The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches Lie

From Publisher's Weekly…

The mystery is personal for Flavia de Luce in Bradley’s excellent sixth novel featuring the precocious 11-year-old sleuth in post-WWII England (after 2013’s Speaking from Among the Bones). The body of Harriet de Luce, her mother who disappeared in a mountaineering accident when Flavia was about a year old, has finally been recovered, and has been transported to the family home in Bishop’s Lacey for burial. As if that news wasn’t dramatic enough, Flavia is dumbfounded when she finds that former Prime Minister Winston Churchill is on hand for the coffin’s arrival at the railway station, and baffled when a stranger accosts her with a message for her father that “the Gamekeeper is in jeopardy.” Confusion turns to horror when the messenger falls, or is pushed, beneath the wheels of the funeral train. Despite the turmoil of these developments, Flavia retains her droll wit (showing off her encyclopedic knowledge of chemistry, she notes, “Metol, of course, was nothing more than a fancy name for plain old Monomethylparaminophenol Sulfate”). The solution to a murder is typically neat, and the conclusion sets up future books nicely. 

Lovely! Can't wait for the next one.  

The Lightning Dreamer

KIRKUS REVIEW..

Belpre Honor..

An inspiring fictionalized verse biography of one of Cuba’s most influential writers.

Newbery Honor–winning Engle (The Surrender Tree, 2008) here imagines the youth of Cuban-born Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (1814-73), a major 19th-century writer who was an abolitionist and feminist opposed to all forms of slavery, including arranged marriage. From Sab, her subject’s 1841 abolitionist novel, Engle loosely deduces her artistic development, not only including the two arranged marriages she refused in real life, but the budding writer’s struggles at home. There, “Tula” was subjected to the discriminatory views of her mother and grandfather, who sought to educate her only in the domestic arts since, according to Mamá, “Everyone knows that girls / who read and write too much / are unattractive.” Denied the education her brother received, Tula laments, “I’m just a girl who is expected / to live / without thoughts.” Engle’s clear, declarative verse animates the impassioned voice of Tula as well as other major figures in her life—her sympathetic brother, Manuel, the orphans she comes to love and entertain with grand plays meshing themes of autonomy and racial equality, and her family’s housekeeper, Caridad, a former slave who is eventually inspired by Tula’s wild tales of true emancipation to leave her confining situation.

Fiery and engaging, a powerful portrait of the liberating power of art. (historical note, translated excerpts from Avellaneda’s work, bibliography) (Historical fiction/verse. 12 & up)

Beautiful!

The Testing

From Publisher's Weekly…
2013 Agatha Nominee

Making the jump from adult mysteries to YA, Charbonneau (the Rebecca Robbins series) launches a dystopian trilogy reminiscent of the Hunger Games. Cia Vale is one of four teens chosen to represent her small colony at the annual Testing, an intensive mental and physical examination aimed at identifying the best and brightest, who will go on to the University and help rebuild their shattered world. Forewarned not to trust anyone, Cia nonetheless forms a tentative partnership with resourceful Tomas, with whom she shares an unexpected emotional connection. As the Testing pushes its candidates to the breaking point and beyond, the body count rises, forcing Cia and her friends to fight for survival. The rising tension, skillfully executed scenarios, and rich characterizations all contribute to an exciting story bound to capture readers’ imaginations. However, it’s the last-minute revelations, a cliffhanger laden with potential, and the intriguing status quo of Cia’s world that will bring readers back for the next installment. Charbonneau works action, romance, intrigue, and a plausible dystopian premise into a near-flawless narrative. Ages 12–up.

Very good! OK for middle school.

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

From Publisher's Weekly
2014 Belpre Award….

High school sophomore Piddy Sanchez can't catch a break. She's just moved and transferred schools, separating her from her best friend. Piddy's curvy figure attracts the attention of both boys and school bully Yaqui, who is jealous and won't accept ambitious and independent Piddy into her group of Latinas, and threatens to harm her. Piddy's life is complicated enough before Yaqui's cruel threats and violent attacks. Outside of school, Piddy works with a flamboyant family friend at a hair salon; has just discovered that her traditional mother may have secrets about Piddy's absent father; develops romantic feelings for a childhood friend; and worries if her dream of working with animals can come true. When Yaqui takes things too far, Piddy has to decide what she is willing to do to defend herself. Piddy is a strong heroine whose sense of self is realistically jarred by her conflicting emotions. Medina (The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind) effectively prods at the motivations behind bullying (without excusing it) and sensitively explores the delicate balance between belonging and maintaining individuality. Ages 14–up. 

Excellent!  Loved it!  Unfortunately too old for middle school..

