Review of The Doughnut King, by Jessie Janowitz

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Doughnut King

by Jessie Janowitz

Sourcebooks, 2019. 330 pages.
Starred Review
Review written June 19, 2019, from a library book

The Doughnut King is the sequel to The Doughnut Fix, which was one of my 2018 Sonderbooks Stand-outs, read during my Newbery year.

In the first book, Tris and his family moved to the small town of Petersville in upstate New York from the big city, and Tris managed to begin a thriving doughnut business, located next to his mother’s new restaurant.

But Tris’s doughnuts are so delicious, so very good, that he can’t keep up with demand. People come to Petersville to buy doughnuts, and they are disappointed.

At the same time, the mayor of Petersville tells them that the town is dying. Tris gets a vision – if he could only make more doughnuts, people could come to Petersville and would not be disappointed. He could even hire people to sell them.

Tris gets his heart set on a doughnut-making machine that could solve their problem of not making doughnuts quickly enough. But the price is far out of range. So Tris’s genius little sister enters him into a cooking show contest, Can You Cut It? — completely against Tris’s will.

But their mother once worked with Chef J. J., the temperamental chef who judges the show. Tris is convinced that got him on the show. But once on the show, he needs to win – for the sake of Petersville.

This book is another fun read with the ins and outs of the cooking competition and the characters from the town. Kids who are interested in cooking will like it all the more, but even if not this is a fun story about using ingenuity to save a town.

jessiejanowitz.com
sourcebookskids.com

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Review of Sisters of the Lost Marsh, by Lucy Strange

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Sisters of the Lost Marsh

by Lucy Strange
read by the author

Scholastic Audio Books, 2023. 6 hours, 9 minutes.
Review written March 11, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
2024 Odyssey Honor Book
Starred Review

I put Sisters of the Lost Marsh on my eaudiobook holds list because of its Odyssey Honor win for one of the best audiobooks of the year, and I was not at all disappointed. What a delightfully creepy, wonderful book! The author reads her own book with a wonderful British accent, and I was carried along through the story.

Willa is the third of six sisters, and at twelve years old she’s really the one who runs Grammy’s farm in the middle of the marshlands. As the book opens, her father, who spends most of his time drunk, has made a deal with an old neighbor that the neighbor can marry Willa’s oldest sister Grace in exchange for a fine horse named Flint.

The father is convinced in the truth of a local rhyme declaring that it’s a curse to have six daughters. Marrying one off should break the curse.

Grace does not want to marry the neighbor, and when the three oldest sisters go to the Full Moon Fayre (with Willa sneaking out to join her sisters), a frightening warning from a fortune teller suggests that Grace should run away as soon as possible.

When Grace disappears the next day, things start to fall apart. Nobody wants to give up the horse, but the neighbor insists he’s stolen if he doesn’t get his bride, and has his eyes on the next sister, Freya. Willa’s sure that Grace ran off with the Fayre, which left the same day she did. So she sets off across the marsh with Flint to warn Grace to never come back.

But there are obstacles and eerie things going on, and tales told about the marsh, a dangerous place. Nothing is as it seems at first. Willa must show great courage along the way, and the listener is right there with her. Willa must learn to discern between superstition and actual things to fear. I was rooting for Willa all the way in this satisfying read with a touch of magic and the feel of a folk tale.

lucystrange.org

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Review of Billy Miller Makes a Wish, by Kevin Henkes

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Billy Miller Makes a Wish

by Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2021. 179 pages.
Review written April 29, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

I like it when beginning chapter books feature characters and situations that match the age of the child who will be reading them. Billy Miller Makes a Wish captures second-grade situations and concerns beautifully.

The book opens with the wish from the title:

When Billy Miller blew out the eight candles on his birthday cake, he made a wish. He wished that something exciting would happen.

Not more than ten minutes later – even before the present opening had begun – a police car and an ambulance flew past Billy’s house and raced down the block. The wail of sirens stopped nearby.

When Billy’s old neighbor ends up dying, he feels awfully guilty about his wish. Even when assured that Mr. Tooley was old and sick and was going to die soon anyway and it had nothing to do with Billy’s wish, more exciting-but-bad things start to happen.

Billy’s best friend is on a trip for the summer and so he’s got a lot of time with his family – including his four-year-old sister, Sal. I love the way Sal is portrayed, so lovable but so annoying. She decides to make “Symphony Cards” to give the family of their neighbor who died – using Billy’s new birthday markers. And then she doesn’t actually want to let the family have them. And that’s only the beginning.

