by Erika Tamar

Katie lives in the projects with her hardworking mother and her mom’s new husband (who works two jobs). She struggles to get along with some of her friends- not understanding why they’re suddenly boy crazy and obsessed with makeup and hair styles. One day walking home from school, a dog behind a fence catches her eye- a dog in the junkyard. He looks neglected and hungry. She wants to give him food and water, and later builds a shelter against the cold. The mean junkyard man thinks she’s crazy to have any interest in the mutt, but Katie’s stepfather coaches her on how to persuade him to let her feed the dog anyway. He teaches her to use tools and build a doghouse. Another boy in the neighborhood starts helping her with the doghouse project, and she thinks he’ll be her friend, but at school he completely ignores her, which makes her hurt and angry. As Katie tries to figure things out with her friends, she gradually builds a better relationship with her stepfather even though she’s suspicious he might someday leave (like her birth father did). Katie wants to rescue the junkyard dog and bring him home forever, but their housing doesn’t allow pets. At the end, many much has improved for Katie. Not all things she’s hoped for have come about, but promisingly it looks like they might very soon.

Rating: 3/5
186 pages, 1995

by Betsy Byars

The summer she turns fourteen, Sara feels upset and dissatisfied about almost everything. Exasperated by her family. Disgruntled that her older sister is pretty and popular, and she’s not. Frustrated with her younger brother, who is mentally disabled and non-verbal. She loves him, but gets impatient sometimes. In this short novel that takes place over little more than twenty-four hours, Sara argues with her sister, frets about her hair, despairs over the color of her shoes, and is angry at a boy from school who supposedly stole her brother Charlie’s watch. It’s one of his few treasured possessions, that brings him calm when he listens to the second hand ticking. Then some swans fly over town and land on the lake near their house. Sara takes Charlie to see them. He is captivated by their beauty and grace, so quietly gliding on the still dark water. It’s hard for Sara to drag him away when it’s time to go home. Later that night, Charlie goes missing. Sara is sure he went back alone to see the swans on the lake, but nobody can find him. In the tense, anxious search for her brother, Sara realizes that all the other things she’d been upset about don’t really matter. (And that boy she was angry with turns out the be kind and helpful, not a thief). Things are looking up on the final pages. It does have a happy ending.

This book won a Newberry Award. I’m pretty sure I read it a long time ago, some parts felt very familiar to me. It does feel quite dated, the dialog in particular is so seventies feeling. But still a very good read.

Rating: 4/5
142 pages, 1970

by Ginger Rue

Aleca enlists the help of her Aunt to explore the bridge that only Ford can see. She evades her best friend’s suspicions, plays a mild prank on the principal again (stopping time) and discovers that three of them together- Aleca, Ford and Aunt Zephyr- can harness or combine all their abilities to do something greater. They’re able to navigate the bridge and actually travel to the past- where they don’t do much besides look around. However when attempting to return to their own time, a glitch occurs on the bridge and they momentarily go to the future instead. Aleca quickly realizes something terrible will happen for everyone in that future trajectory, and in the last paragraph she determines she won’t let it come to pass. She’ll change something in her own time to prevent it. Obviously a setup for more books in the series, but there don’t seem to be any yet. It was fun but not quite so engaging as the last three, which had the glory of roller skates, and the intriguing differences in Ford’s character (this time he seemed more just like a nerdy precocious kid, not so much as if on the spectrum. But that’s just my impression.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
100 pages, 2018

