I haven't laughed this much at a middle-grade book in ages: well done, Maz and Chicken House! 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

#mg #kidlit

"How do I personally know when a manuscript is saleable? When it is great. Emily Dickinson said, "If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry." When I read a manuscript that performs a similar partial decapitation on me… I want to tell everyone about it and have everyone read it."
#mg #ya #cherylbklein

Rocket enthusiast Alex and his dog (Carl Sagan) make their way improbably across the American Southwest to a launch event for amateur rocket builders, despite the fact that Alex is only 11 (“I‘m 13 in responsibility years.")

Told in a series of audio recordings on a golden iPod that Alex intends to send out into the universe, ostensibly addressed to "the aliens," this shaped up to be one of my favorite books of the last few years.

#mg #space

"Being his real brother, I could feel I live in his shadow, but I never have and I do not now. I live in his glow."

#ww1 #Michaelmorpugo #YA

The shock abduction of a toddler – and the fact that Matthew was last to observe the boy – throws Matthew into the position of crime solver. That's difficult because Matthew has OCD & can't bear leaving his room, or being near the dirty world. What unfolds is a tightly written, life-affirming middle grade mystery. Matthew's condition, while character defining, does not, ultimately, hijack his future or the narrative.

#mg #scholastic #goldfishboy

"Only a sudden limb amputation would've prevented me from attending school, and even then it would depend which limb."

#costa #Brianconaghan

This story works – three children who experience the same magic harmonica -- because the characters are so real & the intolerance they face so freshly relevant. But the story for me suffers from its three consecutive cliffhangers, & there's that jarring feeling as you move from one story to another, believing that the most recent child has ended in a bad way. That said, it was an engaging #audiobook with lots of music: good one for the car.
#mg

"The guilt of what I'd done lived inside me like a vicious black beetle, scuttling around my stomach." GOLDFISH BOY: intriguing so far

#mg #goldfishboy #ocd

Fantastic historical fiction for middle grade readers, inspired by a true story of tenant farmers fighting back against evictions in Highlands of Scotland. Similar evictions happened in Ireland – where my relatives are from – and this book got me seriously choked up. It's written with such fly on the wall accuracy, you feel like you are inside a 19th-century rural hovel with only an open fire to cook over. Loved it.

#mg #historical #Scotland

Result: I've started my daughter on a handful of contemporary books recently and she's abandoned all of them – except this. I'm loving it, too.

#jasonreynolds #kidlit

Surreal, explosive read. I couldn't stop thinking about it after I read it -- perfect if you loved BECAUSE YOU'LL NEVER MEET ME by Leah Thomas, or for younger readers who liked THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH. Even if you're not into books about science-gone-weird, this book has so much: classic who-am-I and MUM-this-is-MY-life themes but given such fresh and bizarre treatment.

Zany, very funny mixture of styles, with the characters (beautifully ethnically diverse, which is no big deal) plunged into a quest adventure which is in itself self-aware, complete with characters wandering in and saying "I'm the official antagonist," or, "I'm carrying the betrayer's card." If you love role playing board games, you'll love it, likewise if you are a fan of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

"When I'm around, Father, I request that you speak favorably of Hitler, or say nothing."

Only part way through but thoroughly enjoying this, as is my 10-year-old. Great situational comedy.