Ghoulia is back in her third entry from Barbara Cantini. You Tim Burton-inspired, middle-school, well-crafted, graphic novel loving people know what I’m talking about. Ghoulia and the Ghost With No Name may sound like a person who’s got the lyrics to that song by America wrong. We do things like that all the time when we’re in the car by ourselves. This series is the incredibly detailed world of Ghoulia, a spooky little girls whose family is even spookier. Think a more gothic Addams Family, but with much more charm and drawn to minute observations put into every page.
Artistic, well thought out burton-esque dark fun awaits youTag: Amulet Books
Alien Superstar #2 Lights, Camera, Danger has alien action and mild drama
Alien Superstar was one of the best middle-school books of 2019. It crackled with humor, action, and a carefree vibe that ages 9 and up want to experience. Buddy Burger is the titular alien in the book. He’s escaped his home planet because there was an uprising happening that wasn’t bringing the best of the planet to the forefront. His grandmother put him in a ship and sent him to Earth where he crashed onto the backlot of a theme park that also does television production. From here his actual alien form allowed him to be the perfect ‘costumed’ performer on a hit show. It also helped that his costume, Zane Tracy, which is his human form, is a very cute teenage boy. In Alien Superstar Lights, Camera, Danger! Buddy is back and elements from his past are here too. Are they on his side or have they been an evil squadron?
Fox & Rabbit: Make Believe is elementary confidence and fun
Brothers and sisters don’t just exist in living beings. There are some books that have their perfect pair. It’s those books that are similar, but not identical, and have the right things in common that fans of either book want to see. If your elementary school reader is not hip to Mr. Wolf’s Class they are missing out. It’s an original graphic novel series on Graphix that is entertaining, builds the reader’s confidence, is on a level that they can easily understand, and doesn’t talk down to them. Fox & Rabbit: Make Believe is the second book in this series by Beth Ferry with illustrations by Gergely Dudas and will strike the same chord of interest in those first through third-grade readers.
Big Foot and Little Foot: The Bog Beast, early chapter book fun
A nice, simple book that’s perfect for emerging readers is a tough thing to find. The chapters could be too short, or too long. The characters could be too juvenile, or just a bit too old for elementary readers. In short, it’s a very narrow line that books need to traverse if they’re targeting grades two through four. Our eight-year-old is right in this struggle. He can read sentences and is building vocabulary, but hasn’t made the jump to chapter books yet. Big Foot and Little Foot is a book series that’s tailor-made for this dapper young man.
The Derby Daredevils, Shelly Struggles to Shine levels up
I love it when the second book in a series surpasses the first one. It doesn’t even have to go all “Empire Strikes Back” and be leagues better than its predecessor. For us, just the fact that it’s better means that the series has lots of gas left in the tank. The Derby Daredevils: Kenzie Kickstarts a Team set up the story about a group of girls teaming up to create a roller derby team. That was a middle-grade book that mainly girls will enjoy that had a variety of positive, diverse themes. The Derby Daredevils: Shelly Struggles to Shine takes that storyline and delivers a J-block to the other teams lead jammer.
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales Major Impossible gives explorers their due
Major Impossible is the ninth book in the bestselling series by Nathan Hale. Each book in this series takes a look at a real historical figure. Some of them you’ve heard of, whereas others aren’t as well known. Major Impossible falls in the lesser known category for us. It’s about John Wesley Powell, an explorer who fought in the Civil War and went on to lead the Colorado River Exploring Expedition in 1869. If you’re familiar with Hale’s storytelling you will love this book. If this is your first Nathan Hale book it’s one that will entertain you, educate you, make you squirm on a couple instances and make you curious about the rest of his subjects.
Slamdown Town is middle grade reading gold
Take everything that a 10 year-old kid wants and put it into a middle-grade novel. It must have humor, heart, lots of jokes, parallels to school, the cliques that operate therein and have a side dash of science fiction. That’s a tall order but Slamdown Town encompasses all of those categories and another big one that will bring in some fans and that’s wrestling. Almost more impressively, the book weaves the wrestling into the book without alienating those that don’t like, or don’t know about the joys of a slightly pre-arranged body slam and victory.
Alien Superstar is funny, whip smart and a book ages 9 and up will love
You might’ve seen the press tour for Alien Superstar. I was skeptical of the book because my bias against celebrity authors. The jaded side of my personality sometimes thinks that the quality of the book will be less and that the author is simply coasting by on their fame in another profession. Alien Superstar is written by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver and is a hoot of a book. It’s one that our fourth grade student read in three nights and could not put down. Curious about the book that he couldn’t stop raving on I picked it up and can attest to his impression.
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