The Trouble with Heroes - Kate Messner

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"One summer. Forty-six mountain peaks. A second chance to make things right.

Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn's about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines...until now.

Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he's in big trouble for kicking down some dead old lady's headstone. But it turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual deal: climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks with her dead mother's dog, and they can call it even.

In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails. At the top of each peak, he can see for miles and slowly begins to understand more about himself and his dad. But the mountains don't care about any of that, and as the clock ticks down to September, they have more surprises in store. Finn's final summit challenge may be more than even a hero can face." 

Champions of the Galaxy - Tola Okogwu

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When a powerful group of aliens threaten Earth, a mysterious species called the Onni offers humanity hope. But there's a catch. Ninety-one children from across the planet must first prove their worth by competing in a series of trials set on a distant planet. 

For twelve-year-old Kola, who has long dreamed of going into space, it's the chance of a lifetime. But once aboard the Onni mothership, Kola finds himself thrown into a misfit team of Champions. As secrets unravel and tensions rise, Kola and his team must decide who to trust and what it really means to be a Champion. Because in the end, it's not about being the smartest or the strongest. It's about standing together."

Just Ask Elsie - Ari Koontz

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Elsie Parker is having a totally normal fifth grade year. Fractions and conjunctions - check. Stressing about middle school - check. Body-positive puberty class at church that also covers feelings and identities - check.

Okay, maybe that last one isn't so normal. It's a little weird (and awkward) to spend her Sundays talking periods, B.O., and pimples. But Elsie's also learning a lot more than she's heard in her public-school health class - like the difference between sex and gender, and what consent is, and what it might mean that she can't stop blushing around a certain cute girl at her school.

When her puberty lessons become the school's latest gossip, Elsie's totally humiliated...until she finds an anonymous note in her locker from a classmate who wants to know more, and realizes that other kids might have embarrassing questions of their own.

Starting an underground advice board wasn't exactly in her plans, but Elsie won't pass up a chance to turn her reputation around - or to share words and labels that have not-so-accidentally been left off their curriculum. But when the principal tries to shut down the unauthorized puberty talk, Elsie has to decide what she's willing to risk to tell the truth to kids who really need to hear it."

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So Elsie is one of only a few students in her school who has access to real, helpful education about what to expect from puberty, and while at first it's embarrassing when people find out, she ultimately realizes that her classmates need the information she's learning as much as she does, and what's more she is passionate about trying to share it. Her principal doesn't like that she's sharing said information on a whiteboard on her locker (particularly information about what the letters in LGBTQ stand for), so she and her crush/new friend team up to put the information in a zine instead. The objection to her whiteboard was that it was too public, so younger students who weren't ready for puberty information might encounter it - a zine shared only with fifth graders solves that problem, right?

Wrong. When a copy is found in a restroom and shared with the principal, Elsie finds herself in hot water with a week of detention. With her future at Pathways, a specialized middle school that would allow her to focus on her passion for art, at risk, Elsie has to consider whether to drop her quest for improved puberty education for her fellow classmates or keep pushing. Dropping it would be the safer path, but with a little encouragement from her friends, Elsie knows she can't just let this go. Together, they hatch a plan to show their principal why actual puberty education is important...but will their message get across? Or will Elsie find herself suspended and, worse, lose her spot at Pathways?

I liked this book (the first two thirds got me through my iron infusion this week), so I'm going to get my gripes out of the way first so then we can focus on the good stuff. I've only got two, but let's say one and a half because one isn't exclusive to this book, it's more of a general peeve. So, gripe the first: all the Pathways stuff. Elsie has two parents and a DNA donor who have the means and capacity to advocate for inclusive policies and positive change in public schools, so OF COURSE they're going to send their kid to a specialized school instead of continuing with the public school system! Why try to make public schools better for everyone when you could just use your means to make sure your kid is taken care of? Like I said, this isn't specifically a complaint with this book, but it's something that really irks my nerves. If we want public schools to be better, then the families like Elsie's need to support the public school system. That's all I'll say about that.

Gripe the second: the lack of dimension with the principal. Are there teachers and admin out there like this principal, complete tools who clearly became teachers to exert control over kids in attempt to feel powerful and in control? FOR SURE. But in my experience, admin who mean well but are quick to crumple to perceived possible pressure from narrowminded parents at the expense of student well-being are much more common, and it would have been more satisfying to see this type of more nuanced take, instead of just having it be "principal bad guy, must take him down!"

Anyhow, all that said, overall I thought this was a very strong story, and I appreciated that Elsie found ways to push back where needed in a way that felt true to life and not contrived. I loved the character development and how well multiple different students were brought in without it feeling overwhelming or like people were being shoehorned in. I really appreciated Mara and Elsie's friendship, and I especially loved that while they did get in a big fight, the way it was resolved demonstrated healthy communication in a very realistic way. I also loved Elsie's relationship with her parents, and I thought her dad's interactions with her were so sweet and understanding. Finally, I thought the development of Elsie's crush was a great way to showcase a little bit of romance without it feeling unrealistic or too mature for her age. The characters were the strongest part of this book, and I loved them all.

Bonus Sunday = Bonus Reviews

Five Sundays this month means an extra blog post for me! I recently finished a handful of middle grade books that are potential nominees for our state book award list, so I figured why not give a little rundown of each of them? Here we go!

Seeds of Discovery: How Barbara McClintock Used Corn and Curiosity to Solve a Science Mystery and Win a Nobel Prize by Lori Alexander - This biography of Barbara McClintock was so informative and interesting! I loved how it broke down the scientific process, and I found Barbara's determination to be herself no matter what inspiring. Did I expect a biography about a scientist to make me cry? I did not, but it did!

Psychic Investigators, Evil Exterminators by K.T. Healey - I liked this story overall, it was very touching and a great book about the different ways people navigate grief. I especially appreciated the way our main character went to bat for his friend when one of their teachers were trying to tell his mom that she was a "bad influence" because she was flamboyant and a bit of a class clown. I am going to level with you, though, sometimes graphic novels are a bit overstimulating for me, and this one was no exception. A LOT going on, and I didn't always know what order panel dialogue was supposed to go in. Still a solid read!

