Tag Archive | surprises

N is for THE NIGHT ANIMALS, leading Nora to help and understanding, by Sarah Ann Juckes (MG fiction) #AtoZ

Apr16
Book cover of The Night Animals, by Sarah Ann Juckes. Shows dark silhouette of girl sitting on a tree branch in front of a large full moon, next to a rainbow-colored fox who is looking at her intently.

Alone at school,
home is too quiet,
but in the dark – ghost animals!

Mum has more bad days than good as her PTSD worsens, unable to get out of bed or fix dinner for Nora. Dad left them in England years ago and works at a wildlife rescue far away in India. Sigh…

What’s that on the middle-schooler’s bed? A ghostly fox, shimmering edges like rainbows!

At school, the fox leads her to artistic Kwame who’s also bullied by Joel. Kwame and his brothers are on Nora’s street often to help with their granddad whose memory is failing.

Now a ghost hare appears, running zigzags, away from the bully, then back to attack when Joel mocks her mother’s illness – flight?fight! The school office calls in their parents…

Oh, no! Kwame’s granddad needs help! Mum’s paramedic training calms them all.

Ghost ravens? What are they trying to tell Nora?

As Nora And Kwame race to follow the raven, she spies a ghost otter in the canal, swimming toward the harbor!
Train, docks, boat, stormy skies – should they follow the otter to the island?

Nora and Mum insist that “everything’s fine, we’re fine, no help needed” but perhaps not…

How have you coped with the mental health concerns of others?
**kmm

Book info: The Night Animals / Sarah Ann Juckes; illustrated by Sharon King-Chai. Kane Miller/EDC, 2024. [author site https://www.sarahannjuckes.com/the-night-animals] [publisher site https://www.kanemiller.com/the-night-animals.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

M is fake dates, real feelings, MAKE MY WISH COME TRUE! by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick (YA fiction) #AtoZ

Apr15
Book cover of Make My Wish Come True, by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick. Two teen girls share a holiday blanket as they sit on a bench, slightly apart with hands touching. They look toward large decorated outdoor Christmas tree in town as snow falls.

Twelve very public fake dates,
Hanukkah and Christmas preparations –
what’s an act? What’s real?

After best friend and first crush Arden abruptly left their small Pennsylvania town 4 years ago for LA, Caroline has just concentrated on her writing portfolio for Columbia – journalism school, here she comes!

After teen flicks and rom-coms, Arden can have the movie role of a lifetime, if she reforms her Hollywood party girl reputation – fast!

Prodded by her stand-in parental figure/agent, Arden treks back to her Christmas-obsessed hometown and devoted grandma for the holidays, to her “secret girlfriend” Caroline (as her agent tells the producer), to a chance at redemption.

Caroline gets to write exclusive articles about their time together for Cosmopolitan ? Wow!
Convincing everyone, including the movie producer, that their relationship is real? Whoa…

Cutting down a Christmas tree together, voting in the town’s Best Cocoa contest, karaoke night, helping out at Gran’s diner – good times together before Arden heads back west on Christmas Eve.

Can they make a new town tradition for Jewish families?
Is this Arden’s last trip home?
Mistletoe magic or heartbreak again?

Told in alternating chapters by real-life partners who’ve written YA novels together and individually.

Would you like to live in a Christmas-is-everything town?
**kmm

Book info: Make My Wish Come True / Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024. [Rachael’s site https://www.rachaellippincott.com/] [Alyson’s site https://www.instagram.com/whoisalysonanyway/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Make-My-Wish-Come-True/Alyson-Derrick/9781665937566] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K is for KEEPING PACE: running, academically, she’s gotta win! by Laurie Morrison (MG fiction) #A2Z

Apr12
Book cover of Keeping Pace, by Laurie Morrison. Shows 2 young teens in exercise clothes running up a hilly path; the boy is ahead of the pony-tailed girl and looks back at her.

Striving all year for best grades,
applying for the prestigious writing camp…
No, and no – now what?

Grace worked so hard to get highest 8th grade GPA and impress her novelist dad, but lost the award to former friend Jonah. The summer before high school stretches out before the Philadelphia teen.

Babysitting the young son of Dad’s new girlfriend… not as easy as it looks.
Creative writing class… ahh, like her favorite verse novels, not Dad’s blockbuster novel.
Training for the half-marathon to benefit local wetlands… just as she and Jonah planned in 6th grade…oh.

The treehouse between her house and his grandmother’s next door was their happy place every summer, at least before Jonah’s dad got sick and died a few years ago.

