Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes (Scholastic Press, 2017) by Mary E. Lambert was such a heart-wrenching book for me. I didn’t grow up like this main character did, but have some family members who were close to it. The story was very believable.
Annabelle won’t let any friends within five miles of her house–because she doesn’t want anyone to see how they live. Her mother is a hoarder. And Dad won’t do anything about it. Her little sister is frightened at what could happen (she has a horrifying folder of hoarder articles) and their older brother just escapes all the time. What can Annabelle do to help her broken family?
This is a good story for anyone who has been embarrassed by their own family.
Click here to read the frequently asked questions about this story. I also enjoyed reading Mary’s personal story here.
I hope we see more books from Mary.
Tag: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Skylark and Wallcreeper
I loved Skylark and Wallcreeper (Little Bee/Yellow Jacket Books, 2018) by Anne O’Brien Carelli so much!
Two historical events (at least to children) in one book. Two twelve-year-olds: Collette in France in 1944; Lily in Queens in 2012. One is helping the resistance against the Nazis and the collaborators. The other is helping her grandmother and others in the nursing home deal with Hurricane Sandy and the aftermath. But the best part is that Lily is Collette’s granddaughter and neither Lily, nor her mother, know about Collette’s past. That changes through a circumstances of events and Lily’s own determination.
The book is a CYBILS (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary) AWARD Finalist and a Mighty Girl’s 2018 Best Book of the Year.
Read about Anne here. Follow her on Twitter here.
I’m hoping we hear about more books from her soon.
Merci Suárez Changes Gears
Merci Suárez Changes Gears (Candlewick Press, 2018) by Meg Medina is the 2019 Newbery Winner (in case you missed the news). Here’s a video of what it was like for Meg getting “the call.”
Sixth grade isn’t easy for any kid, but Merci Suárez, a scholarship kid at Seward Pines Academy is struggling with some additional issues–her left eye that doesn’t always track, her unusual living situation, and being stuck in Sunshine Buddies. But when she comes home from school to find a police cruiser outside Abuela’s house, she doesn’t know it’s the beginning of everything changing.
This is a lovely story of a girl negotiating changes in her family, new responsibilities, and having to grow up.
This is Meg Medina’s first middle grade novel. She also writes young adult novels and picture books. See her books here. Read about her and her many awards here.
The Turning
The Turning (Greenwillow Books, 2018) by Emily Whitman is SO good! It’s compelling from the first line to the end. I had so much sympathy for the main character. And his family.
Aran is a selkie. He lives at sea with the clan. But unlike the others he is always in longlimbs as he has no selkie skin to transform him into a seal. He prays to the moon to give him one so he can dive without needing to surface for breath, so he can swim long distances and keep up with the others. Then he finds out his mother has kept a secret from him and he may never get a pelt. Aran will risk everything to be a full selkie–even living on land.
What a magical story of a convincing world! (The book has a cool cover too.) You really don’t want to miss reading this book that has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection.
Read Emily’s About Me to learn some of the inspiration for this book. The author has also written YA books–you can read about them here.
Inkling
Inkling (Alfred A. Knopf, 2018) by Kenneth Oppel is a book I’m not quite sure how to describe. We’ve got a nonhuman, but likable main character, who is an inkblot. Seriously! He’s discovered by a boy named Ethan, who names him Inkling. Ethan’s sister Sarah who has Down’s Syndrome meets Inkling too although she calls him Lucy. We’ve got lots of drawing, both good and bad. We’ve got problems, kid-sized and adult. It’s funny. It’s sad. It’s touching.There’s a bad guy. But with some help Ethan and Inkling win in the end. And so do some other people.
This is a fun and satisfying story. Looking at it several weeks after I finished it, I find it hard not to pick the book up and read it again.
Kenneth Oppel is an award winning author. You can read about him here. See his awards here and check out his books here.
The illustrations (inside and out) are done by Sydney Smith. You can see a bunch of the illustrator’s covers here.