Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

BOB

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

BOB (Fiewel and Friends, 2018) by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead is an unusual story with mystery and magic told in two points of view.

Ten-and-a-half-year-old Livy hasn’t visited her grandmother in Australia for five years and she feels bad she can’t remember anything about the house nor the three objects Gran says she used to love. Well, except for maybe a wrong chicken. And Mom’s leaving her here.

Bob has waited five years for Livy to return. It’s a long time to hang out in a closet.

But the more time Livy spends with Bob, whom others mysteriously can’t see, the more she begins to remember. Including her promise to get Bob home.

This is such a lovely story of friendship. I love how they both share lists.

The book also is a Chicago Tribune Best Children’s Books of the Year, a Booklist Editors’ Choice, won the Golden Cowbell Book Award (Switzerland) and Cartwheel Book Award for Best Non-human Character, plus has been nominated for fifteen state book awards.

About the Authors

Wendy is a NY Times bestselling author. Read about her here and see all her 29 books here! Not only is she prolific, but she writes in different categories and genres.

Check out Rebecca’s six books here and read about her here. She is a Newbery Medal Winner.

These co-authors have a new book coming out in August–read more here about The Lost Library.

Posted in So Many Good Books, YA Novels

The Enigma Game

If you like YA books set in World War II and haven’t read the award winning author Elizabeth Wein, you’re missing out. I just finished the wonderful The Enigma Game (‎Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2020). It was fascinating and I learned some new facts too.

Fifteen-year-old British Jamaican Louisa Adair wants to do something to fight the Nazis. Both her parents were killed in the War. But it’s hard simply finding a job. She finally gets one in Scotland, but how can taking care of an elderly German woman accomplish anything for the war efforts?

We also meet Ellen McEwen, a volunteer driver with the Royal Air Force, and Jamie Beaufort-Stuart, a flight leader for the 648 Squadron, and read about their struggles. The three get involved together because of an Enigma machine.

I love the elements of music in this book. And the fact that we meet some characters who often aren’t mentioned positively in books from the time period.

If you’ve read Code Name Verity, you’ve met Jamie before.

Read about the author here and check out her other books here.

Spending an hour looking for the right word might seem tedious, but it’s what mathematicians, inventors and creators do so that at the end, the finished product looks like it came effortlessly.
Stephen Mooser

Spending an hour looking