Global by Andrew Donkin and Eoin Colfer - Another graphic novel, but this one was much less dialogue-heavy and relied a lot more on the illustrations to tell the story. This book was very haunting and tense, two kids in difficult situations as a result of climate change (and, let's be real, their own questionable choices). I thought it was beautifully told, inspirational, and touching.

So anyway, I'm a few books into this list of choices for our final top ten list of nominees, and I've already enjoyed all of them? It's going to be fun trying to narrow these down to my favorites.

The Chismosas Only Book Club - Laekan Zea Kemp

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Cat, Sofia, Ana, and Mari are best friends. Nothing, nada, can break the special bond they share. And after Cat's mom chides the girls to quit their loud cackling at the bookstore as they carry on like a bunch of chismosas, the name sticks - Cat creates The Chismosas Only Book Club, so the girls can stay connected throughout their first year of high school, even when their class schedules and club activities rip them apart.

But ninth grade is harder than any of the girls predicted, and it seems that no amount of conchas y libros y riendo at Milagro's Books, founded generations ago by Cat's great-great-grandmother, can repair the ever-growing cracks in their friendship. But maybe the spirit of Milagro herself can."

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I'm working on getting back into reading and reviewing ARCs (advanced reader copies) from NetGalley so I better keep up with new releases for school, so here we are, the return of the ARC reviews!

For my first review, The Chismosas Only Book Club by Laekan Zea Kemp caught my eye. I've read some of her books before, have a bunch of them already in our school library, and this book seems like one that many of my older students would be drawn to. Preparing for a big change like high school and worrying about what will change is super relatable - it definitely called to me, and I know many of my sixth graders, preparing to go to a new school for middle school next year, will see themselves in Cat, Sofia, Ana, and Cat.

Outside of this initial appeal (and a huge bonus for my school population), I really appreciated that not only were the characters centered in the book all Latina, their culture also features pretty heavily in the story. I loved this inclusion of traditions big and small, and I know my students will be thrilled to see themselves and some of their own traditions reflected in the characters of this book. I thought the character development, particularly with some of the secondary characters, was one of the strongest parts of the story. I loved the interactions between the four Chismosas, and obviously the story revolves around them so it makes sense that they were featured most heavily, but I would have taken sooooo much more of Cat's sister, Sofia's dad, and Ana's grandma in particular.

My one big gripe with this book was the pace. This is a four-star review, so obviously I enjoyed the book, but I wish things had progressed more quickly so we could have had more of a sense of conclusion at the end. It's possible that this was intentional, but instead of your typical rising action, climax, resolution, the end structure, this story was rising action, more of the same drama, more of the same drama, more of the same drama, climaxtheend. The things that happened with each of the quartet in the last couple of chapters felt like things that should have been happening maybe three quarters of the way through the book so then we could see where those actions ultimately took them, but instead it was like "YES, Ana is finally standing up for herself and Sofia is speaking up about how her mom makes her feel! Good for h--oh, it's over?" Like I said, maybe this was a deliberate choice, but it was the one thing about this otherwise wonderful book that felt dissatisfying to me. Otherwise, love it, it's a 100% have to buy for my school's collection.

Now, what shall I pick for my NEXT ARC review?!

Greenwild - Pari Thomson

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Eleven-year-old Daisy Thistledown is on the run. Her mother has been keeping big, glittering secrets, and now she has vanished. Daisy knows it's up to her to find Ma - but someone is hunting her across London. Someone determined to stop her from discovering the truth.

So when Daisy flees to safety through a mysterious hidden doorway, she can barely believe her eyes - she has stepped out of the city and into another world.

This is the Greenwild. Bursting with magic and full of amazing natural wonders, it seems too astonishing to be true. But not only is this land of green magic real, it holds the key to finding Daisy's mother. 

And someone wants to destroy it.

Daisy must band together with a botanical genius, a boy who can talk with animals, and a spunky cat to uncover the truth about who she really is. Only then can she channel the power that will change her whole world...and save the Greenwild itself."

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First mystery book of 2026! God, I loved it. I will say that it clocks in at 364 pages and I think that could have been pared down a touch, but for the most part I found the entire thing very compelling and hard to put down, and I whizzed through it. The world of the Greenwild felt so vivid, I could see everything I was reading and wish there was a place like it that I could visit in real life. I thought the characters were well-developed, and the way they made an already lively world feel even more alive was glorious. And I thought the way they incorporated illustrations periodically throughout the book was a very nice touch. All around a delight.

Specifically, while I think there were certain characters that it was obvious from the beginning were bad news (sorry for maybe spoilers, but Craven? Come on, dude's name is CRAVEN, no one gives that name to a good guy, and it's SO clear immediately that he sucks), I think the mystery Thomson wove was a good one, and I thought there were some awesome reveals (some that I guessed and some that I didn't, and some that made me cry!). I thought the book took on a lot of complex stuff in a really nuanced way - not the whole climate change thing, it took that on well in a very not nuanced way, which I'm more than fine with, but OTHER things - and I feel like a lot of kids reading this would be able to see themselves in various characters. 

I was lowkey bummed when I realized before reading that this was part of a series, just because I have SO many things I want to read that every time I discover a new series, I'm like cool, even MORE! It's daunting. But in this case, I think it was very earned, and I've got a hold on the second book at the library. Very excited to find out what happens next!

Middlegrade Microreviews

I've been reading a ton of middlegrade books for this award committee I'm on, and I thought hey, why not share my thoughts on all these books I'm knocking out? So here we go, several brief reviews of the books I've been reading the last couple of months.

1. Monster Tree by Sarah Allen - Started off strong, but ultimately ended up feeling somewhat half-baked. The explanation for the spooky things that were happening and the reason they were targeting the main character didn't track for me, the ending was rushed and unsatisfying, and overall I just didn't find it terribly spooky.

