Review: Midsummer's Mayhem by Rajani Larocca

9781499808889

$16.99

Can Mimi undo the mayhem caused by her baking in this contemporary-fantasy retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream?

Birthday alert! This book's official release date is TOMORROW! I picked up an ARC at KidLitCon back in March, where the author spoke about Diverse Fantasy in the Real World. 

There is so much in this one book that makes me want to organize a book club around it! First up is the fact that Mimi is the youngest in a large Indian-American family, with mention of favorite Indian cuisine sprinkled throughout (culture study). Everyone else in the family is wildly successful: Dad as a food critic, Mom as a business-woman, siblings in sports and arts (explore similar feelings of not measuring up). Mimi is a wonderful baker, but puttering in the kitchen doesn't seem as flashy or impressive as being in the limelight at a performance or game (does something have to make you famous to be important or enjoyable?) Starting a summer without her best friend, who has moved to Australia, Mimi is at a bit of loose ends. (moving, making new friends, noticing new kids at your school)

Then a new bakery in town announces a contest for kids, with the winner meeting Mimi's culinary idol, Puffy Fay (what kind of contest would you have a good chance of winning?). She follows a strange-yet-familiar tune into the forest and discovers a new friend - along with plants and animals she could swear weren't there before (habitat diversity). Things start to look up...and quickly turn sour again.

Mimi's father seems to lose his ability to detect subtle flavors in foods - kind of important for a food critic! - while eating absolutely everything in sight. After eating cookies Mimi makes with ingredients from the forest (herb lore), two boys fall madly in love with one of her sisters, while her brother falls in love with...himself! Then in the first round of the baking contest, Mimi's offering is flatly rejected. Wait a minute - isn't the protagonist supposed to win???

Those who have read Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream will quickly recognize elements of the story line, as well as characters such as (Ti)Tania and Peaseblossom. A brief synopsis offered by a character towards the beginning (as he just happens to be playing Puck in the school production) will give others a heads-up as to what is about to transpire. A book club could, of course, read or watch the play alongside this title. For a short version, I highly recommend Bruce Coville's rewrite.

Either way, readers of any age will enjoy puzzling out mysteries and solutions with Mimi and her new friend Vik. Most of all, they will want to start baking! Mimi makes several tasty snacks throughout the story, musing about specific herbs and spices and how they might work together - blending savory and sweet. This is the reason I most want to have a book club centered on the title: how much fun would it be to experiment together in the same way?!** There are two recipes in the back along with directions for candied rose petals. I plan to try the Chocolate Chunk Thyme Cookies with Citrus Zest soon!

Since I have an ARC I will have to order a finished copy for the library, but as soon as it arrives I will be handing it off to a few young patrons I already have in mind. A solid, engaging middle grade novel with something to appeal to everyone.

**of course, it's also the reason I started experimenting myself this weekend, with results that would definitely NOT win any contests. But that's another post.

Review: Wild Art Projects Series by Emily Kington

I received review copies of two titles in this series:

9781541501294

$27.99

Books about recycled art can be difficult, because they often either a) use specific items not everyone has on hand, or b) call for collecting things that aren't actually trash - stop stealing paint chips from Home Depot, people! That's not actually recycling! This title, fortunately. relies heavily on common trash items, such as cardboard and tin cans, and minimal 'new' items. 

9781541501300

$27.99

I tend to think of these as more cute than scary, but fun for Halloween nevertheless.

Both titles use a LOT of papier mache. Fine motor skills and time needed will make them more appropriate to upper elementary or middle school children - none of these projects could be completed in a short class or story time, but would appeal to a young crafter who needs some fresh ideas to kick-start their creativity. Both begin with (nearly identical) tips for set-up and for keeping clean-up easy, a materials list, and papier mache recipe with basic instructions.

I'm not sure the 7 or so projects in each quite justify the $28 price tag for a library, but if a paperback version comes out it would definitely be worth ordering.

Review: The Magic of Melwick Orchard by Rebecca Caprara

9781512466874

17.99

After more moves than they can count, Isa's family finally puts down roots. People in town are afraid of the abandoned orchard behind their home, but Isa and her sister Junie are happy to have acres of land to explore.

But when Junie gets sick, Isa's mom falls into a depression, and medical bills force Isa's dad to work more. No one notices that Isa's clothes are falling apart and her stomach is empty.

Out of frustration, Isa buries her out-grown sneakers in the orchard. The next day a sapling sprouts buds that bloom to reveal new shoes. Can Isa use this magical tree to save her family?

Since reading this charming middle grade novel, I have found myself mentioning it during a few library tours. It hasn't been planned, or even part of the main topic, but something about a tree that grows useful things lends itself nicely to anyone's imagination!

That is not all this story is about, however. Junie's illness touches on so many hard topics - what it's like to be a child who is sick but who must 'be strong'. What it's like to be the child who doesn't 'need' (and doesn't get) much of her parent's attention. The different ways a parent can be absent - or too present. The struggles (emotional as well as financial) of those parents. The compounded difficulty of making new friends when so many other things weigh on your mind, and the joy and strength that comes when you do make them - be they human or arboreal!

