clothing and shoes that never seem to arrive.  And for Curson, because he is African American, it also meaning dealing with constant racism.

Isabel and Curzon may have gone their separate ways, but he never stops thinking about her.  Nor has Curzon forgotten his former master, the cruel, sadistic James Bellingham.  In Chains, Bellingham had enlisted Curzon to take his place in the army with the promise of his freedom after the war, a promise he has no intention of honoring.  When he shows up at Valley Forge, Curzon finds himself again in his clutches, having enlisted again as a free man when he was still owned by Bellingham. And to real surprise, after arriving at the house where Bellingham is staying, he finds that Isabel has also there, as well as another slave, Gideon, who refuses to even acknowledge Curzon. To keep Isabel in her place and, Bellingham has placed an iron ring around her neck as a constant reminded of her enslavement, and only he has the key to unlock it.

Curzon begins plans to escape Bellingham again, and tries to talk Isabel into going with him, but she seems more interested in Gideon now, and eventually reveals that they have their own plans to escape.  But Curzon doesn't trust Gideon, and it turns out, with good reason. When the truth about Gideon is discovered, will Curzon and Isabel be able to mend their friendship enough to attempt escape from Bellingham?

Like Chains, Forge never lets the reader forget the irony of African Americans fighting for the freedom of the country that has enslaved them, perhaps expressed best by Curzon's friend and fellow soldier Eben Woodruff who tells him "Two slaves running away from their rightful master is not the same as America wanting to be free of England." (pg 65) And Laurie Halse Anderson explores this irony in the attitudes and beliefs of a variety of different characters, American and British, rich and poor, as they impact the lives of Curzon and Isabel.

Isabel was such a compelling narrator in Chains, and I found that to be true of Curzon in Forge. By switching narrators, Anderson presents the harsh conditions on the battlefield and as well as in a house with a white man is a harsh master over his enslaved servants. I have to be honest and say that what happens on battlefields isn't something I am generally interested in, yet I found I couldn't put this down and have a better understanding of what the Patriot soldiers experienced than I ever did when we studied the Revolutionary War in school.

Just as she did in Chains, Anderson has included quotes at the beginning of each chapter, so taken from original sources and adding to the authenticity of the novel.  She also includes the dates during which each chapter occurs.  This kind of timeline approach also helps situate the reader in terms of what was actually happening in the Revolution.

Forge is a wonderful sequel to Chains, but it is also a novel that can stand alone.  And as I did with the first novel, I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Laurie Halse Anderson has excellent teaching resources for Forge.  You can find it HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2) by Libba Bray

I waited a long time for the sequel to Libba Bray’s The Diviners, but it finally came out in August at a chunky 608 pages.  Was it worth the wait?  You bet it was.

Lair of Dreams picks up shortly after the ending of Book 1.  Having outed herself as a diviner in order to solve the mystery of the Pentacle Killer, a serial murderer in The Diviners, Evie O’Neill, 17, is now America’s Sweetheart Seer, reading secrets of people on the radio.  As a diviner, you may recall, Evie can “read” another person’s deepest, darkest secrets simply by holding an object of theirs, 

Evie is also estranged from her Uncle Will, the curator of the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, and has been living in one hotel after another, getting kicked out for having too many raucous parties.  Evie still hangs out with her old friends, including Ziegfeld girl Theta Knight and musician Henry DuBois, as well as Mabel and Jericho, who works for her uncle.  And in Harlem Memphis Campbell, Theta’s love interest, is still trying to come to terms with his own abilities as a healer.  

Henry has decided to try to find his lost love, Louis, also a musician with whom Henry was in love when they lived in New Orleans.  Using his ability to dream-walk, Henry no sooner begins his search when he meets Ling Chan, 17, a girl from Chinatown who can also dream walk and speak to the dead.  But Henry isn't the only dream walker Ling has met.  Wei-Mae is a young girl traveling from China to New York to be married to a wealthy man she has never met.  

And then there is Sam Lloyd, the petty thief who stole Evie’s $20.00 when she first arrived in NYC, and has been a not-always-welcomed mainstay in her life ever since.  And now, much to Evie’s chagrin, she finds herself in a sham engagement to Sam, to the joy of her boss who sees it as free publicity for his radio station.

