Review: What The Moon Said by Gayle Rosengren

It's 1930 in Chicago, Esther has been living here with her Ma, Pa, and sisters and brothers.  When the Great Depression hits, everyone is losing their jobs, Pa included. The Vogel family decide to move to a farm in Wisconsin thinking they can make a fresh start leaving two of the daughters behind. 
Country life turns out to be disappointing as the farm turns out to be more challenging then they thought, it has an outhouse, there's no ice box or electricity and tending to the animals and crops is hard work. Esther is eager to take on the challenge, she wants to prove to Ma that she can be worthy of her love by helping out and make her proud of her.  Maybe then Ma will show her the same affection as her friend Shirley's mom does.   Ma was born in Russia and therefore has many superstitions and signs that she believes in. Spider's before breakfast means good luck, buttoning a shirt incorrectly or putting your shoes on a table are bad luck. Ma's signs guide her, but sometimes her signs interfere, especially when Ma says Esther can't be friends with Bethany because she has a mole on her face that makes her "marked" or dangerous.  


Esther is a very creative and imaginative girl.  She daydreams about life in the country with her family and lovely images of fields, bubbling brooks, orchards and barns filled with animals.  It was very easy to relate to Esther's feelings of hopefulness and also relate to her struggles to leave best friends and trying to make new ones.  Esther is seen as a very lonely girl who draws comfort in the dog that she finds, playing with her doll and writing letters to her older sister. Her relationship with her mother is heart wrenching. Esther accurately portrays a girl who believes that her mother doesn't love her as much as her siblings. Everything she seems to try makes her mother seem like she is less and less proud of her.  Esther makes mistakes, and her thoughts reflect that of a girl at this age.  Esther isn't able to take into account her mother's European upbringing and history as reasons for not being as affectionate with her.  I was delighted when Esther finally came to realize that Ma's lack of overt displays of affection didn't mean that she loved her any less just that "love was actions more than words."  What The Moon Said gives an accurate description of one family as they navigate through the Depression and its hardships.  It will appeal to children who enjoy historical fiction similar to Little House on the Prairie.      

Review The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher

 Sam (12), Jax (10), Eli (10), and Frog (6) are the adopted brothers of dads Jason Fletcher and Tom Anderson.   The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher follows them over the course of a year as they each have a different issues to navigate. Sam hopes to get chosen for the Elite Soccer Team; Jax has to try and figure out how he is going to get his grouchy new neighbor, Mr. Nelson to allow him to interview him for his Veteran Interview Project; Eli after finally have convinced his dad's to let him attend Pinnacle School for Gifted Children is trying to figure out how to tell them he doesn't really like it;  and Frog desperately wants his family to meet Ladybug Li, a girl he supposedly has made friends with at school, although he still talks about his imaginary friend.  The Fletcher household is very chaotic, what with Sir Puggleton (dog), Zeus (cat) and not to mention the turtle and kitten that Frog is trying to convince everyone they need, but also is realistically portrayed .   

Each chapter of The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher begins with a note, text message, e-mail, or newspaper clipping showing the dialogue between father and son or from the boys to their neighbor. The story is told from the vantage of one of the Fletcher children, and alternates between them each chapter.  There is no huge problem to solve, rather chronicles some of the day to day things that families do.  Trips to visit family, first day of school, a Halloween party, etc.   Levy presents a diverse family with varied interests, hobbies, ethnic backgrounds and religions, but one where each is supported, respected and celebrated. Jason Fletcher and Tom Anderson's marriage is woven into the story in a matter of fact way. They are just Dad and Papa and when other children question why they have two dads, it's Frog who says "of course we had moms!  Don't you even know how babies are made?"  

Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell

Wilhemina (Will) Silver has lived in Zimbabwe with her widower father all her life.  Her father is the foreman on Captain Browne's Two Tree Hill farm. Will has always had free reign of the farm.  So, every day she roams the surrounding area, climbs the trees, rides her horse, and is always in the company of her "firmest, stickiest, and eternal" friend Simon.  Things in Will's life seemed perfect to her, that is until her father becomes ill and the world as she knows it changes.   Captain Browne brings Cynthia into the household to take care of Will's father.  Will immediately recognizes that Cynthia is not your typical farmer's wife and things begin to change rapidly.  Captain Browne promises Will's father on his death bed that he will care for her, but Cynthia soon convinces him that Will would be better off going to a boarding school in London. Will arrives at the Leewood School for Girls, where everything is so different then she's ever experienced before.  It will take every ounce of courage she has to be able to fit in.                                       

The first two chapters of Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms is told from Will and Simon's point of view,  giving a glimpse of how Will is "exasperating and wild and honest and true." Actually, the first half of the book grounds you in Will's world and the authors passion for Zimbabwe, its culture and language are very evident.   Rundell gives distinctive voices to Will and Simon with  Zimbabwean-English to Simon's Chikorekore Shona.   All of this contrasts with her experiences in moving to England.  Will finds herself in a place with rules and a land of "common sense."  She struggles to try to find a piece of her homeland where she is and the girls in the school make everything more difficult for her. Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms is a hopeful story, filled with new possibilities and illustrates that "life isn't all mangoes and milk tarts."  

Review: Rhyme Schemer by K.A. Holt

Kevin is the youngest of five boys with both his parents being doctors.  Everyone thinks that means that they are rich, he gets everything he wants and they have a life like that doctor Cliff Huxtable on T.V.  Truth is, Kevin's parents are always gone and even his brother Petey, who is the closest to him in age, is more interested in his band and girls.   Plus, he's still mad at him over the tornado incident.  Kevin identifies himself as the "accident" in the family, which really frustrates him and he ends up looking for some attention, even if it's negative attention.  So it's on this first day of seventh grade that Kevin seeks out his "first prey."  Giant John, Freckle-Face Kelly and Robin seem like the most likely candidates this year. Kevin's acting out takes many forms; picking on classmates, writing haiku's in a notebook, and ripping pages out of "old library books that no one reads anymore anyways," to create found poems that mock the teachers at school.   Kevin takes the text from books like The Wind in the Willow, Wizard of Oz and White Fang and reorders them with some added text to make his hilarious poems. Things go sour when Robin gets ahold of his notebook and starts to blackmail him.  Being on the other end of a bully gives Kevin a whole new perspective.  



Rhyme Schemer is written in verse.  It is a hilarious, heartfelt,  genuine look at the transition of a lonely boy from being a bully to having the tables turned on him and becoming the one who is being bullied.  Kevin is a sympathetic character with genuine feelings of wanting to be seen as tough as a rock on the outside.  

"Deep breaths.
Jagged stone turns to smooth rock.
Cold rock.
Rocks don't die.
Rocks have no feelings.
Rocks don't care."

Holt utilizes descriptive words, phrases and lines in an entertaining and insightful way for her readers.  The addition of found poems was creative and allows you to look at written text in a whole new way. There is also a nice librarian, who figures out what Kevin is doing, and helps him to find a better outlet for his creativity.  I especially enjoyed the ode's to a Principal's ties.  

I received a review copy from the publisher for free via Edelweiss for consideration for the 2014 Cybils awards in Middle Grade Fiction.  

Review: The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr

The Winter Horses takes place in the Ukraine as the Nazi army is closing in on an animal preserve, Askaniya Nova.  The reserve houses animals and some of the rarest horses, chiefly the Przewalski horses.  As the owner of the preserve prepares to flee, he instructs the caretaker, Max to destroy all of the animals to prevent the Nazis from using them for food.  Max isn't able to kill the horses, so he chooses to stay and hope that he can convince the incoming army of their value.  Captain Grenzmann of the German Army likes to see himself as a cultured man, so he entertains Max's ideas at first.  When orders come from the Nazis to destroy all the Przewalski horses, they are obliged to follow the order.  All but two horses are destroyed.  These two horses escape and locate Kalinka, a fourteen year old girl who has been hiding near Max's cabin.  One of the horses has been injured and Kalinka enlists Max's help to try to save it.   Coming to Max has placed them all in danger and now Max thinks its best if she heads toward the Russian line with the horses.  