Flora and Ulysses The Illuminated Adventures

From Publisher's Weekly…
2014 Newbery Award

Newbery Medalist DiCamillo and illustrator Campbell meld prose with comics sequences in a broad comedy tinged with sadness. Bitter about her parents’ divorce, Flora Buckman has withdrawn into her favorite comic book, The Amazing Incandesto! and memorized the advisories in its ongoing bonus feature, Terrible Things Can Happen to You! She puts those life-saving tips into action when a squirrel is swallowed whole by a neighbor’s new vacuum cleaner, the Ulysses Super-Suction Multi-Terrain 2000X. Flora resuscitates the squirrel, christens him after the vacuum, and witnesses a superhero-like transformation: Ulysses is now über-strong, can fly, and composes poetry. Despite supremely quirky characters and dialogue worthy of an SAT prep class, there’s real emotion at the heart of this story involving two kids who have been failed by the most important people in their lives: their parents. It’s into this profound vacuum that Ulysses really flies, demonstrating an unconditional love for his rescuer, trumped only perhaps by his love for food and a desire “to make the letters on the keyboard speak the truth of his heart.” Ages 10–up. 

Hmmmm…This book was ok, and I certainly wouldn't have picked it as the Newbery winner.  I thought  it didn't make sense in parts…for example, why did Flora's mother all of a sudden go off the deep end?  And, then why then why did she change into a loving parent at the end?  Too young for middle school.  

Mister Orange

From Publisher's Weekly…
2014 Batchelder Award

Linus’s older brother Albie has gone off to fight in WWII, and Linus, who lives in Manhattan, has inherited Albie’s grocery delivery route and his love of comic books. On his grocery rounds, Linus meets Mister Orange, a forthright, unconventional artist who serves Linus as a provocative sounding board (he’s modeled on Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, who lived in Manhattan during the war). Yet even open-minded Mister Orange presents Linus with a dilemma: what value does the artist’s imagination have in the midst of a war? “If imagination were as harmless as you think,” Mister Orange tells Linus, “then the Nazis wouldn’t be so scared of it.” Served well by Watkinson’s graceful translation, Matti (Departure Time) draws an exceptionally sensitive portrait of introspective Linus and his understanding of what war is and what it does to its victims, as Albie’s letters home grow increasingly sober. She avoids the temptation to pump up the story’s action with gratuitous violence; the events of the book are low-key enough that the focus stays on Linus. It’s a quiet novel, but a deeply touching one. Ages 11–up. (Jan.)

Lovely! Good for middle school…

P.S. Be Eleven

From Publisher's Weekly..
2014 Coretta Scott King Author Award

Delphine and her sisters return to Brooklyn from visiting their estranged mother, Cecile, a poet who sent them off every day to a camp run by the Black Panthers in Williams-Garcia’s Newbery Honor–winning One Crazy Summer. It wasn’t the California vacation they expected, but the experience rocked their world. Big Ma, their grandmother, is no longer just a stern taskmaster, she’s an oppressor. Delphine, who again narrates, loses interest in magazines like Tiger Beat and Seventeen: “When there’s Afros and black faces on the cover, I’ll buy one,” she tells a storeowner. Reflecting society at large in 1968, change and conflict have the Gaither household in upheaval: Pa has a new girlfriend, Uncle Darnell returns from Vietnam a damaged young man, and the sixth-grade teacher Delphine hoped to get has been replaced by a man from Zambia. Though the plot involves more quotidian events than the first book, the Gaither sisters are an irresistible trio. Williams-Garcia excels at conveying defining moments of American society from their point of view—this is historical fiction that’s as full of heart as it is of heartbreak. 

Good, but a little young for middle school.  

The Thing About Luck

From Publisher's Weekly…
2013 National Book Award Winner

Sharp characterizations and descriptive details about modern farming invigorate Newbery Medalist Kadohata’s (Kira-Kira) funny and warm story about the Japanese-American daughter of migrant workers. Twelve-year-old Summer’s family has suffered a year of bad luck that included Summer’s near-fatal contraction of malaria and her parents’ departure to Japan to be with ailing relatives. In order to make ends meet, Summer’s grandparents come out of retirement to work for custom harvesters, which requires them to travel throughout the Midwest. Taking time off from school to accompany them, Summer reflects on her paranoia about mosquitoes, her lonely younger brother’s inability to make friends, and her annoyance at her sharp-tongued grandmother. During a time of crisis, however, Summer must set her concerns aside to rise to a challenge. Lively dialogue and a succinct narrative laced with humor effectively convey Summer’s emotions, observations, and courage. Readers will relate to her uncertainties and admire both her compassion and her work ethic. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 10–14. 

Excellent!  Ok for middles school.