Sam, however, is more obsessed with the idea of something called Project Buffalo.  Whatever it is, it took his mother away from him as a boy and now he’s on a mission to discover why and how and where she is.  Project Buffalo was briefly mentioned in The Diviners, in a newspaper article Sam was reading about a young girl who died of a mysterious sleeping sickness but not before she uttered the words “Project Buffalo.” 

And now it seems that that mysterious sleeping sickness has gripped New York, and it appears to be centered in Chinatown.  It’s going to take a concerted effort of all the diviners to solve this mystery, but Evie is going through some stuff of her own.  Feeling less sure of herself, she parties and drinks too much to escape the disturbing memories of the Pentacle Killer.  When she starts making bad decisions and poor choices, it begins to look pretty doubtful that she will be much help.  

But when one of her inner circle falls victim to the sleeping sickness, will Evie be able to pull herself out of her boozy stupor and help her friend?

If this sounds a bit like a recap of The Diviner, it's because saying too much about Lair of Dreams means giving away too much of the story and it's way too delicious to spoil it for other readers.  Suffice it to say that this is a book that will certainly entertain, with it many story lines and it's twists and turns, but it will also make you think.  It is historical fiction that gives us a wonderful picture of life in 1920s New York.  Prohibition is still the law, so there are lots of speakeasies and glitzy flappers wearing headache bands and strings of pearls,  and the bright, fast rhythms of jazz bands is the music of the moment, but there is also a dark side - a side that exposes prejudice and mistrust of Chinese immigrants, gays and African Americans.  

Lair of Dreams is the second volume of a planned four volume Diviners series.  Evie has a smaller role to play in this book than she did in The Diviners, so I am wondering if each book will showcase another diviner, while the rest of the characters we are already familiar with remain in the picture as well.   I personally would really like to read more about Memphis, Isiah, and of course Blind Bill, characters with their own abilities living in Harlem.

Which leads me to the question - does Lair of Dreams stand alone even if it is part of a series.  I think it does, but given what and how much Bray refers to the has people and events in The Diviners, I would definitely read that first.  Both volumes are big, but so compelling, you won't want to put them down until you are done.

Now, I can't wait to read the three volume in The Diviners series.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

This second story from Deckawoo Drive (Leroy Ninker Saddles Up was the first), young readers meet Francine Poulet, the fearless and fearsome animal control officer.  Following in her father and grandmother's footsteps, Francine is a first class animal control officer,  in fact, she's won 47 animal control trophies, more than anyone else.

Since nothing scars Francine, when she receives an hysterical call from Mrs. Bissinger that there was a most unusual raccoon living on her roof and tormenting her by screaming her name all night long, she is immediately on the job.  Undaunted and unafraid, Francine arrives at Mrs. Bissinger totally confidant the she will be able to capture the raccoon.  That is, until it begins to scream her name, too.  Suddenly, for the first time ever, Francine is afraid, so afraid she falls off the roof and lands in the hospital with several broken bones and a very broken spirit.

When Francine recovers, she quits her job as animal control officer and takes a job as a cashier at Clyde's Bait, Feed, Tackle, and Animal Necessities store.  One day, two children, Frank and Stella, come in looking some sweets.  Frank immediately recognizes Francine from a newspaper story about her and knows all about her exploits as an animal control officer and her fall from animal control grace and Mrs. Bissinger's roof.  But why quit?  Frank explains to her that the raccoon is a screamer, and suddenly Francine remembers her father talking about a screaming raccoon.

The raccoon had gotten the best of Francine, an otherwise outstanding animal control officer.  Maybe, Frank suggests, she is still a great one.  Could that be true, Francine thinks, could she possibly go back and get that screaming raccoon, despite everything that happened.

What do you think she will do?

Kate DiCamillo really knows how to write great transitional books for young readers, first with her Mercy Watson series, and now with Tales from Deckawoo Drive.  What is especially nice for these young readers is that they will recognize some characters from the first series in this second one, providing connection and continuity, a great support for developing readers at this age.

And this sense of continuity carries over to the illustrations by Chris Van Dusen, who has done the same type of spot black and white gouache illustrations throughout this book, just as he has for the Mercy Watson and Leroy Ninker books.

Some of the vocabulary will be a little sophisticated for some readers, but will hopefully encourage them to look up words they don't know.  And some kids might be reluctant to read a book with an adult main character, but I think Francine is a humorous enough character that they will overlook that (just look at the cover), particularly if they see her in comparison to the other adult in the story, Mrs. Bissinger.  