Their competition for grades and honors pushed the friends apart… should they try to fix it?
Getting closer to him at her birthday party… awkward? just right?
Jonah not at the same high school next year… what!?

This summer means new friends at creative writing class, talking through big sister Celia’s plans after high school, running with her and sometimes with Jonah, half-marathon and high school on the horizon!

Who is she if she isn’t the smartest student?
Will she beat Jonah at the half-marathon?
Would she rather be with him instead of being rivals?

Goal-setting listmaker Grace’s weekly training plan for the half-marathon starts each group of chapters as she moves through a summer where winning might not be all that she wants.

When did you decide that an outside goal wasn’t yours anymore?
**kmm

Book info: Keeping Pace / Laurie Morrison. Abrams/Amulet, 2024. [author site https://lauriemorrisonwrites.com/books/] [publisher site https://store.abramsbooks.com/products/keeping-pace] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is for journeying, SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF MAYBE, by Jo Watson Hackl (MG fiction) #A2Z

Apr11
Book cover of Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, by Jo Watson Hackl; shows title words on signpost signs pointing in different directions, placed in a field with cricket jumping. In background, a girl sits on treehouse porch at sunset watching birds.

A grieving girl,
a ghost town in the woods,
where is the secret painted room?

Every time Cricket’s artist mother stopped taking her anxiety medicine and disappeared, the twelve year old and her Daddy coped and hoped, but now that he’s in the cemetery with Grandma…

Oh, no! The tween overhears that she’ll soon be sent away to another state! How will Mama know where to find her?

Time to find the art-filled “Bird Room” that Mama saw once and searched for every after – surely, that will make Mama stay, whenever she comes home again!

Cricket journeys through the nearby woods to a ghost town from South Carolina’s lumber days, using all the survival skills that Daddy taught her.

Emergency! Need help! HELP!

Miss V. takes Cricket in, agreeing that the runaway can stay a few days, but no snooping!

Can Cricket contain her curiosity?
Will Miss V. help her follow clues that she finds?
Will Mama ever come home?

Cricket won’t give up!
Are you as persistent at chasing what’s important?
**kmm

Book info: Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe / Jo Watson Hackl. Yearling/Random House, 2018. [author site https://johackl.com/about-smack-dab-middle-maybe/] [publisher site https://www.rhcbooks.com/books/543975/smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-maybe-by-jo-watson-hackl] Personal copy; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

I is for IMAGINE! Rhymes of hope to shout together, by Bruno Tognolini and Giulia Orecchia, translated by Denise Muir (Poetry) #AtoZ

Apr10
Book cover of I is for IMAGINE! Rhymes of hope to shout together, by Bruno Tognolini and Giulia Orecchia, translated by Denise Muir; shows bright-colored collage image of a young drummer marching with a vivid sun behind them.

April is Poetry Month – and time to Imagine!

Translated from Italian, these wide-ranging wishes of children and those who love them have usual rhyming word pairs, as well as subtle ones:

“If only the world outside could be taught
Not in the classroom — our teachers, they ought
To open the window, show how things happen
How much we’d fathom … Imagine!” (pg. 6)

Vibrant collage illustrations accompany each of the 24 poems, which all begin with “If only” and end with the command/wish/dream “Imagine!”

“If only these things could change for the better
New days could dawn full of music and laughter
A drum beat to make all our heartbeats align
With love all the time … Imagine!” (pg. 45)

Visit the publisher’s site https://www.redcometpress.com/picturebooks/imagine for a teaching guide AND a video with all the poems as verses of a song!

What better world and neighborhood can you imagine?
**kmm

Book info: Imagine!: Rhymes of hope to shout together / Bruno Tognolini, illustrated by Giulia Orecchia, translated by Denise Muir. Red Comet Press, 2022. [author site brunotognolini.com] [artist site giuliaorecchia.it] [publisher site https://www.redcometpress.com/picturebooks/imagine] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.

H is spooky HARVEST HOUSE, a stalker nearby, and young Native women in danger! by Cynthia Leitich Smith (YA fiction) #AtoZ

Apr9
Book cover of Harvest House, by Cynthia Leitich Smith; shows a native teen boy walking away from a haunted house, surrounded by crows; upside down image of dark-haired young woman walking through dead trees with flying crows.

She was killed at the crossroads.
He still stalks young Native women,
so her spirit lingers there and attacks!

