I Will Always Write Back

From Publisher's Weekly…

In 1997, a 12-year old girl from Hatfield, Pa., and a 14-year-old boy from Mutare, Zimbabwe, began a pen-pal relationship. In alternating chapters, Alifirenka and Ganda recount how their mutual curiosity led to an increasingly honest, generous correspondence. Martin loves receiving Caitlin's photo, but when she requests one in return, "My heart went from sprinting to a standstill." He sends her the only photo his family owns. Hearing BBC accounts of Zimbabwe's political and economic turmoil alarms Caitlin, but a letter written on a popsicle wrapper shocks her: "I gasped. My friend was writing me on trash." She begins to send him her babysitting money—which Martin's family uses to buy food and to pay school fees and rent—and Caitlin's family eventually decides to sponsor Martin's education. Sensitively and candidly demonstrating how small actions can result in enormous change, this memoir of two families' transformation through the commitment and affection of long-distance friends will humble and inspire. Ages 12–up. 

What a wonderful and inspirational story!  Fun to read!

Popular A Memoir

KIRKUS REVIEW

An interesting and earnest memoir of a social experiment conducted by a contemporary eighth-grader who follows the advice in a popularity guide written for 1950s-era teens and blogged the experience for one school year.

Van Wagenen is the oldest child in her loving, quirky family. A talented writer, she’s funny, thoughtful and self-effacing. She is also, as she describes it, part of the “Social Outcast group, the lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be there.” Over the year, she discovers a great deal, most notably that despite its sounding a bit pat, popularity is “about who you are, and how you treat others.” Teens will readily identify with her candid descriptions of social dynamics at her middle school. Many of the scenarios that arise from her adherence to the suggestions in Betty Cornell’s Teen-Age Popularity Guide are effectively played to comic effect, such as wearing a girdle or pearls and white gloves. Vignettes about her life, including her grief over the death of a beloved teacher, her horror at hearing the news of a boy killed at a nearby school after he brings in a pellet gun and her excitement over speaking to Betty Cornell by telephone, provide balance.

A fascinating and unusual slice-of-life work whose humor will best be appreciated by younger teens. (Memoir. 12-16)

Adorable and funny!  

Marcelo in the Real World

From Publisher's Weekly..

Artfully crafted characters form the heart of Stork’s (The Way of the Jaguar ) judicious novel. Marcelo Sandoval, a 17-year-old with an Asperger’s-like condition, has arranged a job caring for ponies at his special school’s therapeutic-riding stables. But he is forced to exit his comfort zone when his high-powered father steers Marcelo to work in his law firm’s mailroom (in return, Marcelo can decide whether to stay in special ed, as he prefers, or be mainstreamed for his senior year). Narrating with characteristically flat inflections and frequently forgetting to use the first person, Marcelo manifests his anomalies: he harbors an obsession with religion (he regularly meets with a plainspoken female rabbi, though he’s not Jewish); hears “internal” music; and sleeps in a tree house. Readers enter his private world as he navigates the unfamiliar realm of menial tasks and office politics with the ingenuity of a child, his voice never straying from authenticity even as the summer strips away some of his differences. Stork introduces ethical dilemmas, the possibility of love, and other “real world” conflicts, all the while preserving the integrity of his characterizations and intensifying the novel’s psychological and emotional stakes. Not to be missed. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)

I picked this up because the description said "reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night," and it is similar.  I thought this a very good book, although too old for middle school!

Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat

From Publisher's Weekly….

A master of action-propelled outdoor stories, Paulsen moves his focus inside, literally and figuratively, as he explores the interactions among six eighth-grade boys while they take shelter in a school bathroom during a severe weather alert. The situation is recounted by narrator Jordan, known for his anxiety-induced nosebleeds, his “standing date with the detention hall,” and his acerbic, insecurity-masking humor. Through the boys’ conversations and Jordan’s opinionated commentary, Paulsen shapes complex portraits of each character (including a condescending “hyperintellectual,” a popular but “emotionally tone deaf” overachiever, and a mostly nonspeaking kid plugged into his earbuds and rocking an air guitar), exposing subtle contrasts between their inner and outer selves. At the story’s emotional center is skittish new student Avery, who’s embarrassed by his security blanket–like plush cat. The novel’s contained setting and rapid-fire dialogue gives the story a theatrical quality that Paulsen taps into directly by retelling the entire story in screenplay form, complete with stage directions, at the end. Both versions provide opportunities for thought and conversations about self-honesty, stereotypes, and making friends in unexpected situations. Ages 8–12. 

Good, sophisticated narrative typical of Paulsen.

Pokemon Go! The Ultimate Unauthorized Guide

From Goodreads

The essential guide book to the biggest mobile game in history, Pokémon Go!
Pokémon GO! The Ultimate Unauthorized Guide is a must-read companion to the hit mobile game that has taken the world by storm. This essential guide will teach gamers all they need to know to become the ultimate Pokémon Master. Filled with tips, cheats, strategies, insights and even guides to Pokémon Go sites in a variety of cities, Pokémon GO! The Ultimate Unauthorized Guideis indispensable for anyone looking to fill their Pokédex. This guide includes:
• Everything you need to know about Lures, PokéBalls, Eggs 
• How to catch the really hard Pokémon…Level 20 and above!
• Level Up! XP, Medals, Achievements + more
• How to find the best Gyms and Pokéstops in your hometown

Informative!  I wish I would have read this when I first started playing.  Not really well written though, and a bit repetitive.  

33 Minutes

From Publisher's Weekly…

Adult author Hasak-Lowy (Captives) makes his middle-grade debut with an entertaining story about the shifting nature of friendship. Sam and Morgan used to be best friends, but a new kid named Chris has driven them apart, with Morgan joining the football team and becoming one of the most popular seventh graders. As the novel opens, the titular countdown to the moment when Morgan is scheduled to beat up Sam has begun, and Sam’s flashbacks to the events surrounding their friendship’s dissolution intermix with that last half hour of safety at school. The supporting cast is only lightly developed, and Chris comes across as a one-dimensional villain, rather than the more complex character that his background suggests (readers learn, for instance, that his parents are seldom around). Nonetheless, Hasak-Lowy gives Sam an amusingly discursive narrative voice (on getting his “butt kicked”: “[I]f you knew someone was going to kick you some place, would you not hope for that place to be your butt?”) through which he dissects the middle school experience and his loss of a friend. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House. (Jan.)

Cute! Friendship is a difficult thing in middle school.  

Under the Egg

From Publisher's Weekly…
2016-17 middle school LOE

As he lay dying, Theodora Tenpenny’s grandfather Jack muttered something about a treasure “under the egg.” Theodora, 13, thinks this means that Jack—a thrifty, unknown artist—left a means of providing for Theo and her unreliable mother. She searches the mantelpiece, beneath Jack’s painting of an egg, and the bowl where they display an egg gathered from the chicken coop behind their Greenwich Village townhouse. Nothing. Then an accident uncovers another image under Jack’s painting, sending Theo and her new friend Bodhi, the daughter of two film stars, on a mission to discover the provenance of what appears to be a Renaissance masterpiece. Theo is smart and resourceful, and debut author Fitzgerald creates a plausible backstory for the teen’s uncanny ability to spot “the difference between a Manet and a Monet.” While the resolution falls into place too easily, the search for answers forces Theo out of her shell and into the wonderfully quirky community around her. Fans of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will find this another delightful lesson in art history. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (Mar.)

I agree that the ending was too convenient but overall a delightful book.