This book is a quick read, but it will keep you smiling. I like how creatively Kevin Henkes came up with exciting things to happen to Billy, in answer to his wish.

kevinhenkes.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Review of Class Act, by Jerry Craft

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel 0

Class Act

by Jerry Craft

Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins), 2020. 250 pages.
Review written March 20, 2021, from a library book

Class Act calls itself a “Companion to the Newbery Medal Winner New Kid,” so I won’t call it a sequel, but it does tell about Jordan Banks’ second year at a private school outside his neighborhood, where he’s one of a few African American kids. The publisher is right, though, that you won’t feel lost if you didn’t read the first graphic novel, or if it’s been a while. The author is good at catching the reader up.

And this time, besides following Jordan’s story, we also follow two of his friends – Drew, whose skin is darker than Jordan’s and faces more discrimination, and Liam, who is white and rich, but whose parents are never around.

This year Jordan’s bothered that he doesn’t seem to be growing and developing like his friends are doing, and he doesn’t want to stay a little kid forever. He also is afraid that drawing his comics is babyish and wonders if he should go to art school next year.

For all of them, there’s still discrimination to navigate, and friendships, and girls, and what kids in the neighborhood think of them going to a private school. I liked the part where a mean kid accidentally got his skin dyed green with unwashable dye for Halloween – and thus became a person of color temporarily. The teachers are trying to figure out how to be sensitive to diversity – with mixed results.

The chapter break pages refer to other published books. It starts out with mostly children’s graphic novel references but includes some adult novels as well. I didn’t quite understand the point of doing this, though it was fun for me to recognize the books.

The story is good, and it’s great to have another graphic novel with Black kids as the protagonists. There’s no doubt in my mind that kids will happily scoop this up and be glad they did.

jerrycraft.com
harperalley.com

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Review of The Night War, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Night War

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Dial Books for Young Readers, on shelves April 2024. 288 pages.
Review written 2/4/24 from an Advance Readers’ Copy.
Starred Review

A new book from Kimberly Brubaker Bradley! This was one of the first books I read after I finished my Mathical Book Prize committee reading.

This book is set in France during World War II. The Nazis are in Paris, and Miri’s family and entire neighborhood are being rounded up. But her neighbor, Madame Rosenbaum, entrusts Miri with her baby, little Nora, and helps Miri escape. Couriers get her to a convent school in Chenonceaux, by the river that bordered the section of France not occupied by the Nazis.

The castle in town has stories of Catherine de Medici and Diane Poitiers, the women who established the gardens. The castle itself has a ballroom that is a bridge over the river with no other way to free France for miles around. After one of the nuns gets injured, Miri, who now goes by Marie, goes at night to the castle and helps people cross the river. She wants to go herself but she won’t leave without Nora, who has been given to a childless Christian family.

And while this is going on, Marie interacts with the other girls at the school, and she gets to explore the castle. A strange and imperious lady from the castle takes an interest in her and wants her to do the work of the old gardener, who died. As payment, she can bring food from the kitchen garden to the school.

I have always wanted to see the castles of the Loire Valley, so I especially enjoyed this book’s setting. (And a note at the end tells us which parts are true and which parts invented.) Miri is forced to have courage in a terrible situation, and she comes through with flying colors.

kimberlybrubakerbradleycom.wordpress.com
penguin.com/kids

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Review of Talia’s Codebook for Mathletes, by Marissa Moss

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Talia’s Codebook for Mathletes

by Marissa Moss

Walker Books, 2023. 232 pages.
Review written January 15, 2024, from a library book
Starred Review
2024 Mathical Book Prize Winner, Grades 6 to 8

Oh, this book made my math-loving heart happy! Though I do believe you don’t have to love math to enjoy this book. It’s a middle school story, illustrated in the manner of the Wimpy Kid books, but in color. It’s one of those books I have to look at in my job and decide if we should shelve it with the graphic novels or with the regular text books, and this leans into illustrated novel rather than graphic novel, because the majority of the story is told with paragraphs rather than panels. But I do believe there are pictures on every single spread, so it’s all the more inviting for kids. (A little less inviting for me, not being a graphic novel fan, but that’s another story. Once I picked this up, I loved it.)

Talia is starting middle school and is sad that her best friend, a boy named Dash, doesn’t want to be seen with her at school, because some boys have been teasing him. This gets Talia thinking about the rules of middle school and how you’re supposed to figure out what you should wear, what you should say, and what’s cool. Can she figure out the code?

