Tag Archive | medical

Donor kids misheard becomes THE DOUGHNUT CLUB of brother & sister – wait, how many more half-siblings out there?! by Kristina Rahim (MG fiction book review)

Jul1
On book cover, title The Doughnut Club is written around a huge frosted doughnut in center. Above is is author's name Kristina Rahim. Below are 3 kids, a blonde girl with green eyes looking to the left with her arms crossed, a red-headed freckled green-eyed girl holding book "Do you have to be alike to be a family?" and pencil while looking straight ahead, and a darker skinned boy with brown hair and eyes looking at the redhead and waving his left hand.

Books or surfing?
Sketching or rock-climbing?
Her choices are clear!

Finally on their way to their annual shore vacation, Quinn wonders why she prefers quiet to the rest of her family’s go-go-go activity style.

She and Olly have always known they were donor-conceived – the red-headed 12 year old born by their Mama and her younger dark-haired brother by their Mom.

Never really interested in their biological dad, until Mom tells them a website shows they have 16 other donor siblings (sixteen!) but they’ll have to wait till they’re older to contact them.

Now it’s all that Quinn can think about – even after an accident sidelines her from all water activities (yay – no surfing!) and snobby rich Monika teases her (like every summer).

Can she get into that website and see more about their donor siblings?
Will she finally get to choose classes that she likes at the resort?
Why is Monika picking on her so much?

Quinn has always fainted at the sight of blood, so a crisis only she can respond to truly tests what she can do in an emergency!

Do you know folks who are donor conceived?
**kmm

Book info: The Doughnut Club / Kristina Rahim. Nosy Crow, 2025. [author site https://www.kristinarahim.com/] [publisher site https://nosycrow.us/product/the-doughnut-club/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

Is this place the best SPACE FOR SAFFRON, her interests, and her moms? by Rie Neal (MG book review)

Jun24
A red-headed tween girl wearing hearing aids, jeans, and backpack holds a volcano model in doorway of a bakery on book cover of Space for Saffron, by Rie Neal.

Constantly in motion,
dreaming of science,
needing her own space in the world.

Saffron didn’t plan for her volcano experiment to make such a mess up, but the mean boss fires Mama and says the 10 year old has to pay to clean up the diner!

Not many jobs in their small Iowa town, so when Gran calls to ask her moms to run the family’s cafe in California while she travels, it’s worth a try. Mimi says she can get construction work there, if Saffron is willing to move before the school science fair.

So they pack up (volcano included) and drive to Oakvale where they’ll live above the cafe (Saffron on a couch-bed for now) – wow, so much work needed downstairs to bring customers back in.

Different schedule and classes, finding new friends, explaining her hearing aids and ADHD, but the science fair at Saffron’s new school is still ahead – another chance for her volcano!

Uncle Toby helps when he can, but the cafe needs something special to compete for customers here in Silicon Valley, where Granpy worked with NASA scientists.

Oh, her classmates have planned projects with robots and coding and computers – will her simple volcano be enough?
They help her brainstorm for STEM ideas that will make the cafe stand out – will the grownups agree?
If Gran wants to run the cafe again after her vacation – where will Saffron and her moms go?

Family and friends, volcanos and space – maybe Saffron can find a space that’s truly hers!

What was your favorite science fair experiment?
**kmm

Book info: Space for Saffron / Rie Neal. Aladdin, 2026. [author site https://www.rienealwrites.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Space-for-Saffron/Rie-Neal/9781665972529] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Her family is like ALL FOUR QUARTERS OF THE MOON, but where is she? by Shirley Marr (MG fiction book review)

May27
In front of a large full moon, a young Chinese girl cups her hands around those of her little sister who holds a paper rabbit. Above them is book title All Four Quarters of the Moon by Shirley Marr. In the foreground below are trees, animals, and a barn, all cut from paper.

New country,
new expectations,
old worries.