2. All the Ways to Go by Jessie Janowitz - I really couldn't decide how I felt about this one. On the one hand, it didn't really feel like there was anything driving the story forward, so I was like what is this actually about? On the other, I enjoyed it the entire time. So...I guess that means it was good.

3/4. Link and Hud: Heroes by a Hair and Link and Hud: Sharks and Minnows by Jerome and Jarrett Pumphrey - I accidentally read these out of order, and that mistake has me conflicted. The thing is, I read the first one (the "first one" being book 2) and was like wow, these boys have some pretty problematic behaviors, and at the end of the day those behaviors end up basically being celebrated, which is wild to me. Yikes. But then I read the second one (the "second one" being book 1), and while it starts with them having some similarly problematic behaviors, in the end it seems like there is more of a "we're learning that there's a time and a place for actions like this and that we should also sometimes think about how what we do impacts other people" message. So now I'm just kind of baffled. Like...not only NO character growth in the second book, NEGATIVE character growth. I guess book one, thumbs up, book two, thumb sideways.

5. A Split Second by Janae Marks - Realistic fantasy, all about the struggle of navigating friendships and conflict. I thought it was very sweet!

6. Not an Easy Win by Chrystal D. Giles - I'm disappointed I didn't like this one as much as I wanted to. I thought the first bit was excellent, but then it just dragged a little too long. If it were shorter, it would have been five stars. I still enjoyed it, but I have my doubts about if the age group it's intended for would stick with it when it slows down.

7. Heroes of the Water Monster by Brian Young - I think this is technically a "companion" novel to another book, Healer of the Water Monster, and I was hoping that not having the context of the other book wouldn't impact my experience with the story, but it did. I think Young did his best to make it work as a standalone, but there were references to the other book and I just felt the lack of context. Outside of that, I thought it was a slow pace but a good story. Very nuanced.

8. My Name is Hamburger by Jacqueline Jules - A historical fiction about a Jewish girl whose father immigrated to the US from Germany to escape the Holocaust. I thought this story was beautiful, I couldn't put it down.

9. The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary by K.B. Jackson - There are two parts to this story. The first, a boy who just moved to the Pacific Northwest with his mom forms a detective agency with two other students at his school to track a sasquatch. This bit, quite fun and enjoyable. The second, the boy's father, who is not on his birth certificate and has never been in his life, apparently decides that twelve years in he wants and is owed a relationship with his son, finds out where they moved, and follows them across the country, ultimately ending up essentially stalking his son until he gets caught. This was treated as an okay thing to do, and that is just BAFFLING to me. As much as I enjoyed the sasquatch stuff, the weird dad stuff tanked this book for me.

10. Glowrushes by Roberto Piumini - This is a beautiful story, but I'm not sure I would consider it a true kid's book? It's an Italian classic, and while it is short and very good, it seemed to me to be something with more adult appeal. I'm also a little baffled at it being included on our award list, because while the edition I read was published more recently, the story itself is from 1987. Soooooo....weird choice. Like I said, though, it's a beautiful story, read it if you can. Hell, read it to a kid and tell me if they like it.

11. The Curse of the Ten Broken Toes by Matthew Eicheldinger - Dude, the main character in this book can be such a little shit, but I loved this. "The Curse" aside, it felt very realistic, and I appreciated that while he had his asshole 12-year-old moments, there were also some genuinely thoughtful and kind moments. This was a fun read, and one that I think my students will enjoy.

12. The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers - Look, I'm not technically done with this one yet, but I love it. I had no idea what to expect, and it has surprised me in the best way.

And...that's it! The Eyes and the Impossible is the last book for me to finish, and then I've read them all. The end of an era...until next year's award cycle!

Each Tiny Spark - Pablo Cartaya

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Emilia Torres has a wandering mind. It's hard for her to follow along at school, and sometimes she forgets to do what her mom or abuela asks. But she remembers what matters: a time when her family was whole and home made sense. Emilia expects that her life will get back to normal when Dad returns from deployment. Instead, it unravels.

Dad shuts himself in the garage to work on an old car. Emilia peeks in on him daily, mesmerized by his welder. One day, Dad calls Emilia over. Then, he teaches her how to weld. And over time, flickers of her old dad reappear.

But as Emilia finds a way to repair the relationship with her father at home, her community ruptures, with some of her classmates - like her best friend, Gus - at the center of the conflict."

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Sigh. I feel like this was much-lauded, but I found it to be very lackluster. The plot was pretty aimless, and while I thought there were nice moments, overall it didn't really go anywhere. Not to mention, the synopsis is pretty misleading. Take, for example: "Emilia peeks in on him daily, mesmerized by his welder. One day, Dad calls Emilia over. Then, he teaches her how to weld. And over time, flickers of her old dad reappear." 

Yeah, she watches her dad weld from far away through Gus's camera once and then welds with him twice, both times with disastrous conversation, and then it really doesn't come up again. This is pretty much how the whole story goes - threads picked up, immediately dropped, sometimes forgotten about, others picked back up way later. I'd say the only consistent storyline was the homework assignment from her social studies teacher, and even that I found very puzzling. Her teacher? Clearly a great one. The assignment? Made no sense to me.

Maybe I could have moved past inconsistent plot if the characters were solid, but sheesh, they were all like caricatures. Clarissa, introduced at the beginning of the book as one of Emilia's best friends, is obnoxious (but also clearly positioned as an antagonist, so that's kind of to be expected). But even Emilia, her family, and Gus are pretty stereotyped. There was no nuance or real development, and there were a lot of inconsistencies. Just...meh all around. I had high hopes, and this did not deliver. 

Dragonboy - Megan Reyes

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Blue, River, Wren, and Shenli grew up on different sides of a war they didn't start. Their land has been torn apart over centuries of conflict, with humans taught to fear all things magical, dragons driven to near extinction, and magic under attack. But an ancient prophecy has put the four of them on a collision course with destiny - and with each other - in a mission to heal the fractured realm once known as Haven.