But Talia’s happy that Dash will be on the Mathlete team with her. Trouble is, it turns out that she’s the only girl. When the boys on the team don’t seem to take her seriously, ignore her idea of using codes to build their math skills, and say that she’s the one who should be friendlier, Talia decides to start a Mathlete team for girls only. Both teams are at their first competition, and can the Math Mermaids decisively show that girls can do math, too?

That’s a big thread in the book, but there’s a lot more going on about friendship, family, fitting in, and codes — with plenty of interesting example codes and some problems to puzzle out and codes to break.

Now I, of course, resonated with only one girl on the math team. My approach to that situation was to try to beat them all, but I like the way in this book there was a more nuanced message, but we did firmly get the message that math is for everyone, and math is fun. And I liked the wider application of the principle of coded messages, for example the code behind people’s facial expressions or how to be cool.

marissamoss.com

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Review of Elf Dog and Owl Head, by M. T. Anderson

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Elf Dog & Owl Head

by M. T. Anderson
illustrated by Junyi Wu

Candlewick Press, 2023. 232 pages.
Review written February 21, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review
2024 Newbery Honor Book

Oh, I loved this book so much! It reminded me of the Edward Eager magic-filled books I read and loved as a kid.

But this is a modern take on magic. Clay is stuck doing school at home because of a global pandemic. Everyone in his family is getting on each other’s nerves. But his house is next to the woods. He goes out walking in the woods, thinking how stupid it is to carry a Frisbee by himself, when he sees a white dog with strange red ears. The reader knows she is a dog from the hunting pack of the Kingdom Under the Mountain, who didn’t go back to her den under the mountain quickly enough. But Clay only knows that she enjoys catching the Frisbee.

Clay notices right away that something’s off about the dog. When she fetches, she seems to use some kind of teleporting magic. When she follows him home, the family puts out notices, but no one seems to be missing a white dog with red ears. She settles in and finds that she likes playing with the boy instead of working all the time, and she likes sleeping on his bed instead of in a den.

And so Clay’s magical adventures begin. It turns out that his elf dog can easily take paths between worlds and take Clay to magical places he’s never seen before — with some interesting magical consequences. He even makes a new friend from a village in a parallel world — a boy with an owl head.

Clay has two sisters — one older teen sister and one younger tag-along sister. Even his sisters get some adventures. In fact, I especially like the older sister DiRossi’s encounters with magic. When she meets a depressed giant, the author makes gentle fun of her teenage angst in a way I thought was hilarious while also being spot-on. But a scene later in the book gives even DiRossi a nice dose of magical wonder and joy.

So this is a book about magical adventures, playful and joyful. Sometimes things go wrong, and they have to fix them. And there’s quite a bit of danger at the end.

It’s also a book about family and friendship and the magical bond between a boy and his dog.

I love that the Newbery committee this year chose some books that are fully children’s books, not even “middle grade” books — though middle graders will enjoy it, too. But Clay’s concerns are a kid’s concerns, with none of that burgeoning middle grade awareness of the opposite sex. And it’s refreshing that these younger kids get such distinguished books, too.

I said that I hope the Newbery winner, The Eyes and the Impossible, will get read in classrooms across America. I wish that for this book, too. But what this book really made me think of was back in the day when my husband and I read books at bedtime to our two kids, who were six and a half years apart. We looked for books with a wide age range to appeal to them both — and this book makes me wish for those days again, because this kind of family story with magic would have exactly filled the bill.

Oh, and spoiler alert: It’s an award-winning book with a dog on the cover — Yet no animals die!

candlewick.com
mt-anderson.com

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Review of The Eyes and the Impossible, by Dave Eggers

Animal Characters, Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Eyes and the Impossible

by Dave Eggers
illustrations of Johannes by Shawn Harris

Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. 256 pages.
Review written 2/4/24 from a library book.
Starred Review
2024 John Newbery Medal Winner

This book is told by a dog who lives in a park. He introduces himself:

I am a dog called Johannes and I have seen you. I have seen you in this park, my home. If you have come to this park, my vast green and windblown park by the sea, I have seen you. I have seen everyone who has been here, the walkers and runners and bikers and horse-riders and the Bison-seekers and the picnickers and the archers in their cloaks. When you have come here you have come to my home, where I am the Eyes.

Three Bison live in an enclosure in the park. They rule over the park, but can’t leave their enclosure, so they appointed Johannes to be their Eyes. He has Assistants who help, and together the Bison keep the Equilibrium.

But as the Equilibrium gets upset, the animals devise a plan to do the Impossible.

Meanwhile, Johannes is delightful company.