by Jean Slaughter Doty

This is a brief, simple book with a very quiet, dreamy feel- even though some exciting things happen near the end. Parts were very reminiscent of that Billy and Blaze book where they get lost in the woods. Jennifer is spending the summer alone with her mother while her father travels for work. They’re staying at a farm her mother’s friend owns (but doesn’t currently occupy) in Connecticut. The owner of the riding stable where she took lessons asks if she’ll take one of the ponies to board over the summer. She realizes the day after they move that of all things, she forgot to bring her saddle! But is determined to ride anyway. The pony isn’t showy, but has a good temperament and is (mostly) patient with young riders. She can be stubborn with a mind of her own though. On one of their rides exploring the woods around the farm, they find a lush pasture in a hidden valley- with a seemingly empty farmhouse and a small herd of beautiful ponies. Who do they belong to? Is anyone taking care of them? Jennifer doesn’t have much time to puzzle over that because she soon has her hands full- her pony wants to join them and finds a weak spot in the fence. Jennifer struggles to control the pony and get it home again. Things are fine for a while after that but later her pony escapes its paddock and runs away to join the valley herd again. When Jennifer tracks her down, she finds the valley ponies are threatened. Can she be quick and brave enough to save them. Nice little story!

Rating: 3/5
92 pages, 1982

Volume 11

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Warning for SPOILERS.

I had a bit of difficulty enjoying this one. I had forgotten some of the previous storyline, but sadly didn’t care enough to go back to my own reviews of the books to refresh my memory. Especially of all the side characters who for their various reasons are tracking down Alana’s family. Some of them die in this book. Even prominent side characters. Alana and the two kids- preteens now- are on yet another alien planet, living makeshift in a tent while Alana works a crummy job in a place obviously something like Amazon, while the kids busk (and try to resist the urge to just steal stuff).

Then they hear of a heart-stopping possibility: someone who can magic their father back to life. At a very steep price. Alana refuses- realizing it’s probably a scam- but the kids attempt to acquire the items- and when they get into dangerous trouble, discover that robot-boy has no qualms about using violence- and also he can now speak. There’s some heavy philosophical stuff in here about trying to break vicious cycles, behavior patterns of revenge than span and enwrap generations. And some good, subtle fun regarding the novel within a novel. I did like those parts.

Oh, and there’s an attempt at reconciliation between the blue-blood tv-heads and the horn people. Which doesn’t get anywhere yet, but at least it’s a start. We encounter another Lying Cat (not blue, and not as charmingly snarky, in fact downright mean). Alana and the kids get passage as workers on a ship leaving for yet another strange new alien world.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
160 pages, 2023

by Ginger Rue

Aleca is getting better at resisting the urge to stop time- except when it seems really important. And what could be more important than defending her father’s honor? She subtly gets back at a kid who made fun of him, with unexpected consequences. The other important thing is figuring out what Ford’s ability is. He’s the new boy, younger than all the other kids in the grade, very smart, full of science and math facts, and socially awkward. He has a strong need for predictable routine, and for things to be organized in a certain way, and other notable traits. I felt sure this kid was on the autism spectrum, though it wasn’t stated explicitly. I mostly liked reading this story just because of his character. Aleca thinks he’s a little odd, but she’s patient with him and quite intrigued that he can see things from the past and future. But what good does it do? She thinks she’s about to find out when Ford reports seeing a bridge that no one else can see or touch- and he can walk on it (but is scared to cross it alone). Aleca needs her Wonder aunt to help them figure this all out. Unfortunately Aunt Zephyr’s teleporting skill has become more and more unpredictable, so they have to deal with that too. And right there the story ends, you have to hop to the next book when it feels like it should just be a chapter break. I didn’t mind too much though.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
127 pages, 2018

the Greater World of Sports

by Martha London

Was I ever surprised by this book. Quidditch is a real-life sport apparently. Made up by some college students in 2005, as close to the Harry Potter game as they could get it. It’s casually called Muggle Quidditch, ha. Played by over 8,000 people worldwide, with organized teams with uniforms and everything. Of course they can’t fly and there’s no magic, but they have to hang onto a short broomstick (often token, no brush) between their legs at all times. The goals were first made with hula hoops, now PVC pipe is more common. There’s a volleyball for the quaffle and dodgeballs for the bludgers, which are thrown to knock players from their brooms. One player dressed in bright yellow runs around being the snitch. It all sounds kind of silly to me, but from the expressions on the faces of players in the photos, they take it quite seriously! and the spectators and fans often dress up as if in role play.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
32 pages, 2020

Bink and Gollie

by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee

The two roller-skating friends go to the fair. (Disappointingly, they only wore skates in the first scene when pausing in front of posters on the street. Regular sneakers for the rest of the story). Bink wants to win a giant doughnut at the whack-a-duck game, but her wild attempts repeatedly hit the man who ran the booth instead. Full force. In the face. Really. I found this very disturbing. Why wouldn’t the guy stand off to the side, especially after getting nailed the first time? As someone still recovering from a head injury, I know very well what it’s like to struggle getting your words out. Seeing this guy with facial injuries stammering his sentences out of order really bothered me. Too recent, too relevant.