All of them must follow the threads of Fate, leaving behind the lives and homes they know to discover the truth about the seemingly endless war - and the truth about themselves. As the barriers between them begin to crumble, can they unravel the lies they've been taught to believe in order to restore the balance between humans, dragons, and magic before it's too late?"

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It's MGMASFMRS time! I was really hoping to keep up more of a regular rhythm with these posts, but this one took me a long time to read, and I don't think it was just the slump. This is the first book in the Heroes of Havensong series, so I expected it to be heavier on the world building than a standalone, but it went so far beyond what I had anticipated. It's 416 pages (that's too long for middle grade!), and the majority of it felt like setup for the actual story, rather than story itself. I like the premise, and I really wanted to enjoy the book, but it was too much. A lot of repetition of things introduced early, granular detail about some things and then almost no information about others, tons of exposition while light on the action...it needed more balance. 

I would say this book's greatest strength was its character development. Blue is a hugely sympathetic character, and I immediately felt a connection to him. Wren, River, and Shenli are also great, and I loved their relationships with their family members. I think if we had gotten the prophecy referencing all of them working together to save the world and then hit the action earlier in the book, this would be a much different review. Instead, we get reference after reference to the prophecy, we inch toward their paths connecting, we get a couple pages of action, and then...the book is over. I finished it, but it took me almost two months to do so. I don't see any of my students putting that much effort into getting to the end of the story, and even if they did I don't think they would be motivated enough to pick up the next book, even though it ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. 

The second book came out in January, and the completionist part of me wants to get it and find out what happens next, but the part of me that spent so long slogging through this one doesn't think it'll be worth it. If this was a duology I might be willing to give it a shot, but I looked it up and there's going to be at least three books. That's too much commitment after a lackluster first book.

Fight + Flight - Jules Machias

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Avery Hart lives for the thrill and speed of her dirt bike and the pounding thump of her drum kit. But after she's diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a disease that affects her joints, Avery splits her time between endless physical therapy and worrying that her fun and independence are over for good.

Sarah Bell is familiar with worry, too. For months, she's been having intense panic attacks. No matter how much she pours her anxiety into making art, she can't seem to get a grip on it, and she's starting to wonder if she'll be this way forever.

Just as both girls are reaching peak fear about what their futures hold, their present takes a terrifying turn when their school is seemingly attacked by gunmen. Though they later learn it was an active shooter drill, the traumatic experience bonds the girls together in a friendship that will change the way they view their perceived weaknesses - and help them find strength, and more, in each other."

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The five-star MGMASFMRS review streak continues! (It's two reviews. Counts as a streak. Don't @ me.) I bought Fight + Flight in January of last year, along with Both Can Be True by the same author, which I chose for a Read Harder Challenge and which was also a five-star review. Guess Jules Machias is a pretty good author! This book in particular hit close to home for me in a multitude of ways. For starters, that active shooter drill. I pretty frequently skip synopses, which yields mixed results at times, and for this one, that drill fucking got me. 

I mean...I work at a school. I've seen firsthand the anxiety and fear some kids go through during lockdown drills, I've had conversations with students about how I'll do everything I can to keep them safe if anything bad happens. It's some real shit, and if my school district instituted drills like this, I would be flooding the governing board members' inboxes with emails. Even just reading about it, I was SO. MAD. Like, I had to take a break from reading. I messaged my best friends to rant about it. I was furious for these kids. I know they're made-up characters, so maybe I shouldn't be so upset, but real kids deal with that shit, and I fucking hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

Gahhhh just writing about it is making me mad all over again.

Moving on to other things that resonated strongly with me. First, Avery's worry about losing control after being diagnosed with hEDS and dealing with progressing issues. Disclaimer, I have not been diagnosed with EDS and don't plan on seeking a diagnosis, but my cousin has it and, in talking and reading about it with her, I'm fairly sure I have it too. If I do, I'm very fortunate that mine is much more mild than either my cousin's or Avery's, but it still really sucks, and it's incredibly frustrating dealing with seemingly random digestive issues, pretty constant injuries, etc. So, yeah, I felt for Avery and her worries about basically being perma-injured and unable to do the things she loves.

Then there's Sarah, her anxiety, and in particular her parents' insistence that she needed to lean on God to fix it. I mean, if that wasn't ripped straight from my lived experience with my parents...oof. I just wanted to hug her and sneak her to talk to a therapist about how she was feeling. Also, Sarah's brother and his struggles with his anger and clashes with their parents...my sweet, darling children, you deserve parents who give you what you need and don't just pressure you to fall in line and believe a certain way in order to feel the way you're "supposed" to feel.

Deep breaths.

Look...in fairness to Sarah's parents, I feel like toward the end of the book they got slightly more nuanced, but even so, they were my least favorite characters, and I think they kind of suck as people. Their presence and attitudes lent some additional realism to the book, I suppose, since there are people like that, who suck just as much as Sarah's parents, and who need a serious reality check. Avery's moms were infinitely better characters and people, though. Much prefer them, just like I much prefer people like them in real life.

Anyhow, this review is getting pretty off the rails. As you can probably tell, this book made me feel a lot of emotions. Some of them were bad, but many of them were good, and I really loved how the characters grew as the book carried on. Not just Avery and Sarah, but Mason, Avery's best friend, and Sarah's brother. Honestly, it was not a main storyline, and I haven't gotten into it because I really don't want to get too deep into story details and spoil anything, but Mason's arc was probably one of my favorite parts of the story, and he and Avery's moms were my three favorite characters. Only semi-story related, I also enjoyed how Sarah's art was incorporated into the book. I thought it was very unique and really helped to develop her character. 

So...yeah. This book is very good, and you should read it. Go ahead and do that.