It’s good that Ba Ba doesn’t have to work every day of the week as he did in Singapore, but in their new Australian home there are no aunties down the hall for Ma Ma to visit or play mahjongg with Ah Ma.

No cousins to play with, so it’s even harder for 11-year-old Peijing to keep her impulsive little sister Biju in check, as their very traditional family expects.

Speak only English at school, only Chinese at home. Speak up when answering the teacher, never talk back to their parents. Peijing is always worried about doing something wrong.

Thankfully, the sisters can escape to the paper world that they’ve drawn and cut out, where Biju retells the rabbit in the moon story and more.

Ma Ma feels trapped at home with her limited English, Ba Ba gets to do more with the family now, and grandmother Ah Ma has begun forgetting.

How can Peijing help her new schoolfriend Joanna, always hungry?
Why does she have to take Biju wherever she goes, even to a birthday party?
When will Ma Ma ever appreciate her artistic skills?

Peijing feels like her four family members with their varied temperaments are like the four quarters of her favorite mooncakes of the Mid-Autumn Festival, as she tries to work out where she fits in at home and at school.

Another rich and tender story of a family from another country finding their new life in Australia but the author of Glasshouse of Stars , recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=12451.

Where are you in your family’s order of birth?
**kmm

Book info: All Four Quarters of the Moon / Shirley Marr. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2022, paperback 2023. [author site https://www.shirleymarr.net/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/All-Four-Quarters-of-the-Moon/Shirley-Marr/9781534488861] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

U is unbelievable, astounding, enlightening: LISTIFIED! Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind, by Pettie & Lozano (kids nonfiction) #A2Z

Apr24
Book title LISTIFIED! down center of book cover, with hand-drawn collections of bugs, living things, dinosaurs, bones, eggs, snowflakes, dogs wearing graduation hats, vehicles, and sea creatures to the left, and text to right: Britannica's 300 lists that will blow your mind, about all sorts of things... by Andrew Pettie

A brachiosaurus would equal the weight of how many housecats?
If Earth were the size of a cherry, how big would Saturn and Mars be?
What animals can run faster than a horse for 20 miles?

Fastest travel time around the world, surprising things that have fallen from the sky, organs that your body can survive without (and why) – if you want to know lots of things about lots of subjects, turn to Listified!

Its highly illustrated lists are grouped into chapters on
space, nature, dinosaur times, animals, the body, being human, inventions, and game changers.

Learn about the most visited monuments and buildings in the world, biggest machines ever built, important women in medical history, most unusual modern jobs, and much more.

Whether you choose a page at random or read an entire chapter, you’ll discover something new and can be absolute;u sure that it’s true because everything has been thoroughly reviewed by the Encyclopedia Britannica team.

Are you a list-maker, too?
**kmm

Book info: Listified! Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind / Andrew Pettie; illustrated by Andres Lozano. Britannica Books, 2021. [author site https://www.instagram.com/andrewjpettie/] [artist site https://www.sensgallery.com/artists/andres-lozano] [publisher site https://www.whatonearthbooks.com/us/product/listified/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

O is for OUTSIDE, where she may never go! But why? by Jennifer L. Holm (MG fiction book review) #A2Z

Apr17
Back view of a red-haired tween girl and 4 children in a dark place, looking toward a hole in the wall. The girl approaches the revealed trees, blue sky & flying birds shown below the book title - Outside, by Jennifer L. Holm.

Danger!
Stay hidden, stay alive.
But never see the sky…

After Ollie died when he went out on the Refuge’s roof, twelve-year-old Razzi is the oldest kid and tries to set a good example for the others.

The Great Poisoning a decade ago sent her family and a few others to this remote abandoned estate, escaping from a world filled with brain-poisoned humans and death and danger. Now they get their supplies when Rusty goes out raiding or the scary Dealer comes to trade with Papa.

But she dreams of going Outside and experiencing what the Refuge’s school-age kids only see in books and old videos.