Like Leroy Ninker, this is a fun story that has a nice quiet message about not giving up even if you don't succeed the first time around.  And they may enjoy learning that Francine's last name, Poulet, means chicken in French (lots of potential classroom discussion about that, I think).   I also liked seeing the encouragement that Francine receives from Frank.  Sometimes kids just see things more clearly than adults - in this case, Frank reminds Francine to just be herself and be proud of it - and it works.

I'm curious to read the next installment of Tales from Deckawoo Drive, and I hope young readers like this one so much that they will be as well.

A useful Teacher's Guide is available to download HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Candlewick Press

Piper Green and the Fairy Tree by Ellen Potter, illustrated by Qin Leng

If you lived on Peek-a-Boo Island just off the coast of Maine, you would have to take a lobster boat to and from school every day until it was time to go to high school.  Then you would have to leave the island and go to boarding school on the mainland.

Now it's the first day of school, and second grader Piper is missing her older brother Erik, who has just started boarding school.  To feel closer to him, Piper decides to wear his old monkey earmuffs 24/7, even in school.

New teacher Ms. Arabella may look like a princess to her students, but, unfortunately for Piper, she has some very definite idea about where her students will sit in class and what they may or may not wear in school, and that includes monkey earmuffs.  But when Piper refuses to take them off, she must stay in at recess and discovers when she get home, that a phone call to her parents has been made.

And even though they tell her no earmuffs in school, Piper is determined to keep them on and Erik close.  The next morning on her way to the lobster boat, Piper decides she done with second grade.  She decides to hide in a tree, and sitting on a branch, she watches as the lobster boat heads to school.  But when things quiet done, Piper hears an odd sound - like the tree is crying.

While Piper is sitting in the tree, hearing it cry, along come neighbor Mrs. Pennypocket, who immediately knew what to do when she heard the tree crying - and it was just the solution to help Piper give up her earmuffs.  As she saws off a small tree branch, Mrs. Pennypocket and Piper talk about how much Erik is missed and the reason for the earmuffs.  But after the branch is off the tree, Piper finds two kittens, who had gotten stuck after the mother cat had hidden them in a hole in  the tree.  Mrs. Pennypocket tells Piper the tree is a fairy tree, one she has been searching for ever since her grandmother had told her about it.  If you take a treasure from the tree, you must leave a treasure.  Yup, that's right, Piper took two little kittens and left Erik's earmuffs, but not her feelings about missing him.

Piper Green and the Fairy Tree is a new early chapter book series with a sweet, spunky, but stubborn main character that young readers won't be able to resist and a setting that offers endless unique possibilities for more Piper Green stories.

Though the idea of having a magic tree in one's front yard is a lot if fun, the real problem in this first book of the series is that Erik was away at boarding school and Piper is missing him more than the people around her realize.  Until Mrs. Pennypocket talked to her about her feelings, no one asked why she was wearing Erik''s earmuffs, not even her teacher, who just punished Piper by taking away recess.

Inked Black and white full page and spot illustrations by Qin Leng are scattered throughout the book adding a light, humorous touch to the story and serve as excellent visual cues to the action for young and beginning readers, like seeing Piper and her friend Jacob on the lobster boat instead of a school bus,  but then seeing the familiar school yard and classroom.

There just aren't enough good early chapter books for kids, but fans of such classics as Junie B. Jones, Judy Moody, Bink and Gollie, and Amber Brown are sure to add Piper Green to this list of favorites.

This book is recommed for readers age 6+
This book was an EARC received from the author through NetGalley

Paula Danziger's Amber Brown Hoses Around by Bruce Coville & Elizabeth Levy

Now that Amber's mom and her boyfriend Max are married (see Amber Brown is on the Move)and they are living in a new house, life has settled down somewhat for our young protagonist.  In fact, with 4th grade behind her, Amber is pretty excited about summer vacation.  She is off to Camp Cushetunk with school friends Kelly Green and Brandi Colwin, but best thing of all is that best friend ever Justin Daniels will be going to camp with her, traveling all the way from Alabama, where his parents moved to a few years ago.

Worst thing ever, the night before leaving for camp, Amber finds out that Hannah Burton will be at Camp Cushetunk, too.  Hannah and Amber have just never liked each other, so when she finds out that she will be bunking with Hannah instead of Kelly and Brandi, Amber begins to have doubts about camp.

