Category: Middle Grade

Title: The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray
Author: E. Latimer
Genre: Children’s
Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: February 13, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A Tim Burtonesque retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray aimed at Middle Graders.The most peculiar things always happen to Bryony Gray. As if it isn’t bad enough that her uncle keeps her locked in the attic, forcing her to paint for his
rich clients, she’s becoming rather well known in the art world… since all her customers seem to go missing.

When her newest painting escapes the canvas and rampages through the streets of London, Bryony digs into her family history, discovering some rather scandalous secrets her uncle has been keeping, including a deadly curse she’s inherited from her missing father. It turns out, Bryony has accidentally unleashed the Gray family curse, and it’s spreading fast.

With a little help from the strange-but-beautiful girl next door and her paranoid brother, Bryony sets out to break the curse, dodging bloodthirsty paintings, angry mobs and her wicked uncle along the way.

Review:

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite Victorian novels. This is a great sequel to the story.

This story had great pacing. Bryony’s paintings began to come to life right at the beginning. It was so creepy! It kept me hooked through the whole story. I really couldn’t predict what was going to happen next, so I was always surprised.

I think this story is actually creepier than The Picture of Dorian Gray. Though it is a sequel, it follows Gray’s daughter, so it is for a younger audience. I loved this story and I got a lot out of it, even though it is aimed toward middle grade readers. It is a great choice for both young readers and older fans of Dorian Gray and Oscar Wilde.

After reading this book, I’ll never look at paintings the same way again!

Title: Redworld
Author: A.L. Collins
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: February 1, 2018
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Belle Song and her family are aliens on a new world. The Songs came to Mars to seek a new life, but living on the red planet isn’t easy. The land is rough. The people are strange. The weather is unpredictable, and water is always in short supply. However, adventure is never far away. Belle adapts to her new life on Mars, faces dangerous Water Raiders, explores wondrous ancient sites, and has other amazing adventures on Redworld. From the rich imagination of author A.L. Collins comes a fantastic sci-fi western story of growing up on the Martian plains.

Review:

This was a unique middle grade story about life on Mars.

While I was reading this story, I was reminded of the book The Martian. That’s the only book I’ve read that is set on another planet. However, in this story, Mars has already been colonized and humans have lived there for many years.

It was interesting to see the different alien races that also lived on Mars. The segregation between the aliens was a lot like race segregation in the real world. Belle’s friend, Ta’al is of the Nubian race. She has to go through separate entrances, and she is completely ignored by everyone else at school. Belle questions why this is, which demonstrates that she is an intelligent girl.

This book is separated into four parts. Each of these parts was originally published as a separate book. This is a little confusing at first, because the characters are reintroduced at the beginning of each part. My least favourite part was the first one. It was an introduction to the characters and setting, but I found it anticlimactic. The following parts had more solid storylines with lots of tension, so I enjoyed them more.

This book is great for kids who are interested in life in space.

Title: Harry Moon: Snow Day
Author: Mark Andrew Poe
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Rabbit Publishers
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: January 16, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Kligore’s halloween alarm fails to awaken him so that he can cast his daily early morning spell over Sleepy Hollow. Harry and his friends awaken to three feet of freshly fallen snow as winter punches through Halloween for one wonderful moment. Sleepy Hollow Middle School’s very first SNOW DAY! The Good Mischief Team has a whole day to figure out what to do with a glorious, magnificent, juicy twenty-four hours, a gift courtesy of Mayor Maximus Kligore.

Review:

This is another great middle grade story about the Moon children.

I love the “moon” refererences in the children names: Honey Moon and Harvest Moon. They are so cute.

The mayor is quite a villain in this story. He doesn’t cast a spell to prevent snow from coming to Sleepy Hollow, so it snows there the next day. I can’t imagine a town without snow, or a spell that can prevent snow from falling! We have had so much snow in Toronto already, and it’s only January so we have a few more months of snow to go!

This is a good twist on the snow day story. Most kids are always wishing for a snow day so they can be off school, but the kids in Sleepy Hollow had never had a snow day before so it was an extra special occasion.

This is a great winter story for kids!

Title: Fairy Mom and Me
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: January 2, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the bestselling author of the Shopaholic series and our YA Finding Audrey, comes the first of a duology for young readers about a girl learning to become a fairy from her imperfect fairy mom, with a tech twist.

