Middle School | Page 6 of 7

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.

Slamdown Town is a GREAT, go-to book for upper elementary through middle school readers

The Midwinter Witch, the best in the series yet

The Midwinter Witch is the third and final graphic novel in this series by Molly Knox Ostertag takes the Vanissen family and their ancillary witches to a family reunion. The Midwinter Festival is when Aster’s family get together, talk about what’s new and bond as a family. They’re just like your family reunion, except they have competitions in witchery and shape shifting. If you read the first two books in the series then the personalities, quirks and powers of everyone involved will come back to you quickly.

The final book in the graphic novel series is the best and most accessible yet

I Survived The Sinking of The Titanic 1912, the graphic novel sails strong

If your elementary school is anything like ours then the I Survived series of books by Lauren Tarshis is a hot commodity. The stories blend non-fiction events as they would’ve been viewed by a kid who lived through them. Educators love the books because they engage kids with non-fiction elements and kids love them because they have characters that they can relate to. Until now, the I Survived series have been books with a couple of illustrations. This graphic novel, by definition, is going to speak to that audience that likes things in a more visual format.

The I Survived books brings their excellence to a new graphic novel audience

The Story That Cannot Be Told, deep fable for middle school readers

The Story That Cannot Be Told gives you the illusion of a very deceiving premise. It’s about Ileana, a young girl in communist Romania in WWII who has been sent to stay with her grandparents in the mountains. What’s surprising is that the book doesn’t focus on what you think it will. Instead, its story is all about telling stories and family. The result is a book that’s part fairy tale, historical snap shot, mythology and fictional story that feels real.

The Story That Cannot Be Told is a fascinating ‘story’ book for middle school readers

Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl, everything you wanted it to be

The pregnant pause that older readers hear that two excellent, thought out characters will be in the same book can be painful. On one hand you want to see them in the same book, but you also hold your breath, in hope that the author is skilled enough to accomplish what fans want from the series. Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl gave me a huge grin and hope for the team up when I heard that the third book in Jack’s series would be the team-up. If you know this series of graphic novels from Ben Hatke, the news probably did the same for you. Rest easy and read on, Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl is everything you’d hoped it be and more monsters.

This is a great ending, jumping on point or continuation for readers of this awesome series for ages 8 and up

The Incredible yet True Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt review

I love to learn about people that I haven’t previously heard of, especially if it involves travel, discovery, science or animals. The Incredible Yet True Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt, The Greatest Inventor-Naturalist-Scientist-Explorer Who Ever Lived easily has the longest book title of anything we’ve ever read. It also perfectly baits your imagination by asking you to align why you’ve (or at least I) never heard of him and the chutzpah that author, Volker Mehnert had in titling the book that. It turns out that Alexander von Humboldt indeed did have a magical life. In the 1820’s in Germany he was the rock star storyteller who spoke to sold out crowds that included all walks of life as he recounted his stories about travelling to those far-away places.

Alexander von Humboldt, exploring before it was cool

Scary Stories for Young Foxes, dreadful, terror-fun for 10 and up

A kit is a baby fox. Prior to reading Scary Stories for Young Foxes I didn’t know that. It didn’t take me long to realize the horror, love and adventure that they could encounter. Scary Stories for Young Foxes gets so many things absolutely right about what makes a great book work it’s, well…scary. While reading the book it was so easy to imagine myself transforming into a creature to no bigger than a house cat. But the world that I’d encounter in that body is far more treacherous then you’d want it to be.

Scary Stories for Young Foxes is age appropriate horror. Great for ages 10 and up, this is real, (age appropriate) scary (and fun!) and will leave them breathless.

This is age OK scares and horror for ages 10 and up-it’s also Awesome.

Creepy and True, Mummies Exposed!, superb, non-fiction, mummy funny

Mummies are something that we’ve had a keen interest in for decades. When I was single and childless I would plan my vacations around places where mummies could be seen. On one particular excursion I was near Siwa, Egypt and visited a series of tombs that the locals were talking about.* Sure enough, there were mummies there, just chilling out in a series of enclaves that were cut into the side of a mountain. I never disturbed any of the remains-or took anything from the burial site. I’ve seen The Brady Bunch Hawaii episode, I know that taking things from sacred locations never, ever ends well.

If you’re a middle grade student and want mummies-you got em. You will really dig this.