MG Shorter Musings

Here are some shorter musings some recent MG reads.

Bounce by Megan Shull
This book is a fun spin on the old wish-for-a-different-life Christmas story. Frannie is having the worst Christmas ever when her parents decide to take off for the holiday and her brother and sister throw a major party in the house. Frannie wishes for a new family. When she wakes up, she's living someone else's life. And then it keeps happening. Christmas day over and over as someone else each time. The novel is fast paced and during her adventures Frannie faces her fears and becomes a little less afraid of the world. I think I would have liked this book more if I felt Frannie's character were better developed. I found myself far more invested in the girls whose lives she inhabited than I did her even at the end. As a mother, I found her parents to be the absolute worst as well.

The Harlem Charade by Natasha Tarpley

This is a good, entertaining mystery for MG readers. It has a lot of history about Harlem in it and a diverse cast of characters. As many mysteries do, this has a lot of info dumps. They are not handled with the strategic finesse I expect from really good mystery writers though and the writing feels clunky as a result. There is a lot of adults bearing their secrets to middle schoolers and yet not interfering with the dangerous investigation they have undertaken alone. It has a fast paced plot and I really appreciated how the friendship angle was handled. This is a great one to have on hand for mystery lovers.

The Memory Thief by Bryce Moore
This is an adventurous sibling tale about twins whose parents are on the brink of divorce. They visit a fair where they run into a nefarious Memory Thief who steals all of Kelly's memories of her twin Bryce. She doesn't know who he is and she is mean and nasty about it. Bryce desperately wants his sister back and becomes a Memory Thief himself in order to restore her memories of him. The action is fast paced and I can definitely see kid readers liking this one. I thought it could use a little better pacing and closure at the end. (The end is very rushed.) It is an interesting look at people, motivations, assumptions, and secrets.

The Secret of Goldenrod by Jane O'Reilly

WARNING: This review is spoiler-ish.

The sentence level writing in this book is good and the characters are also memorable. My reasons for not clicking with the book are more about my expectations as a reader, which I would ordinarily say was my own fault. However, in this case the author intentionally messes with those expectations. Girl moves to a spooky house where strange things happen, no one has been able to live in, all the town's people are afraid of, and as a reader you sit back and wait for the ghosts and the stories of murder and anguish in the house. The author built that expectation up beautifully. Then the doll in a doll house in a hidden room behind a mirror comes to life. And talks. I mean, COME ON. Creepy stuff right around the corner. Right? Clearly the doll is going to be bad news. Again the author builds on that expectation and keeps the reader in a heightened sense of suspense. And....NOTHING HAPPENS. The girl plays with the doll. She learns lessons about friendship. And kind of sort of deals with her mom issues. (Her mom left her, because it's a MG book.) Everyone gets a happy ending. Over 300 pages and that's it. I ended the book with a huge sense of betrayal and more than a little annoyed at the author.

Comments

Brenda said…

Totally agree with you on Frannie's parents and the lives that she "bounced" into were what made the story for me.

January 31, 2017 at 12:17 PM

Brandy said…

Yes, it was a fun book but I wished there were a little more actual development of Frannie.

February 6, 2017 at 9:40 AM

Serafina and the Black Cloak

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty is a thrilling tale of mystery and adventure set at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC in 1899. Having lived in Asheville and visited the house several times, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to read this. (Also it's MG fantasy, always a bonus for me.) Serafina lives in secret in the basement of the Vanderbilt's spacious vacation home. She has lived there most of her life. Her father worked on the house as it was being built and is the mechanic who runs the massive generator and keeps the electricity going. Serafina is the chief rat catcher, slipping through the halls of her massive home secretly and quietly. She is light on her feet, sees well in the dark, and is quick enough to catch the vermin and keep them out. Serafina knows she if different and strange. Her father insists she stay hidden. But all that changes when one night Serafina witnesses a horrible crime. A little girl, a guest in the house, is fleein

Shorter Musings MG Fantasy

Here are some shorter musings on recent MG fantasy reads. Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack This book is fun. It is a book full of adventure, an obvious bad guy, some more complicated morally gray area characters, and a strong, brave heroine. It is also a book about friendships, community, and fighting for what is right. All things that usually work for me really well. While I enjoyed this, I did feel it was a little overlong and there were certain plot points at the end I didn't love. However, there were things I thought were done really well, such as Anya's Jewish faith and the idea that power needs to be challenged. In the end it was a middle of the road read for me, but it is one I will certainly be recommending to dragon and fantasy adventure lovers I know! R is for Rebel by J. Anderson Coats This is tough because I usually really like Coats's books. I had such a hard time with this one though on so many levels. It's difficult to get into because t

Favorite Kissing Scenes

When thinking of a favorite things post I could do for February I decided it would have to be kissing. I've already done couples and I was feeling in the mood to do something fluffy and Valentine's related. So kisses it is. I read more MG than YA, and the YA I read tends to not focus on romance so this was actually harder than I expected it to be though a few jumped into my head right away. (And one of my choices does actually come from a MG book. One is adult. Gasp!) The actual scene from the book is quoted followed by my thoughts. The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and a groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife, and when it was over, the king closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the hollow of the queen's shoulder, like a man seeking respite, like a man reaching home at the end of the day . - The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner Turner doesn't write the

Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older is everywhere. Best of lists. Award buzz. Blogs everywhere. It's one of those books everyone is reading and talking about. I had it on my TBR but decided I definitely needed to read it before the year was out just so I could weigh in on one of the most talked about books of 2015 if asked. It is deserving of every good thing said about it. Every. One. Sierra was looking forward to a relaxing summer break. Her plans involved hanging out with her friends and painting. They did not involve being chased by zombie like creatures and threatened by a magical power connected to her family's heritage she has never heard of. When murals begin fading all over her Brooklyn neighborhood, Sierra is perplexed. When her grandfather, who had a stroke, begins to apologize and starts repeating strange phases and insisting Sierra get the help of a boy she barely knows to help her finish her mural, Sierra is concerned but mostly about her grandfather. Then at a

The Field Guide to the North American Teeanager

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe is a book I picked up on a whim at the bookstore when it first came out. I liked the cover. I thought it had an engaging premise. I went into it with a healthy does of trepidation because the execution could have gone so terribly wrong. Fortunately, Philippe is an excellent character writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent reading about Norris's adventures in Texas and high school. High school junior Norris Kaplan's life is ruined by his mother when she takes a job that requires them to leave the only home he has ever known in Montreal, Quebec. Moving is always hard, but Norris knows for him it will be harder than it's ever been for anyone else. Norris is moving to Texas. He will be a Canadian living in Texas. Not just a Canadian. A French Canadian who speaks fluent French. And not just your average run-of-the-mill French Canadian. A black son of Haitian immigrant parents French Canadian. If Norris has

Random Musings of a Bibliophile

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