I have seen all of you here. The big and small and tall and odorous. The travelers and tourists and locals and roller-skating humans and those who play their brass under the mossy bridge and the jitterbug people who dance over that other bridge, and bearded humans who try to send flying discs into cages but usually fail. I see all in this park because I am the Eyes and have been entrusted with seeing and reporting all. Ask the turtles about me. Ask the squirrels. Don’t ask the ducks. The ducks know nothing.

I run like a rocket. I run like a laser. You have never seen speed like mine. When I run I pull at the earth and make it turn. Have you seen me? You have not seen me. Not possible. You are mistaken. No one has seen me running because when I run human eyes are blind to me. I run like light. Have you seen the movement of light? Have you?

But some new things come into the park that Johannes has not seen before. Mysterious rectangles with things inside that are Impossible. And new animals that eat even the prickly grass that took over the tulip field. And thus new adventures and plans begin.

I like it that the Newbery this year went to a book that is truly for children — not even a middle-grades book. Now, like most great books, everyone in a wide age range will enjoy it, including this old person, but this would make a fabulous read-aloud even for young elementary school children. In fact, I hope that winning this award will make The Eyes and the Impossible the read-aloud choice for classrooms across the country.

daveeggers.net
rhcbooks.com

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Review of My Own Lightning, by Lauren Wolk

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

My Own Lightning

by Lauren Wolk
read by Emily Rankin

Listening Library, 2022. 7 hours, 22 minutes.
Review written January 16, 2023, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review
2023 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #6 More Children’s Fiction

My Own Lightning is a sequel to the amazing and Newbery-Honor-winning Wolf Hollow. It had been a long time since I read Wolf Hollow, but I didn’t feel lost with this book. However, I do think it’s better to read the first book first, since this one does give away some things that happened in the first book.

Set in a farming community during World War II, this book begins with Annabelle being struck by lightning. Someone beats her chest and saves her life, but she doesn’t know who. And after it happens, she now can understand animals, with a connection like nothing she ever experienced before.

So when a new neighbor has a lot of dogs in his barn and their own dog is missing, Annabelle can’t resist investigating. Meanwhile, a kid who did some awful things a year ago is also missing a dog. And Annabelle starts getting some reasons to look at him differently. But what is right?

This is a book about seeing people — and animals — more deeply than what meets the eye. Like Wolf Hollow, it’s a thoughtful and meditative book. Perfect for animal-loving kids.

laurenwolk.com
listeninglibrary.com

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Review of Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Once There Was

by Kiyash Monsef
read by Nikki Massoud

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2023. 11 hours, 28 minutes.
Review written July 3, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2024 William C. Morris Award Finalist
2024 Odyssey Award Honor Book
2023 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #3 Children’s Speculative Fiction

Once There Was is a contemporary fantasy tale interwoven with Persian stories that begin, “Once there was, once there wasn’t…”

Marjan is 15 and owns a veterinary clinic after the violent death of her father a few weeks ago. The police don’t have any clue who did it, and Marjan feels detached from it all, trying to keep the clinic running.

Then a mysterious woman sends her plane tickets to London to visit a griffin. When Marjan places her hands on the griffin, she senses everything the griffin is feeling, and he is very sick. And that is how she learns that one of the stories her father told her is true – and she inherited a gift from her father going back to an ancestor who was pierced by a unicorn’s horn. Oh, and besides that – griffins and other magical creatures are real.

But then Marjan gets entangled with more than one powerful group who wants to control who has access to these amazing creatures, and she wants to be on the side of the creatures, but which side is that? In her efforts to help, she has some amazing adventures, while trying to understand her place in all this, keep the clinic afloat, and figure out who killed her father – all while trying to keep her friends from worrying about her.

She gains some allies along the way, including a rich boy from London whose family has hosted the griffin for centuries and a teenage witch whose familiar is ill – and needs a place to stay. It’s good she has help, because it turns out that everything is riding on the fate of these magical creatures, and Marjan and her friends are going to need to save the world.

My one little complaint about the book is that the big climactic world-saving action happens with still more than an hour left in the audiobook. But the things that follow are pretty crucial to Marjan’s story, too, so I don’t think I’d want it changed – or put off and resolved in another volume.

The publisher is marketing this for children (ages 10 to 14), but Marjan is 15, in high school, and dealing with adult things like running a business, and has a friend who drives. So I think teens will enjoy the book, too.

I didn’t begin this eaudiobook until it was almost due to expire, so on the last day, I pulled out a jigsaw puzzle and listened to the last 4 hours (sped up a tiny bit), and thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in this book. I love the way the interspersed Persian tales illuminate the story and keep the feeling of magic strong.

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