But camp turns out to be fun with mostly friendly girls, campfires, songs and of course, the story about the Cushetunk Monster, or Cushy, who comes for one camper every year and lures them to the deepest part of the lake.  And, although it seems that Hannah is good at everything, and Amber is good at nothing, it turns out she is a little afraid of Cushy.

And maybe Amber can't swim like her friends and has to learn how in the Polliwog area, but there's one thing she is good at.  The moment she meets Cinnamon, her horse for the summer, Amber has found her skill - seems she is a natural on a horse and it seems Hannah is just as afraid of horses as she is Cushy.

But, this is camp and it doesn't take long for harmless pranks to begins.  But when Amber is the object of several of them, she begins to believe that Hannah is the prankster.  Then the final straw happens.  Amber most definitely checked the saddle on Cinnamon, but when she comes back from the latrine, the saddle is loose and she falls right into the spot where Cinnamon just relieved herself.  Hannah was there  the whole time and now she can't stop laughing.

The only thing to do is prank Hannah back.  But when that goes horribly wrong, Amber doesn't know what to do.

Even as Amber struggles with issues with Hannah Burton, and getting back at her pranking, there is a nice subplot about her parents connected to it.  She is beginning to accept and care about Max as a step dad, realizing that he really does care about her in a fatherly way, but Amber still has trouble with her real dad's wife Isobel.  When pranking Hannah blows up in her face, she learns a valuable lesson, that helps her to be able to tell her parents how she feels about their constant bickering whenever they are together.  A brave thing for a young girl to do.  I think many kids would like to have the courage to do the same with their fighting parents and maybe this story will help them deal with that.

That is one of the reasons why I think that the beauty of Amber Brown is that she is allowed to age and as that happens, she deals with exactly the kinds of problems so many kids face everyday.  From her best friend moving away to her parents divorce and remarriages, to problems with best friends and enemies at school and now camp.

This is the third book that Bruce Coville and Elizabeth Levy have collaborated on since Paula Danziger's death and I was afraid that as they wrote more Amber Brown books, she would begin to loose the personality that Paula had given her.   But, even though Amber sounds a little more mature (after all, she is heading into 5th grade), Coville and Levy have managed to keep the essence of Amber intact and she is still the lovable character that keeps her fans keep coming back.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Junie B., First Grader: Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff) by Barbara Park

I had planned this post long before the sad news that Barbara Park had passed away.  I decided to go ahead with it in homage to her and the character she created.  Junie B Jones has helped so many kids learn to love reading, including a few in my family.
Thank you, Barbara.

It is Thanksgiving week and Mr. Scary's first graders in Room One have some activities planned to help celebrate the holiday.

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, the kids begin a list of things that they are thankful for to enter into the school's Thankful contest.  The class with the best list will win a homemade pumpkin pie.  Trouble is, no one in Room One likes pumpkin pie, it makes them vomit.  But a Thankful List is begun and includes such things as cranberry jelly in a can (Junie's choice) and exploding biscuits (you know, the kind that you bash on the counter to open).  

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, everyone has a Thankful Bag to fill with something they are thankful for.    But they can't show each other what's in their bag until it is their turn at Show and Tell.  Imagine a whole day of Show and Tell.  This is great until rich Lucille opens her Thankful Bag and waves all the money in it around the classroom and everyone goes diving for ones, fives, tens and twenties.  A trip to the principal's office delays things a bit.  Junie brought in her favorite stuffed elephant and her nemisis May brought in the same exact stuffed animal.  Words are exhanged, another delay and both girls end up having their elephants taken away by Mr. Scary.  But, despite all, by the end of the day, the class has a list of twenty things on their Thankful List, though Mr. Scary seems somewhat dismayed by what the students listed.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the class is to come in dressed as pilgrims or Native Americans.  Junie isn't happy being a pilgrim, and she is especially unhappy when May comes in dressed as the Native American Princess she wanted to be.  First thing in the morning, the winner of the Thankful List contest is named and, much to everyone's surprise, particularly Mr. Scary, it turns out to be Room One because they had the most honest list ever.  Later in the day, invited parents and other relatives arrive to enjoy a feast with the kids of food they brought with them.  And it turns out that some pumpkin pie is better than others!

Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten is a laugh out loud story with lots of lessons to be learned.  The basic theme here is thankfulness and in the end that is was really comes across.  I thought the fact that the teacher didn't try to change the kids' list choices to make it more PC was a nice touch, and I think the list reflects reality more than we might like to think.  But that is OK, kids really do like such things as rainbow sprinkles, cookies, but not the coconut kind, and the big box of 64 crayons (I was pretty thankful the first time I got a box of 64 crayons).

