A Face Like Glass (Amulet Books, 2017) by Frances Hardinge is set in a believable, yet very unique underground city of Caverna.
Neverfell doesn’t remember anything before she was five when she ended up living and working with Cheesemaster Grandible as his cheese making apprentice. Her master makes her wear a mask whenever she meets anyone, which doesn’t happen very often as she’s never let outside his tunnels. At twelvish, Neverfell assumes the mask is because she’s so ugly. But when Neverfell goes out into the city itself, others think her face is terrifying, but for a reason she could never imagine. Will Neverfell be able to solve the mystery of where she came from?
If you like middle grade fantasy, you should read this book.
The cover on the left is the cover of the book I read. The cover on the right is the UK version, which I like better. The book originally came out in 2012.
Author Frances Hardinge has written a number of other books. You can read about them in her library. Her bio made me laugh. She likes wearing black hats as you can see here.
Tag: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
The Someday Suitcase
The Someday Suitcase (Katherine Tegan Books, 2017) by Corey Ann Haydu is a touching story of friendship and loss.
Clover and Danny are like two sides of a coin. The pair are always together. They laugh and have good times; they help each other with their strengths. When in fifth grade science class, Clover learns about symbiosis, she’s sure that’s the perfect description for her and Danny. When Danny gets sick with a mysterious illness, only Clover can make him feel better. Clover’s sure she’s the one that will find a cure for him, too, but no one believes her as Danny gets weaker and weaker.
And, yes, the snow globe on the front of the book has a special significance.
I look forward to seeing what awards this book wins.
Corey Ann writes for teens and children–check out her books here. She shares her teenage diaries here on the blog “What My Former Self Can Tell Me Now.”
The First Last Day
The First Last Day (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, 2016) by Dorian Cirrone is an interesting take on the idea of not wanting summer to end. Who hasn’t wanted that as a kid? Plus, there’s a do over aspect. It’s also a good read about friendship and choices.
Twelve-year-old Haleigh and Kevin have had a great time this summer at the Jersey shore. Tomorrow his mom is coming to get Kevin to take him home and Haleigh has to go home and get ready for another new school. When Haleigh finds a mysterious set of paints in her backpack and paints a picture of their last day, she wakes up to their last day again. And again, and again. What will she do about the time loop?
This book reminds me of the movie Groundhog’s Day, except I can’t remember why the time loop happened in the movie. And this story brings up some interesting issues that the movie didn’t. The book has been translated into Finnish and has won a 2017 Florida Book Awards Gold Medal.
Dorian writes for kids and teens. Read about all her books here. And you really should read the longer version of her bio here–I bet it will make you smile.
Cloud and Wallfish
Cloud and Wallfish (Candlewick Press, 2016) by Anne Nesbet has an unusual title and is an unusual story. It’s a historical set in 1989, before and after the Berlin Wall comes down, but it’s way more than that.
Noah’s parents came together to pick him up from fifth grade. And as the text says, “…in Noah’s family, picking up kids at school was a one-parent activity.” Things get weirder from there. Much weirder. The family is moving to Germany–but “not the usual Germany.” They say it’s for an urgent expedition. But what expedition has you changing your name and birthday? And when they get to East Berlin Noah can’t go to school because of his speech defect–he stutters. But he ends up making a friend anyway. And, well, let’s just say things get riskier from then on.
I love this book. I like Noah’s personality and the Secret Files. I like how it ends. It was a hard-to-put-down read. Cloud and Wallfish was awarded the California Book Award gold medal in the Juvenile category in June. You can read about that here. See the other awards here.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may recognize Anne’s name as I’ve mentioned her previous books here too. Here’s her website if you’d like more info about Anne or her books.
Monster, Human, Other
You definitely have to pick up Monster, Human, Other (Random House Children’s Books, September 2017) by Laurel Gale when it comes out. I was fortunate enough to get to read an ARC and loved this book.
It starts out with Isaac Read, whose family has moved once again, because he’s changing from his winter look to his summer look. Yep, Isaac isn’t human–he’s a clepsit–in the ambassador exchange program living with human parents. He has to tape down his tail when he goes out among humans and is always having to make new friends because of the moves.
Mr. and Mrs. Read’s child Wren lives with a clepsit family in their burrow. Her clepsit parents love her, but the extended family, not so much. Wren doesn’t have the sense of smell that the rest of the family does and often has trouble finding her way back to the burrow. She’s picked on by her cousins; distrusted by her aunt and uncle, the head clepsits. Thank goodness her brother Coney tries to protect her.
Add the voracans who want to take over the world. With relations between the human and clepsit cultures growing more tense, how can two kids help? But Isaac and Wren don’t have any choice but to get involved when the voracans show up in their world.
This book is fun and with enough scare to keep it interesting. The new world is believable and relatable. I’m sure kids will also love this book.
This is author Laurel Gale’s second book. Read more about what she’s up to on her website. I also recommended her first book Dead Boy here.