Kalinka is a tough, and cautious girl.  She has lost so much at the hands of the German army.  She hasn't had anyone to be nice to her in a longtime, so it is hard for her to trust Max at first.  She has this understandable hatred toward the Nazi army for slaughtering her family and village.  The Winter Horse displays some of the evils of war as well as how other people can be good.  It is Max who introduces her to the idea that not all Germans are bad and that nothing can come from holding on to her hate.  Kalinka ends up making getting the Przewalski horses to safety her mission and throughout her ordeal, she finds courage, strength and the determination to persevere.

Review: Courage for Beginners by Karen Harrington

 Mysti's best friend since the forth grade has been Anibal Gomez, a shy boy who is size "extra, extra large" and full of theories.  His newest theory, he is going to become a "hipster" so that he can fit in and get Sandy Showalter to notice him.  Anibal says that he can't be seen talking with Mysti while at school, and even goes so far as to tease her to gain more points with the cool kids.  Yet, Anibal also wants Mysti to take on a challenge with him.  See who can get noticed by Sandy first and make it into her circle.   Not having anyone to talk to Mysti finds herself sitting at Loser Island for lunch, but makes a new friend, Rama. Things in Mysti's life still keep changing, especially when her father ends up in the hospital and she is the one who will have to keep things going, because her mom isn't going to be any help since she never leaves the house and dad was the one who did all the outside of the house things.  How will Mysti make sure the family doesn't fall apart while trying to navigate seventh grade without her best friend?  



Mysti believes that "if your quiet, people will think your smart," so she never tried to fit in and was content with her best friend Anibal. When Anibal abandons her, she is left to try to make new friends.  Though Mysti holds on to the belief that her and Anibal are still friends. Even when he is insults her in front of the cool kids and then winks as if to say just kidding. I felt sorry for Mysti not being able to see exactly how mean Anibal was being.  She puts such faith in him though.  Mysti was quirky, imaginative, and creative.  She narrates her life and envisions herself as a character in a book. Throughout the story, Harrington gave the reader a look at Mysti's inner thoughts with little sentences like, "Here is a girl listening to songs that speak to her soul and staying up too late texting when her parental unit shouts to shut it down."  She also made up names for the people around her "Girl Who Likes Horses" and "Women Who Goes Somewhere."  Overall, Courage for Beginners is Mysti's story about finding a way to change who she is.  She feels like if she doesn't change, she will be become more like her mother (an agoraphobic who never leaves the house).  I love the transition that Mysti makes by the end of the story.  

Favorite line  What makes a hero?  "A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave 5 minutes longer." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Review: Manhunt by Kate Messner

Some of the world's most famous art masterpieces have been stolen.  The notorious Serpentine Princes seem to be behind the art heists as a means for their leader Vincent Goosen to get his son released from prison. The secret Silver Jaguar Society is called into action to try and find the thieves and bring them to justice.  The first task is to head to Paris and try to prevent the Mona Lisa from being stolen. Once in Paris, Anna Henry and Jose are left in the care of Ursa and local  junior member Hem, while their parents rush off to protect the Mona Lisa.  When the junior members find out that their parents may have been caught by the Serpentine Princes, they may be the only ones who can find them and protect the Mona Lisa.   



Manhunt includes a diverse ensemble of characters with one being a descendant of an indentured servant, a Mexican artist and Paul Revere.  Then Messner places them in the setting of Paris giving all the historical details of the setting to enrich the story.  These details are woven into the plot, so sometimes it is the characters themselves that relay the information via a conversation or it's the tour guide at the Louvre.   With the children free to roam the city there is plenty of action, as well as a mysterious message to unravel, art and literary references and maps and drawings.  The Author's Note includes information and photographs from the author's research and visits to the locations mentioned in the book.