Caprara does an excellent job of balancing the tough feelings with the magical, bringing the reader back before despair sets in. Every time I thought the suspension of disbelief was going to be too hard (come on, how would they explain all those <things - shh!> they were bringing to the hospital?), an explanation or change in plot line would make it work out. I predict this is a title upper middle grade girls in particular will be passing on to each other!

Book Review: The Sky Turned Purple by Sheridan Jones

Well, I don't know about you, but in this unbiased reviewer's opinion, it's brilliant!

Book Review: The Ice Garden by Guy Jones

9781338285338

$17.99

Allergic to the sun, Jess sets out to explore the world she longs to be a part of by night. But what she discovers is a beautiful impossibility: a magical garden wrought of ice...

Jess's imagination has always been her best friend. She's trained it to feel as real as it possibly can, especially in the stories she writes for Davie — the young boy in a coma who is her only friend. But nothing is as real as the world she'll find.

One night, tired of peeking at the other children beyond her curtained house, she sneaks out to explore the empty playground she's longed to visit. Beyond, she discovers a garden made entirely of ice. This is her place: a Narnia with flying elephant mice and ice apples with shining gold liquid inside.

But Jess soon discovers that she's not alone. And her presence there could be destroying its very existence.

I picked this book up to leaf through it when we first got it in at the library, and ended up reading it cover-to-cover in one sitting. Jess's worlds, both the everyday and the ice garden, are beautifully rendered, just detailed enough to give a clear picture while still allowing the reader's imagination to flesh the scenes out. The story captured my imagination immediately, and once begun I had to know how everything turned out.

While readers may find the idea of being allergic to the sun strange and intriguing, the concept of having no agency over one's own life is one most children can easily relate to. Readers of any age will cheer Jess on as she learns to assert her independence and make her wishes known, while still keeping the reality of her world and limitations in sight. Having to make difficult decisions and put others' needs in front of your own are an important coming of age topic, delivered here in a heart-wrenching but age-appropriate manner.

No one ever punches the doctor, though, which I found mildly disappointing.

***Note: I don't read other reviews of books until I have completed my thoughts, but I have to add something here. One popular review source criticized the fact that people of different races are described with only their physical characteristics. While this might well be a flaw in other books, to me it emphasizes Jess's seclusion. The only way she encounters people outside her family and hospital staff is by watching them from a window, so how else would she describe them? What else could she possibly know about people she has only seen, never spoken to or interacted with?

Book Review: Ten Rules of the Birthday Wish by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld

9781524741549

$17.99

The most important rule is #1: It must be your birthday. 

After that's been established, a crew of hilarious animals help picture book pros Tom Lichtenheld and Beth Ferry take readers through a joyous romp that covers the most important elements of every year's most essential holiday, including singing; closing your eyes and making a wish; blowing out candles on a cake, then settling into bed and dreaming of your wish coming true.

Between the text and the illustrations, this is a non-stop giggle from beginning to end. Even the title page has an enormous purple elephant inflating balloons for exuberant (some now airborne) bunnies, with the note "inflation by pachyderm is optional." (Note to the duck, though - I don't know that I would stand in that spot, looking up, for very long.)

Grandparents and beloved Aunties everywhere, take note: This is THE book to send to a child for his or her birthday. Perhaps packaged with party hats and some funky candles. And balloons! Unless, of course, your child is a rhinoceros, swordfish, or sea urchin. (See Rule #2). It will not be lost on young readers that each of these "rules" comes with possible exceptions or allowances, making them all the more humorous and relatable.

Review: Surface Tension by Mike Mullin

978-1939-1001-60

$17.99

After witnessing an act of domestic terrorism while training on his bike, Jake is found near death, with a serious head injury and unable to remember the plane crash or the aftermath that landed him in the hospital.

A terrorist leader’s teenage daughter, Betsy, is sent to kill Jake and eliminate him as a possible witness. When Jake’s mother blames his head injury for his tales of attempted murder, he has to rely on his girlfriend, Laurissa, to help him escape the killers and the law enforcement agents convinced that Jake himself had a role in the crash.

This was one of many ARC's I picked up at KidLitCon, and happened to be one of those I had to pull form my suitcase in order to make weight. That put it at the top of my backpack, so when I needed something to read on my Delta flight home, I pulled it out.

Chapter one begins with the crash of Delta Flight 117. By page 5, everyone aboard is dead. Fortunately, nobody asked me what I was reading.

Needless to say, even without a circumstantial connection, the book grabs your attention right away. Plenty of action, mystery, danger and plot twists keep the reader engrossed to the end - and just when you think everything is going to be okay...

Subplots of racial and economic disparity, Islamophobia, hate groups, 9/11 aftermath and more abound, but remain somewhat superficially addressed. The ending sets the book up for a sequel, so perhaps a bit more background and depth will come - or, perhaps not, since this is primarily an action story!

Parts of the plot stretch plausibility, but remain within the realm of possibility. Not something I would pick to read as a class and study, but one I would happily hand off to a teen who has little patience for slow-paced novels.

Hardcover is available now, paperback coming next month.