Parents and teachers don't generally like the Junie B. Jones books, but kids do.  My Kiddo and her cousins always read them and, despite some incorrect grammar and sometimes rowdy behavior, it didn't seem to rub off.

And when you are a 4th grade teacher in a failing school, and a few of the kids in your class have discovered Junie B., and the Amber Brown series and want to read their stories, you are pretty thankful that they want to read anything at all.

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Paula Danziger's Amber Brown is Tickled Pink by Bruce Coville and Elizabeth Levy

I have always had a soft spot for the Amber Brown series.  As a teacher, I watched one of my 4th graders go from not reading to devouring Amber's adventures, as well as other Paula Danziger novels.  I thought that Paula's sudden death in 2004 would be the end of Amber, and who knows what other charming novels she could have written had she lived.  But I was wrong, there would be at least one more Amber Brown book for kids to discover how much they like to read.  Paula's best friends Bruce Coville and Elizabeth Levy teamed up to give us Amber Brown is Tickled Pink.

But does it work?  Is Amber the same Amber she always was, dealing with her joys and sorrows as she learns some important life lessons in the same charmingly 'I, Amber Brown' way?

You bet it does and it is almost seamless.

And best of all, the whimsical illustrations by Tony Ross, who did the other Amber Brown books, are back, too and help to provide a nice sense of continuity

In Amber's latest adventure, her mother is about to get married to Max and Amber couldn't be happier.  Not only does she get to be "best child" at the wedding, but it means her best friend Justin and his family will be there all the way from Alabama, and her dad is seeing a counselor to help him move on with his life and get pass his bitterness over being divorced from Amber's mother.

But suddenly there is trouble in paradise.  Amber's mom is worried about money and wants to just go to City Hall to get married and punk on the reception.  Which means no Justin visiting and telling her friends Brandi and Kelly they are disinvited from the reception party.

To top it all off, Amber's dad is making very snarky remarks about the wedding and Max and causing this 9 year old a great deal of unhappiness, and almost ruining their perfect weekend together.

So who would have thought the a possible affordable solution for the wedding and reception would be found through her nose-picking classmate  Fredrich?  But even after Amber hatches what seems to be the perfect plan, can she pull it off?  And will she be able to get her dad in line, too?

Fans of Amber already know some of the trials and tribulations she has had to deal with over the course of the series and so many of them caused by the adults in her life.  Her best friend Justin's move to Alabama, her parents separation and divorce, her father's new job in Paris, and her mother's new boyfriend now fiancee.  And then there is school - homework, skunks, a girl who also has a two color name.

But these realistic situations told in a first person narrative are exactly the kinds of everyday issues that Amber's young readers are often also dealing with, and for some the stories may be just entertaining, but for others, they may bring moments of solace and solidarity, they way they did for my student.

And I, Alex Baugh, am happy to see Amber's return.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was obtained from the publisher.

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Evie O'Neill has gotten herself in trouble again for using her power to "read" a person's deepest, darkest secrets simply by holding an object of their.  Now, Evie is being shipped off to her uncle's until the resulting hoopla dies down.  Only problem is that Uncle Will lives in New York City, is the curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, affectionately known as The Museum of Creepy Crawlies by New Yorkers, and it is the roaring 1920s.  Punishment?  Not for Evie O'Neill.

And no sooner does Evie arrive in New York, and she and her power to read objects are unofficially caught up in the investigation of some very strange, occultish murders after the police appeal to Uncle Will for help.

The Diviners is a big book - almost 600 pages.  And it is the first book in a series, which means it suffers from what I think of as intro-itis.  It must introduce the reader to a large cast of characters, those who will be recurring and those who are probably only in this one novel, like the villain Naughty John (though, of course, you never know...).  Naturally, most of the recurring characters, and they are a disparate group, all share the same secret as Evie - they too are diviners, though each person's power has a different manifestation.  There are some characters, like Mabel, Evie's best friend, and Uncle Will who may also have powers, but by the end of this book, we still haven't heard about them yet.

But Evie is the center of attention, an energetic teen who like to dress up and party at New York's best speakeasies (punishment?), and who really likes her hooch.  She is a girl of her time, a flapper right down to her headache band, not a bad girl, just a fun-loving one.