Oh, dear! Razzi’s heart is failing! They replace it with a greyhound’s heart – thank you, Wind the dog and robo-surgery and anti-rejection drugs.

Weird. She used to hate ham; now she loves it. She dreams of running Outside…on dog’s paws.

Why does Bing’s new pet bunny think Razzi is an enemy? Why does Razzi want to chase it?

Razzi feels Wind’s memories in her dreams more and more, seeing a blue-eyed greyhound named Poppy who is in trouble!

When Rusty promises to look for Poppy on his next raid, Razzi hides in his old truck to help and gets Outside, with room to finally run like Wind!

Can she and Wind avoid the Poisoned?
Can they find Poppy?
Can they get home to the Refuge alive?

Compelling post-apocalyptic story with a real twist!

What animal’s thoughts would you like to hear?
**kmm

Book info: Outside / Jennifer L. Holm. Scholastic Press, 2025. [author site https://www.jenniferholm.com/new-page-99] [publisher site https://clubs.scholastic.com/outside/9798225024673-rco-us.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Amid the pandemic’s first autumn, THERE IS A DOOR IN THIS DARKNESS, if she can find it! by Kristin Cashore (YA fiction)

Jun24
Book cover of There Is a Door in This Darkness, by Kristin Cashore. A maze with several entrances encloses and surrounds the words of the title on a background of streaky cloudy sky.

Seven people, one apartment,
one pandemic, college deferred –
who is she anymore?

Wilhelmina’s best friends and their families are in a Covid-pod together without her, and the Boston teen misses them enormously. She can always sense where people are in a building, and text messages just aren’t the same.

Her gap year has turned into running all the errands and trying to keep her younger siblings at bay while Mom and Dad work from home; her Aunts (actually great-aunts) are now here too, missing late Aunt Frankie as much as Wilhelmina does.

Tomorrow “your doughnut will be stale!” a fortune-teller tells her from 6 feet away. “Trust Wil-helm-ina” sparkles the message she sees parachuting from the snowy sky while walking in the cemetery for solitude; well-masked classmate James saw a white owl drop it!

The next day, she chooses just-fried doughnut from James’ Italian-Chinese-American family’s bakery – somehow, it is stale…

She sees James in the cemetery again, and he’s glowing at the edges. The Temperance tarot card that Frankie gave her long ago changes to “Trust Ray” in sparkles. Huh?!

What if the aunts’ mail ballots don’t arrive from Pennsylvania in time?
Could she really drive them home as the pinched nerves in her neck and arm flare with pain?
Why is James now in her recurring Aunt Frankie dream?

Chapters for each day of her pivotal week in November 2020 alternate with those filled with wonderful memories of childhood and teen summers spent with the Aunts at their lovely rural Pennsylvania home.

These strands of past and present story weave together satisfyingly and realistically and a bit magically as Wilhelmina navigates the current crisis to find herself at last.

This contemporary work of magical realism by the author of the Graceling fantasy epics is now available in paperback and definitely deserves your reading attention.

Where were you during November 2020, before the vaccines were available?
**kmm

Book info: There Is A Door In This Darkness / Kristin Cashore. Dutton Books /Penguin, hardcover 2024, paperback 2025. [author site https://kristincashore.com/books/there-is-a-door-in-this-darkness/] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313481/there-is-a-door-in-this-darkness-by-kristin-cashore/] Review copy checked out from my local public library; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Ice caps vanished, father not returned – her only hope against TERRA ELECTRICA: THE GUARDIANS OF THE NORTH! by Antonia Maxwell (MG fiction)

Jun18
Book cover of Terra Electrica: The Guardians of the North, by Antonia Maxwell. Atop a hill, a girl in summer clothes shoots magenta-colored lightning from her hands. Standing with her are a howling wolf and gigantic polar bear roaring at the Northern Lights above them. Two ravens fly to them through the magenta night sky, forest and high mountains in the distance.

Only she and her father survived the electrical sickness that killed everyone in their far-north village, where snow never ever comes now, Arctic animals long gone, polar ice caps melted away.