Wildoak - C.C. Harrington

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Maggie Stephen's stutter makes school especially hard. She will do almost anything to avoid speaking in class or calling attention to herself. So when her unsympathetic father threatens to send her away for so-called "treatment," she reluctantly agrees to her mother's intervention plan: a few weeks in the fresh air of Wildoak Forest, visiting a grandfather she hardly knows. It is there, in an extraordinary twist of fate, that she encounters an abandoned snow leopard cub, an exotic gift to a wealthy Londoner that proved too wild to domesticate. But once the cub's presence is discovered by others, danger follows, and Maggie soon realizes that time is running out, not only for the leopard, but for herself and the forest as well. Told in alternating voices, Wildoak shimmers with beauty, compassion, and unforgettable storytelling as it explores the delicate interconnectedness of the human, animal, and natural worlds."

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I just had to go so far back to find what I was calling all my middle grade book reviews, because I hadn't actually included it in a middle grade post since mid-November. That's what I get for picking such a mouthful, which I fully did on purpose...but it's really coming back to bite me. Anyway, I've been making an effort to work my way through the huge stack of books I've accumulated and actually get them read and added to my school library, and I feel like I'm making solid progress with Operation Middle Grade Mega Awesome Super Fantastic Massive Review Spree, or MGMASFMRS for short. Magmas of Mars? No, Magma-Safe Mars. Or Mug Ma's Foamers.

We're getting off topic here. Come on, y'all, focus, please.

A lot of the middle grade books I have in my TBR pile came from random book subscriptions, but this is one I specifically bought with the plan to read and then add to my school library. It ticks multiple boxes - engaging historical fiction, excellent disability representation, addresses issues relevant to my students, AND one of the alternating perspectives is the abandoned snow leopard cub. My kids are huge animal lovers, so I think they'll adore being able to read a story like this, with alternating human and animal points of view. I know I did.

Overall, this story is a pretty simple one - it centers around one main conflict and takes place over the course of just a couple weeks, so there's not a lot to it. The way it's told is so good though, and I loved the way the characters developed, even Maggie's parents, who were really only in the book for the very beginning and the very end. We got to read a lot about Maggie, who is brave, resourceful, and intelligent, and see in interactions with him that her grandpa was gentle, kind, and firm in his convictions, but with what little we saw of her parents initially I was worried they, especially her father, would fall flatter. Happy to report that was not the case. 

I do think some of the other people who lived in Cornwall with her grandpa were kind of caricature-y, but I also think it would have been hard to create a whole village of well-rounded, realistic people within the confines of this story, so it's understandable that people who barely featured weren't as fully developed. Also, frankly, I live in an area with people who, if I were reading about them in a book like this, I would absolutely think were flat, caricature-y characters...some people are just ignorant assholes, I suppose, and perhaps that's the case here.

As noted, this story takes place over a fairly short span of time and focuses primarily on one conflict. I wondered if the simplicity would hurt the story, but I don't think it did. I found the pace to be pretty solid and engaging, and I thought the swaps between Maggie's and Rumpus's perspectives were perfectly timed. Also, many of the POV swaps during more tense moments included very short chapters, which really ramped up the intensity and sense of anxiety around what was happening. So well done. Those moments in particular made it hard to put the book down, and while it clocks in at a pretty robust 336 pages, I found it to be a very quick read. I'm looking forward to adding it to my library and recommending it to students!

The Mirrorwood - Deva Fagan

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Fable has been cursed by a twisted magic that villagers call the Blight, which forces her to steal and wear the faces of others or risk oblivion. To find her true self, she'll have to enter the treacherous Mirrorwood and free it from the demon-prince who has ruled it for centuries. Thankfully, she has her faithful - but opinionated - feline companion, Moth, by her side.

Pursued by Vycorax, a fierce apprentice Blighthunter who is determined to destroy her, Fable plunges through the thorny forest into a world that is trapped in time and rife with peril. There, she encounters a boisterously chatty skull, a library full of flying books, and a beast so powerful it tears at the fabric of reality, leaving nothingness in its wake. Fable will soon discover that, in the Mirrorwood, nothing is quite like the stories say."

 📚📚📚

The Mirrorwood, ruled by a mysterious demon-prince, is separated from the rest of the kingdom(?) by an impenetrable wall of thorns, but that doesn't mean the prince's blights can't slip through. Everyone outside the thorn wall is terrified of the demon-prince and his blights, so blight hunters prowl the land, throwing any blighted individuals into prison or murdering them. Fable, blighted at a young age, is protected by her family, who keep her blight a secret and let her borrow their faces so she won't fade away, but after a rare slip-up, blighthunters show up at their house as part of an investigation.

Fable spins a tale that leads the blighthunters off, and she thinks she's in the clear, but as she wanders through a birch grove near their home the next day, she runs into them again. It turns out they didn't believe her story and have been waiting to prove that one of her family was blighted - and now they have. The only way to escape the hunters is by entering the Mirrorwood, and miraculously, a path opens up to let her in, sealing her - and Vycorax, one of the blighthunters who pursued her - inside. The pair reluctantly team up, determined to break the demon-prince's curse, and set off on their seemingly impossible quest. Along their journey they encounter the Subtle Powers, a timespun town reliving the same day over and over, a terrible beast known as the Withering, and even the talking skeleton of a long-dead bard.

As Fable learns more about the world inside the Mirrorwood, she begins to question what she knows about the curse. The stories told outside the thorn wall seem less and less true the more time she spends in the cursed kingdom, and the situation with the demon-prince is more complicated than she could ever have anticipated. Vycorax likewise has begun to question her training as a blighthunter and wonder if the blighted truly are the evil creatures she grew up hearing about. Will the partners...and reluctant friends...be able to put aside their assumptions about the Mirrorwood and work together to solve the mystery of the cursed kingdom and break the curse?

This book is pretty solid! I loved the characters, the adventure was exciting, the pace was great, and I really enjoyed how everything wrapped up. Also, despite his name, Moth has my heart forever. "It is wet, Fable. There is mud...I will find you when it is dry again." 😹 He was a delight from the first page to the last. I'll be adding this book to my school library, and I hope my students love it as much as I did!