As Evie and Uncle Will get caught up in solving the mystery of who is killing people all over the city, a picture of a very creepy murderer begins to emerge.  Creepy not just because he kills, but also how and why he does it.  This is all made even more disturbing by the supernatural element surrounding him and by the song he chants when he is about to strike:

Naughty John, Naughty John

does his work with his apron on.

Cuts your throat and takes your bones, 

sells 'em off for a coupla stones.

On the negative side: my one big question is what parent sends their savvy, fun-loving teenage daughter to New York City to keep her out of trouble?  I know she had to get there, but really...?  OK, that aside, The Diviners is a great book with flaws.  For one thing, the copy I read, and in all fairness, it was an ARC, had so many typos that it was distracting.  For another thing, the whole book needed some serious editing desperately.

On the positive side: The Diviners is definitely the bee's knees.  I could hardly put it down and when I did, I couldn't wait to get back to it.  Bray has created a wonderfully suspenseful historical novel that really has the feel of the 1920s in New York City.  I loved the idea of a museum like the one Uncle Will had.  I only wish there really was such a place.  I have a Funky Museums board on Pinterest and would love to have been able to include The Museum of Creepy Crawlies.  I would have also liked it to have a more major role in the plot, but maybe Bray is saving that for a future book.

The Diviners is a definite read if you like good paranormal fiction, with an abolively, positutely wonderful cast of characters.  I can't wait for the next Evie O'Neill book.

This book is recommended for readers 12+

This book was an ARC received from the publisher 

Vanishing Acts by Leslie Margolis

From the Publisher:
When a movie starring tween heartthrob Seth Ryan starts filming in Park Slope, everyone gets movie mania-including Maggie Brooklyn Sinclair. Though her plans to become a movie extra don't quite work out, Maggie manages to capture Seth's attention and he seeks her out at the Pizza Den to talk. But just when Maggie's life is feeling like a romantic comedy, Seth disappears! Everyone thinks he's been kidnapped, but Maggie knows better. . . .
This young Nancy Drew is back, along with her twin brother and dog-walking business, in a second mystery that shines a spotlight on her super-sleuth skills. Leslie Margolis's pitch-perfect tween voice will leave fans begging for more of this lovable heroine.

My Thoughts:
Vanishing Acts is the second Maggie Brooklyn mystery in a series and I have to confess I didn't read the first volume.  But that's OK.  Like all series books, this was a pretty good stand alone story and references from the first book were easily understandable.Seventh-grader Maggie Brooklyn live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY.  Having earned a reputation as an amateur sleuth in the neighborhood, one chilly October morning Maggie is confronted with another mystery.  Some has been throwing eggs at the dogs being walked in Prospect Park and now Maggie's former best friend Charlotte demands that she solve this mystery, too.  And that is just the beginning.

Oh, wait, egged dogs aren't the beginning.  The beginning is when a life-sized man-shaped balloon, dress in a black suit and tie, hits Maggie on her way to school in the morning.  Before she knows what's hit her (and the dogs), Maggie find herself with three mysteries to solve - balloon man, egged dogs and the disappearance of Seth Ryan, teen heartthrob, who just happens to be making a movie in Prospect Park.

Of course, the mysteries aren't terribly difficult to solve.  Maggie is more of a junior league Nancy Drew, but there is lots of other action apart from the mysteries. There is Maggie's twin brother, Finn, her friend Lucy, who seem to be much friendlier with each other lately.  And there's Milo Sanschez, a boy with a big crush on Maggie.  But will Maggie notice of what is going on right up her eyes or is she too wrapped up in her cases.

Vanishing Acts is a fast, fun story about a smart, sassy girl who life is good, but far from perfect.  In fact, at times it feels like a situation comedy, but that's fine.  This isn't meant to be a terribly serious book.  As an adolescent character, Maggie is funny, clever, resourceful, responsible, but not overly so, and she's also a bit of an entrepreneur with her dog walking business as a way to earn some extra money.  Brooklyn is my hometown (I'm from Flatbush, not Park Slope) and one of the things I really liked was how Margolis captured that diversity that is so very Brooklyn.  In fact, I think this is a perfect middle grade book, ideal for some light reading whenever time allows in the busy lives of middle schoolers.   

Maggie Brooklyn has her own website where you can learn more about Maggie and her world (be sure to check out the map that shows all the important places in her life.)

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday is a weekly event hosted by Shannon Messenger.  Thanks, Shannon!