When he doesn’t return from weeks of hunting, 12-year-old Mani decides to search for her father, urged onward by the Polar animal spirits she meets after donning her late mother’s ancestral wooden mask.

The science man Leo is still alive, but his eyes show the Terra Electrica sickness. Somehow, Mani’s touch when holding a flashlight cures him!

Leo says they must travel north to The Ark where the other scientists are, to see if her father is there and figure out why Mani isn’t affected by the Terra Electrica. Maybe they can save the rest of humankind…

Their journey is long and dangerous, dragging their sled of supplies across muck that used to be iced-over, making a raft from driftwood and plastic bottles to cross a bay, encountering people who don’t trust Ark scientists or anyone coming from the Terra Electrica-affected zones.

Whenever she can, Mani goes back into the world of the mask, to hear wisdom from Ooshaka the polar bear and Crow and Eagle and Wolf, to seek her ancestors in the old land of ice, to listen for her mother’s spirit…

Oh! This large group also heading for The Ark says they have things to trade… things like weapons!?

Is her father really at The Ark?
What caused the Terra Electrica?
Can Ooshaka’s advice help Mani survive?

Mani’s perils due to extreme climate change remind us of the power we have in our present time to prevent future disaster.

How far north have you gone?
**kmm

Book info: Terra Electrica: The Guardians of the North / Antonia Maxwell. Neem Tree Press, 2024. [author site https://www.antoniamaxwell.com/about] [publisher site https://neemtreepress.com/book/terra-electrica-the-guardians-of-the-north/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Time for summer fun and romance – MEET ME AT WONDERLAND! by Julia DeVilliers (YA fiction)

May20
Book cover of Meet Me at Wonderland, by Julia DeVilliers. A teen girl in t-shirt and shorts holds a wearable moose head behind her back. She looks across the title written down a signpost at a taller teen boy wearing same t-shirt who has 1 foot on a soccer ball, with roller coaster in background.

Ferris wheel! Roller coaster!
Cotton candy! Pizza!
Stinky moose costume… well, someone has to wear it.

Coco is SO happy to finally be old enough to work at her family’s amusement park! After Mom’s cancer treatments and a crappy school year, the 14 year old needs to be surrounded by happiness at Wonderland.

Wearing the heavy Morty the Moose costume on her very first day, Coco crashes into new employee Henry, a cute guy who’s not from their small Adirondacks lake town.

Soon she and Henry are competing for staff MVP award, a far cry from the soccer glory that Henry crashed out of when he messed up his ankle recently.

Coco’s longtime friends at Wonderland think Henry is great; his long-divorced dad doesn’t. Luckily, the gigantic lakeside mansion is filled with the silliness of young Tuesday, daughter of Dad’s current girlfriend.

As summer goes on, Coco shares with Henry how her grandparents started Wonderland and how much it means to her.

Uh-oh – Dad’s big business deal is trying to buy out Wonderland! How will Coco ever forgive Henry?

Told in alternating chapters by Coco and Henry, this “moose-cute” summer romance is a roller coaster with a bit of bumper cars before meeting at the candy counter.

Happy book birthday, Meet Me at Wonderland!

What’s your favorite amusement park ride?
**kmm

Book info: Meet Me At Wonderland / Julia DeVilliers. Aladdin, 2025. [author site https://www.juliadevillers.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Meet-Me-at-Wonderland/Julia-DeVillers/9781665964241] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

X is unknown: KEPLER26: THE INVITATION to abandoned brothers – to a safe place? by Parvela, Sortland, Pitkanen, and Witesman (MG Fiction) #AtoZ

Apr28
Book cover of Kepler62: The Invitation, by/ Timo Parvela & Bjorn Sortland; art by Pasi Pitkanen; translated by Owen Witesman. Shows a short Black boy and a taller white tween boy with sticking-up hair, half-brothers who hold hands as they walk into a dark hangar. Through the open hangar doors emblazoned with a fierce bird, is a large passenger jet plane taking off into a vivid red and orange sky.