Daughter of the Deep - Rick Riordan

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Ana Dakkar is a freshman at Harding-Pencroft Academy, a five-year high school that graduates the best marine scientists, naval warriors, navigators, and underwater explorers in the world. Ana's parents died while on a scientific expedition two years ago, and the only family's she's got left is her older brother, Dev, also a student at HP. Ana's freshman year culminates with the class's weekend trial at sea, the details of which have been kept secret. She only hopes she has what it'll take to succeed. All her worries are blown out of the water when, on the bus ride to the ship, Ana and her schoolmates witness a terrible tragedy that will change the trajectory of their lives.

But wait, there's more. The professor accompanying them informs Ana that their rival school, Land Institute, and Harding-Pencroft have been fighting a cold war for a hundred and fifty years. Now that cold war has been turned up to a full broil, and the freshman are in danger of becoming fish food. In a race against deadly enemies, Ana will make amazing friends and astounding discoveries about her heritage as she puts her leadership skills to the test for the first time."

I've been waiting to read this standalone (for now, at least?) middle-ish grade fantasy/sci-fi novel inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for a while, and I finally got to it. The synopsis is so vague while still being compelling and the reveals were so staggering as I read that I don't want to say a lot about what happens throughout the book and ruin anything...but I need people to know that it's a good read. The relationship between Ana and her friends was delightful, I loved seeing the freshman class work together, and even the twists that I guessed still knocked me on my ass. 

The only thing that made me scratch my head was the decision to make Gemini Twain Mormon. Probably just a blip on the radar for people who don't have any connection to or experience with Mormonism, but for someone who knows how problematic the corporation (sorry, I mean church) is, it seemed like quite a strange choice to make the only featured Black character LDS, given Mormonism's long and storied history of racism. My best guess, since Rick Riordan makes a concerted effort to write inclusive books, is that he wanted to feature a religious character...but I don't know that the best choice in the name of inclusion was to feature a religion that actively discriminates against multiple groups of actually marginalized and excluded people.

Questionable character detail aside, the story was solid - good pace, better characters, and Nautilus and Romeo were two of my favorites. Very interesting idea for a book, and excellent execution.

Root Magic - Eden Royce

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"It's 1963, and things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won't stop harassing her family. With school integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven - and their uncle, Doc, tells them he's going to train them in rootwork.

Jez and Jay have always been fascinated by the African American folk magic that has been the legacy of their family for generations - especially the curious potions and powders Doc and Gran would make for the people on their island. But Jez soon finds out that her family's true power goes far beyond small charms and elixirs...and not a moment too soon. Because when evil both natural and supernatural comes to show itself in town, it's going to take every bit of the magic she has inside her to see her through."

I knew when I picked it up that this book would be good, but I did not know HOW good. Wow, wow, wow. It's pretty clear from the synopsis, but in case you skipped that, know that this is not a light read. It tackles a lot - the impacts of the transatlantic slave trade and the ways it robbed some people of their traditions, racism, violence and lynching...and Eden Royce does not hold back. 

It doesn't focus solely on the bad, though. There's also joy, celebration, love. That's what makes it such an incredible story and something I think everyone should be reading. It showcases the full experience of Black families living in the 1960s, and the reader gets to share in their joy, their excitement, their challenges, and their fear. Following Jez as she skips a grade at school, tries to make a new friend, starts learning rootwork, and learns how to embrace her whole, authentic self even in the face of adversity brings the story to life and really helps the reader connect with the history being shared. 

Connecting to Jez's story and her family's experiences also made me reflect on how recently those experiences took place. People tend to talk about the Civil Rights era like it's long-past, ancient history, but my parents were alive in 1963. I'm one generation removed from the fight for civil rights. That is not long, and confronting that as you read about it helps highlight where we've made progress and where we still need to improve. This is a bit of a tangent, but it's something I thought about as I read.

Anyway, I don't really know what more to say about this book...the characters were beautifully crafted, the writing was excellent, the story is SO important. It's a beautiful book.

No One Leaves the Castle - Christopher Healy: Part 2

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover: 

"The Lilac. The bard songs say that she's the world's most fearsome bounty hunter. That there's no criminal she can't catch, no mystery she can't solve.

None of that is true. Yet.

In reality, the Lilac is just a kid, and the bard who wrote all that is her best friend, Dulcinetta. But when a priceless artifact goes missing from the home of famed monster hunter Baron Angbar, the Lilac and Netta see their chance to apprehend the thief and make a name for themselves.

When they get to Castle Angbar, however, and meet the Angbar family and their servants and guests - an unsavory group of nobles, mages, and assorted creatures, each more shady than the last - the Lilac begins to wonder if the reward is worth the trouble.

And that's before the dead body is discovered.

Now everyone is magically sealed inside the castle - and there is a murderer among them. If the Lilac wants to make it out with her reputation intact, it's going to be up to her to figure out who the killer is. But everyone in the castle - even the Lilac herself - has secrets to hide, and as the walls literally start to close in around them, the Lilac worries that her first job as a bounty hunter may be her last..."

Welcome back to the Middle Grade Mega Awesome Super Fantastic Massive Review Spree! I finally finished this, and I was definitely right that this book is less spooky, more silly, but that wasn't a bad thing. I thought Healy found a great balance between goofy moments and establishing a sense of urgency and a little bit of an ominous tone. I think the pace could have been stepped up a teensy bit (I've griped about this before - this book is almost 400 pages, please give me a middle grade fantasy that is shorter and snappier!), but as I got further in, things sped up enough that I think if a kid gave it a chance and got into it, they would get invested and want to find out what happens.

Aside from the Lilac and Netta giving everyone nicknames, which is something I also do and a detail I loved, I think my favorite thing about this book was all the red herrings. An embarrassment of red herrings! It was so fun! Which of these are real clues? Are any of them?! Did someone even actually steal the artifact? Or was this all some giant trick? In this book, nothing is as it seems and like the Lilac, you've got to keep your wits about you. It's a solid read, and I actually think it would be a good non-spooky fall/Halloween read. I give it a solid four stars, and I can't wait to recommend it to students once I get it added into my collection.