Well, Bink doesn’t win anything. They buy some mini doughnuts to eat instead. Next Gollie wants to participate in the talent show, but gets a bad case of stage fright and can’t perform. Afterwards she recites her poem to Bink in a barn. Discouraged, the two visit a fortune-teller’s tent. She hints that they will always be friends and Gollie is reassured: “that’s all the future I need to know.” It was nice, but just fell a little flat for me. Maybe I’m simply ready to move on from picture books now.

Illustrated by Tony Fucile. Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 2/5
84 pages, 2012

the Derby Daredevils

by Kit Rosewater

The team goes to derby skate camp. Tomoko is looking forward to it, because she’s done a lot of camping with her uncle. Very awkward when she realizes the camp isn’t out in the woods with tents, sleeping bags and marshmallows over a fire- after she’s brought all her camping gear along on the bus. To the middle of a big city. A girl on one of the other teams subtly makes fun of Tomoko- remarking on her body size, her ethnicity (and getting it wrong), and her camping gear. Tomoko is hurt by these microaggressions (defined in the book for young readers) but also because her teammates don’t seem to notice and she is uneasy about speaking up to the adult leaders. Then her teammates decide to go to a local park for their individual practice, where they play an invented game of basketball on roller skates. They get lost in the city and Tomoko figures out how to apply her wilderness skills to this new situation, helping them find their way back. An old lady chastises them in public, one girl gets her skate wheel stuck in a drain grate, and of course they’re in big trouble with the coaches for having left the building without permission. Now it comes to light how Tomoko has been feeling put down by the other derby player, and the coaches handle the situation well. Tomoko’s teammates rally around her and she begins to make a few friends from other teams.

Nice lessons in this one. I liked it more for the aspects of dealing with uncomfortable situations involving other people, and new environments (the city) than about the actual skating details. I was hoping there’d be more books in this series, maybe one from Bree’s perspective, but it seems to stop here so far.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5
170 pages, 2021

the Derby Daredevils

by Kit Rosewater

The team of five friends is getting ready for their first junior derby league bout. Everyone is polishing their specific skills- one girl is very fast and always has the jammer position. Kenzie is great at coming up with new strategic moves, Tomoko is good at blocking, etc. But Shelly (whose viewpoint this novel is from) doesn’t feel like she’s particularly good at any one thing. She’s always drawing though. In an effort to stand out and feel special to the team, Shelly tries turning some of her sketch ideas into actual gear accessories that could help her team win. Like glitter to burst out in a cloud startling the opponents, or something to make Bree extra fast, for example. It was crazy that she thought she could do this in just a few days- but I’ve seen kids get fixated on a wild imagining that’s difficult (or actually impossible) to bring to life. When she presents the items, eager to impress, her teammates are taken aback and skeptical. Will the stuff even work? could it be considered risky? Things don’t at all go as Shelly had hoped, but in the end, the one thing she had prepared and thought the least of, turned out to be what really made her team shine.

I didn’t like this book quite as much as the first one. Shelly’s ideas just seemed absurdly impractical. It was a bit frustrating reading a whole story about something you know is probably going to fall flat in the end. The illustrations are nicely fluid and expressive. And I like that the one girl who realized she didn’t like skating and had left the team earlier on, showed up with a significant part to play in this storyline too.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
170 pages, 2020

DISCLAIMER:

All books reviewed on this site are owned by me, or borrowed from the public library. Exceptions are a very occasional review copy sent to me by a publisher or author, as noted. Receiving a book does not influence my opinion or evaluation of it

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