Too many people, too much pollution,
not enough work or food,
a computer game offers escape and a secret…

With Mom always gone, 13-year-old Ari shoplifts to feed little half-brother Joni. The hoopla about the upcoming space expedition to find another habitable planet doesn’t fill an empty stomach.

“A lady” gives Joni the video game that everyone is talking about: Kepler62, rumored to have a secret ending if you master all the levels.

Two days, two nights – the game starts with easy quests, then gets much harder. Online gamer forums say no one has solved level 99 yet.

As they try yet again, Joni insists that Ari choose an unconventional weapon, and onward they go in the dark tunnel… success!

Then things the boys have never ever seen appear on-screen – mountains and trees and a meadow where a tall pale boy runs with a kite as a young dark boy follows… is that them?

Joni wakes up with a fever, so they go to the health center where a very young girl with implanted medical knowledge prescribes a medication that triggers alarms when they accept it. The lady who gave Joni the game helps them escape, but the men in grey suits are fast!

Why did the government just now discover the boys’ mother hasn’t been home in a while?
Oh, those men’s eyes have that glint like the girl doctor – have their brains been altered, too?
Joni is sure there’s something else in the game – can the brothers find it?

This first book in the Kepler62 illustrated novel series (https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/Kepler62) was simultaneously released in Finnish and Norwegian, then translated into English.

What’s your favorite reality-escape video game?
**kmm

Book info: Kepler62: The Invitation / Timo Parvela & Bjorn Sortland; art by Pasi Pitkanen; translated by Owen Witesman. Arctis Books, 2023. [Timo’s site https://www.timoparvela.fi/en] [Bjorn’s site https://bjornsortland.no/boker.html] [Pasi’s site https://www.instagram.com/pp_pitkanen/] [Owen’s site https://www.suomitranslation.com/about/] [publisher site https://www.arctis-books.com/books/the-invitation] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

V is for young violinist and friends – AFTER THE WALLPAPER MUSIC, now what? by Jean Mills (MG Fiction) #AtoZ

Apr25
Book cover of After the Wallpaper Music, by Jean Mills. Shows a young teen girl with long flowing red hair, playing a violin whose music swirls up and around the title.

Music soothes, charms,
tells stories, connects us,
divides us?

“My violin has magic powers and transforms into a fiddle at night, and that’s when I play the Newfoundland tunes for Auntie Flora,” says her 13-year-old namesake (pg. 7) who enjoys her great-aunt’s traditional music as much as the classical pieces that she, Kristy, Bas, and Vlad play as a string quartet.

Year 8 begins with a new classmate! Simon’s rock star dad was invited to lecture at the university in their Canadian town. Sadly, his younger sister was killed in a car crash this past summer. Simon is very quiet at school.

When the quartet instructor announces a Battle of the Bands contest coming up and her friends want to play a video game theme song instead of an edgy modern classical composer, Flora isn’t thrilled.

Unexpectedly, Simon asks Flora to bring her violin to his house, and they try jamming to rock music with different instruments – amazing! They’ll enter the Battle of the Bands, too!

Juggling homework, quartet practice, and rock practice is tough – now Aunt Flora has fallen ill and must stay in the hospital! Mom, Dad, and big sister Agnes keep things going at home and nursing home – very tough.

Will her quartet friends get used to Flora playing with Simon, too?
Which band will win those New York City concert tickets?
Can Flora go back to playing the quartet’s classical “wallpaper music” only?

A school term filled with changes and changes! (Look for the lyrics and music to Auntie Flora’s favorite in the back of the book)

When have you had to decide whether to continue a project with friends or go your own way?
**kmm

Book info: After the Wallpaper Music / Jean Mills. Pajama Press, 2024. [author site https://jeanmillswriter.com/] [publisher site https://pajamapress.ca/book/after-the-wallpaper-music/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.