School budget cuts mean no fall play, and Hughie is bereft. Guess the indigenous teen will have time to volunteer at the haunted house fundraiser with new pal Sam after all.

Ick – the Harvest House organizer makes the legend of a Native girl killed at the Kansas crossroads into a racist trope and asks Hughie (Muscogee) and Sam (Hispanic) to dress up as murderous savages.

Sam’s sister works at the crossroads’ Grub Pub, is stalked by a guy one night, and then saved by the intervention of …a wolf!

Hughie helps student reporter Cricket connect with local elders and area history as the teens begin researching the mystery of the crossroads.

Progress on Harvest House maze (no Indian burial ground, please), seeking info on past encounters with the crossroads stalker, trying to ask Marie on a real date – Hughie’s life is suddenly complicated and not just a little dangerous.

Why do so many weird things happen at this particular crossroads?
Will Hughie’s spring play script with non-White characters be accepted?
Will the crossroads ever be safe for young dark-haired women?

Each chapter counts down the days until Halloween, interspersed with mysterious asides from Celeste who commands animals and birds to protect young women alone at night at the crossroads.

Find the story of Hughie’s big sister Louise during their family’s first year in Kansas in Hearts Unbroken, recommended at https://booksyalove.com/?p=10216.

Do you know a local legend that’s grounded in facts?
**kmm

Book info: Harvest House / Cynthia Leitich Smith. Candlewick Press, 2023 (paperback 2024). [author site https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/ya-books/ya_index/] [publisher site https://www.candlewick.com/9781536218602/harvest-house/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

G is for two girls, connected through time by THE MAILBOX TREE, by Rebecca Lim and Kate Gordon (MG fiction) #AtoZ

Apr8
book cover of The Mailbox Tree, by Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon; shows leaf-filled silhouettes of two girls' heads looking down from upper corners to the outline of a large pine tree whose base is being flooded by water.

Just one tree remains,
a hope, a haven,
best place to leave a message.

Nyx wants to stay! She doesn’t care that rising sea levels threaten Tasmania, or that Dad wants to move to the Northland, or that solar radiation means no food can grow here. She escapes to the only tree left, pours her rage and sadness into the only scrap of paper she has left, and puts it in the knothole.

Bea wants to stay! She doesn’t think she’ll be less-bullied at school for her glasses and hearing loss if they move from Tasmania to Australia. Escaping to her favorite tree which never judges her, she pulls her notebook from the knothole and finds a scrap of paper with a message! So Bea writes back to the girl who also wants to stay here…

The next day, Nyx finds a book filled with blank pages of real paper in the tree – and a message from another girl who doesn’t want to move away from their island – so she writes back.

As the two tweens exchange messages via their Mailbox Tree, they realize that they live in the same place, but not the same time!

Nyx asks Bea to plant trees all around, hoping that some will survive the 50 years between their times. The trees appear overnight in Nyx’s neighborhood – a miracle?!

But Nyx also faces bushfires and storms and no electricity and no drinking water and no food supplies…

Can Bea do anything to help her friend fifty years away survive?
What place would be safe from natural and climate disasters for such a long time?
Will anyone believe Bea’s story about the Mailbox Tree and what they must do, quickly?

Told in alternating chapters by authors in Tasmania and Australia (“the Northland”), who have never met in real life either!

What message would you send back to our past?
**kmm

Book info: The Mailbox Tree / Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon. Walker Books Australia, 2024. [Rebecca’s site https://annabelbarker.com/rebecca-lim] [Kate’s site https://kategordon.com.au/bio/] [US publisher site https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/24700] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

F is for fashion, friendship & faith ANY WAY YOU LOOK, by Maleeha Siddiqui (MG fiction) #A2Z

Apr7
book cover of Any Way You Look, by Maleeha Siddiqui; shows 3 tween girls at a clothing store counter, 1 wearing hijab with skirt & leggings, 1 with modest top & leggings, 1 wearing hijab with trendy slacks.

Summer means time for fun,
time with her friends,
time to work in her mom’s custom clothing shop at last!

Aspiring designer Ainy is eager to build up her portfolio of modest fashions and give her Amma more time to make the stylish saris, dresses, and salwar kameez so popular with the Southeastern Asian women in their Virginia suburb.

Her grandmother’s cancer took dad back to Pakistan for a time, so the new shop must succeed!

So busy now! Friend time with Safiya goes down, and stress about their biggest client’s son Yasir harassing her goes up. Maybe if Ainy starts wearing the hijab now, instead of on the first day of 7th grade, he’ll stop noticing her.