The Kingdom Over the Sea - Zohra Nabi

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"'My Own Yara,

If you are reading this, then something terrible has happened. And you are on your own. To return to the city of Zehaira, you must read out the words on the back of this letter...Good luck, my brave girl.'

When twelve-year-old Yara's mother passes away, she leaves behind a letter and a strange set of instructions. Yara must travel from the home she has always known to a place that is not on any map - Zehaira, a world of sorcerers, alchemists, and simmering magic. But Zehaira is not the land it used to be. The practice of magic has been outlawed, the Sultan's alchemists are plotting a sinister scheme, and the answers Yara is searching for seem to be out of reach. Yara must summon all her courage to discover the truth about her mother's past and her own identity...and to find her place in this magical new world."

Could this be the start of a Middle Grade Mega Awesome Super Fantastic Massive Review Spree? It's possible! Prepare yourselves for an imminent onslaught, just in case. Batten down the hatches, cover your windows with planks of wood, hide in the bathtub. Whatever it is people do in inclement weather. It's a middle grade monsoon! (See, this works because it could be torrential rain that leads to flooding, or it could be a Phoenix monsoon where this whole paragraph is the humidity building up, and then...no rain. Just this lone review. Guess we'll see which it is.)

Anyway, this book was solid! It went by sneakily fast - I was really surprised when I realized I was coming up on the last few chapters - so this will probably be a brief review, since it was such a whirlwind of a read. I enjoyed the world, but we got such a small glimpse of it and so little detail into why some things were the way they were that rather than feeling invested in it, I was left wanting more detail. Not a bad thing, I would read more books set in the world to get that detail! But I wish there was a touch more time spent on the worldbuilding.

For me, the strongest part of the book was the characters. Yara was determined, clever, and stubborn, her relationships with some of the secondary characters she comes across (trying not to give spoilers or I would be more specific!) develop so well and tugged at heartstrings. Some of these relationships also did a great job of building suspense and making me want to keep reading so I could figure out what was going on. And even minor characters drew me in so immediately that I was excited for any mention of them. Very impressive character development! They were the best part of the world, for sure.

As for the plot...solid. It's hard to get more into it without spoilers, but if you like magic, battling evil, and unraveling mysteries, this might be up your alley. Check it out!

(Also, the cover is very pretty, had to throw it out there.)

Amari and the Night Brothers - B.B. Alston

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Amari Peters knows three things.

Her big brother Quinton has gone missing.
No one will talk about it.
His mysterious job holds the secret …

So when Amari gets an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain this is her chance to find Quinton. But first she has to get her head around the new world of the Bureau, where mermaids, aliens and magicians are real, and her roommate is a weredragon.

Amari must compete against kids who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives, and when each trainee is awarded a special supernatural talent, Amari is given an illegal talent – one that the Bureau views as dangerous.

With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is the enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton."

This book was nominated for a 2024 Grand Canyon Reader award, and since I book talk all the nominees with my students and have them vote, I decide that I'm going to try to read all of next year's nominees. I think this is my first nominee that I hadn't already been planning on reading, and it did not disappoint. It starts off intense - not only has Amari's brother gone missing, with no leads on what could have happened to him, but Amari is about to get her scholarship revoked and essentially be kicked out of school. Not great.

Then a stranger shows up with intriguing information, they claim from her brother. Amari agrees to accept a package from this mysterious stranger and learns that her brother was a member of the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs - not just a member, in fact, but one of their best agents - and that he, along with his partner, went missing in action while investigating something top secret. Before he disappeared, Quinton sponsored Amari, so now she gets to attend the Bureau's summer program, where she can not only train as an agent just like her brother, but also investigate his disappearance. Will Amari find her missing brother? Or will she vanish along with him, leaving her mother alone? Amari isn't sure, but what she does know is that she has to try.

The Breakaways - Cathy G. Johnson

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Quiet, sensitive Faith starts middle school already worrying about how she will fit in. To her surprise, Amanda, a popular eighth grader, convinces her to join the school soccer team, the Bloodhounds. Having never played soccer in her life, Faith ends up on the C team, a ragtag group that's way better at drama than at teamwork. Although they are awful at soccer, Faith and her teammates soon form a bond both on and off the soccer field that challenges their notions of loyalty, identity, friendship, and unity."

**Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers!**

Oooooookay. I'm going to preface this by saying that I do not read very many graphic novels. That said, I have read some, and they all seemed to tell a pretty cohesive story. This, on the other hand, felt a bit like I got a copy that was missing pages. The characters were relatable, but the story jumped from one moment to another with nothing to connect them. Frequently, something would happen that left me going "wait...why...how..." Very disjointed and jarring, and while the illustrations tell some of the story, I thought the overall narrative could have been rounded out better.

Next up, there are...three chapters in this book? I mean...can we get some more regular story breaks in there? This is a small gripe in the grand scheme of things, but good lord, chapters should not be 70 pages long, especially for a middle grade book.

Third and last gripe: The book synopsis is pretty misleading, y'all. I kept waiting for some actual friendship, but the C team (which, incidentally, I'm not sure was actually named as "The Bloodhounds" until the end of the book) is super cliquey and awful to each other until the very end of the book, at which point, mid-game, Faith is like "HEY, guys, we may suck at soccer, but we should all be friends!" and then spontaneously they all decide that yes, they SHOULD be friends, walk off the field, and go get pizza.

All that said, this book features a great cast of characters. It also jumps through different POVs, so you get to see multiple sides to some of the conflict happening between teammates, which I thought was a nice touch. And while the storytelling could have used some development, I thought the artwork was top-notch and carried a large amount of the storytelling. All in, it's a solidly okay book. I debated a bit but did end up adding it to my school library.

Futureland: Battle for the Park - H.D. Hunter

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Rounding up from 3.75)

From the cover:

"Everyone wants a ticket to Futureland, the extraordinary flying park where you can literally live out your wildest dreams. Want to step inside your favorite video game? Go pro in a sports arena? Perform at a real live concert? Grab your ticket and come right in.