Amma says Ainy can design the bridesmaids’ dresses for Yasir’s sister – will she finish in time?
Is her crush on Izyann immodest for a good Muslim girl, even when boys and girls don’t hang out?
Big sister Bajjo suddenly stops wearing the hijab – why?

Dressmaking deadlines, financial worries, wondering if she’s choosing to wear the hijab for the right reasons…
Any way you look, this will be a different summer than Ainy expected!

By the author of Barakah Beats, recommended here at https://booksyalove.com/?p=12568.

When have you had to decide to follow your friends’ lead or not?
**kmm

Book info: Any Way You Look / Maleeha Siddiqui. Scholastic Press, 2024. [author site https://www.maleehasiddiqui.com/books-1] [publisher site https://tradecatalog.scholastic.com/tradecatalog/any-way-you-look-9781339010267.html#key-details] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

E is EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT INDIANS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK (Young Readers Edition), by Anton Treuer (YA nonfiction) #AtoZ

Apr5
book cover of Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask (Young Readers Edition), by Anton Treuer; shows intricate Native American beadwork design including cattails, vines and different flowers

“When did Natives really get to North America?”
“How many tribal languages are spoken in the Americas?”
“Why is there such a fuss about nonnative people wearing Indian costumes for Halloween?”

If you’ve wondered about questions like these, but didn’t know where to get reliable information, this book is for you!

Dr. Treuer (tribally enrolled Ojibwe https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/native-americans/ojibwe-people) clearly and unflinchingly answers 200 questions about terminology, history, religion, culture, and identity, powwow, tribal languages, politics, economics, education, and social activism related to Native peoples of North America.

Some are fact-based like “What is a sweat lodge?” and “When did the U.S. government stop making treaties with Indians and why?”

Other answers express a range of responses, such as “What general terms are most appropriate for talking about North America’s first people?” and “Why are Indians so often imagined rather than understood?”

Adapted by the author from his widely-acclaimed title for adults, this book concludes with questions and answers on Perspective: Coming to Terms and Future Directions, the author’s Conclusion: Finding Ways to Make a Difference, and recommended reading for each section.

Search online for Anton Treuer to find his many videos about Native culture, Objiwe language, and more. See the publisher’s site https://www.levinequerido.com/anton-treuer for this book’s teaching guides, too.

Whatever you ever wanted to know about Indians/Native Americans/First Peoples, this book is an excellent place to start – and you’ll find answers to questions that you didn’t realize that you needed to ask.
**kmm

Book info: Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask (Young Readers Edition) / Anton Treuer. Levine Querido, 2024. [author site https://antontreuer.com/] [publisher site https://www.levinequerido.com/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-indians] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

C is THE CARTOONISTS CLUB at middle school – hooray! by Raina Telgemeier & Scott McCloud (MG Graphic Novel) #AtoZ

Apr3
book cover of The Cartoonists Club, by Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud; shows 4 tweens of different genders and races - drawing, jumping, laughing, and clutching a notebook tightly

Welcome to the Cartoonists Club!

Makayla imagines so many characters, but she wonders how to make a story with them.

Howard draws such funny characters, but he can’t figure out what should they do next.

Art loves to make all kinds of things, and they want to try every creative medium – all of them!

Lynda’s sketches are realistic, but she worries about making mistakes and how personal her story is.

With help from Ms. Fatima, their middle school librarian who also loves comics and graphic novels, the tweens learn how sequential storytelling works, how to make a zine from a single sheet of paper, the role of the reader’s imagination, and so much more.

A local comics convention?!
Can the Cartoonists Club go?
Can they have a table and sell their zines to everyone?

Just published this week, by the authors of Smile (Raina) and How to Understand Comics (Scott).

Visit the book’s website https://kids.scholastic.com/content/kids64/en/books/books-by-raina.html to download a free activity booklet, bookmark, and certificate.

Grab your copy today for a great friendship story, cool sequential art, and lots of insider info on how comics are created.

What’s your favorite comic/graphic novel?
**kmm

Book info: The Cartoonists Club / art & story by Raina Telgemeier & Scott McCloud; inking by Ray Baehr; color by Beniam C. Hollman; lettering by Jesse Post. Scholastic/Graphix, 2025. [Raina’s site https://goraina.com/] [Scott’s site https://kids.scholastic.com/content/kids64/en/books/books-by-raina.html ] [publisher site https://kids.scholastic.com/content/kids64/en/books/books-by-raina.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.