Yet with all its attractions, Futureland has always just been home to Cam Walker, the son of the park's famous creators. And when Futureland arrives at its latest stop, Atlanta, Cam is thrilled for what promises to be the biggest opening ever...

But things aren't quite right with the Atlanta opening. Park attractions are glitching. Kids start to go missing. And when his parents are blamed, Cam must find the missing kids and whoever's trying to take down his family...before it's too late."

This book had a lot of highs and lows for me. Overall, I found the premise and the actual adventure of it all very intriguing and engaging, and I really enjoyed the inclusion of comic panels and the interview transcripts. It gave me Illuminae vibes, and I almost wish those had been used a little bit more...not for storytelling purposes, just for my own enjoyment. I also thought some of the characters - Cam, Dooley, Angel, and Yusuf, primarily, were very vibrant and felt realistic. Other characters, particularly Cam's grandma and the bad guy, fell a little flat, especially in comparison to the three-dimensionality of most of the characters. 

With Cam's grandma, it seemed like even in situations where any rational person would have been concerned, her character fell back on "oh hell no, I'm not about that technology. Come on, I'm going to make you a home-cooked meal." It was fine when she was first introduced, but at a certain point it just stops making sense that she's so unwilling to engage with what Cam is saying when so much shady stuff is clearly going on. And the bad guy was just...so openly and obviously evil. I mean, fine, I guess, if that's what you're into, but given that this is meant to be a mystery, it made it a little hard to buy into everyone being unsure what was going on when there was no subtlety to the character at all. I know I'm an adult reading a middle grade book, but I kept thinking about how my students would engage with this, and from the moment the character was introduced there might as well have been a giant neon sign that said "NEMESIS" pointing to the antagonist. Isn't part of the fun in reading a mystery having to guess at who it might be?

My last gripe with the book was that the plot seemed so jumpy. The big reveals were solid, but it seemed like Hunter wasn't sure what to do with the in-between. It was like...gaaaaasp, this huge thing just happened! Oh my god, we need to get to the bottom of this, it is URGENT. Ah well, gotta go to school, I guess. <<fast forward>> gaaaaaasp, another huge thing! We all love big exciting moments, but I wish there had been more buildup and cohesion. Instead of the story beginning with Futureland's arrival in Atlanta and things immediately getting weird, we could have seen his family getting ready for the opening, and then as we started getting comfortable with the story, BAM, things start going wrong. Instead of BIG REVEAL - go to school/Grandma's house and get shut down - BIG REVEAL, a better flow with investigation and breaks in the case. 

All that said...it was a solid book, I think the different elements would be engaging for kids, and I give it points for not being super duper long. I think the one benefit to it jumping from action to action is that it grabs your interest and makes for a quick read. Plus, a mystery involving a futuristic amusement park featuring super advanced AI? Pretty cool.

The Unforgettable Logan Foster - Shawn Peters

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Logan Foster has pretty much given up on the idea of ever being adopted. It could have something to do with his awkward manner, photographic memory, or his affection for reciting curious facts, but whatever the cause, Logan and his PPs (prospective parents) have never clicked.

Then everything changes when Gil and Margie arrive. Although they aren't exactly perfect themselves - Gil has the punniest sense of humor and Margie's cooking would send anyone running for the hills - they genuinely seem to care. But it doesn't take Logan long to notice some very odd things about them. They are out at all hours, they never seem to eat, and there's a part of the house that is protected by some pretty elaborate security.

No matter what Logan could have imagined, nothing prepared him for the truth: his PPs are actually superheroes, and they're being hunted down by sinister forces. Logan's found himself caught in the middle of a massive battle, and the very fate of the world may hang in the balance. Will Logan find a way to save the day and his new family?"

 

I've got a big stack of middle grade books that I've been intending to read since like...last school year, so then I can donate them to my school library, and I'm finally getting serious about reading them. Seriously. So...welcome! This is now a middle grade stan account?

Our first middle grade review? The Unforgettable Logan Foster by Shawn Peters. Most of these upcoming reviews are coming from a monthly book subscription box, so unless it's something that happened to already be on my radar (shoutout to The Marvellers!) I don't know anything about it. That was the case with this book, but as soon as I saw it I was dying to read it.

The cover art is so expressive, I found myself pausing to study it when I would pass by that particular pile of TBR books, and finally I was like okay, seriously, just read the book already. I don't think I've ever googled who designed a cover for a book before, but I did for this one, that's how great I thought the artwork was. (Petur Atonsson, by the way.) Incredible job. The initial draw rating is four stars ALL because of this cover, and I love it even more after having read the book.

Want to know something else about the cover? It captures each character perfectly. Shawn Peters did an amazing job of developing each character in a pretty short amount of time, and looking at the cover as I read, I could see elements of each personality in the artwork. Just...incredible. It's incredible. (Is this a book review? It might be a cover review.) Shoutout to Shawn for such excellent character creation that they were so well-captured for the cover.

Seriously, though, outside the cover, the writing was also great. I love a book that includes fostering and adoption, and I thought it was a very heartwarming touch that the story is told in the form of Logan writing to his younger sibling, whom he doesn't know but hopes to find. Just...my heart. I also really loved that in a world with superhero foster parents, Logan doesn't feel like he can't contribute and make a difference. This is the first book in at the very least a duology, and I cannot wait for the next one to come out so I can read more. (PS Just googled, and it comes out in less than a week?! HELL YEAH. That means by the time I actually post this, it will be out. Read both books!) 

I don't want to get into the plot because of spoilers, but everything about this book is fantastic, and it was a super fun read as I am working my way through watching all of the Marvel productions currently in existence. More superheroes! More! And finally, since I was just talking about this with my husband, this book comes in at <300 pages, which is becoming increasingly rare in the middle grade books I look at to add to my school's library. All the more impressive, managing to develop a world, create realistic characters, and tell this story without generating an intimidating tome of a book. Bravo, all around!

(PS I added this book to my school's catalog, and before I even had it fully processed and ready to go out onto the shelf, I had students requesting it. I TOLD YOU THE COVER WAS AMAZING!)