Ella Brook can’t wait to grow up, because one day she will become a fairy and have her own sparkly wings and a teacher on Fairy Tube, just like her mom! Until then, Ella has to learn by watching her mom in action. But sometimes spells go wrong, and Ella’s mom can never seem to remember the right magic codes. A lot of the time, it’s up to Ella to come to the rescue. Does she have what it takes to be a fairy one day? Or will there be more glitches than glitter?

Review:

When I saw that Sophie Kinsella had written a middle grade novel, I knew I had to read it!

This is such a cute story. Ella has to deal with regular kid stuff, like the mean girl next door, as well as fairy magic. Ella is a mature and smart girl who can often solve the messes that her mother makes with her fairy magic.

This story would be great for parents and children to read together. It’s quite funny. All of the spells end in “idoo” such as “cupcakeridoo” and “fixeridoo.” These funny, made up words would appeal to kids. Ella’s mom uses a fairy phone, like a smartphone, to cast her spells. However Ella’s grandmother still uses an old fashioned wand. Adults could relate to that since older generations often don’t want to adapt to new technology.

The pictures in the book would also appeal to kids. When I read with the children I look after, they are always looking for pictures in books. The pictures were also funny because they often depicted the spells that Ella’s mom had messed up.

I enjoyed this story. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book in the duology.

Title: Harry Moon: Harry’s Christmas Carol
Author: Mark Andrew Poe
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Rabbit Publishers
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: November 7, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

While everyone is singing cheerful Christmas carols, Harry Moon and the Good Mischief Team march to a different song–Don’t be Afraid of the Dark. With their swords of light, the team battles against the Fouling Curse threatening Harry’s magic teacher, Samson Dupree, and the Sleepy Hollow Magic Shoppe. As evil armies of toys rise up, Harry must leave the sword behind to find a more powerful means to take down the darkness threatening Sleepy Hollow’s entire world.

Review:

This is a great middle grade Christmas story.

The mayor of the Halloween town of Sleepy Hollow doesn’t want to celebrate Christmas. He fills the town with Halloween parodies of Christmas carols. One is “Jingle bells, Santa smells, A hundred miles away.” Another is “Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, Had a very bloody nose.” I can imagine kids singing these parodies after reading this book!

The whole story is a Christmas Carol. The chapters are called verses, so they seem to be part of a song. At the end, Harry sings his own Christmas carol too.

This story shows the power of Christmas magic. Harry and his friends use Harry’s magic to rescue his friend Samson. But the real Christmas spirit didn’t come from magic. Harry and his new friend Thor find a way to give the town a Christmas celebration.

I really liked this book. It’s a great Christmas story!

Title: The Enchanted World of Honey Moon: A Scary Little Christmas
Author: Sofi Benitez
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Rabbit Publishers
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: March 20, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Honey Moon has had it with the scary stuff, at least for Christmas. She wants Sleepy Hollow to celebrate her favorite holiday like normal people. Honey and her friends, Becky, Claire and Isabela, have one chance to take the holiday back, but it means solving a decade old mystery and ringing some bells. YIKES!

Review:

Honey’s hometown is called Sleepy Hollow. It isn’t the famous Sleepy Hollow, though the mayor likes to pretend it is. This means that instead of Christmas, he planned a Halloween festival for the town.

This story reminded me of A Nightmare Before Christmas. The town only celebrates Halloween, like the town in that movie. Honey wants to celebrate Christmas, just like Jack did in the movie.

Honey was a brave and smart character. She’s so smart that she volunteers to help an eighth grader with his essay (Honey is in fifth grade). She also took it upon herself to search for the town’s church bells so she could ring them on Christmas Eve. That was brave of her since everyone else in the town wanted to celebrate Halloween.

This is a great Christmas story for middle grade readers. It teaches you to stand up for what you believe in, even when everyone else wants something different.

Title: The King of Average
Author: Gary Schwartz
Genre: Middle Gradde
Publisher: Bunny Moon
Source: Author
Release Date: June 1, 2016
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

James isn’t the world’s greatest kid, but he’s not the worst, either: he’s average! When he decides to become the most average kid who ever lived, James is transported to another world where he meets Mayor Culpa, a well-dressed talking Scapegoat who recruits him to become the new King of Average.

He’s joined on his quest by a professional Optimist and his grouchy companion, an equally professional Pessimist. Together, they set out on a journey of self-discovery that leads them all the way from the Sea of Doubt to Mount Impossible, the highest peak in the Unattainable Mountains. When James stumbles into a Shangri-la called Epiphany, he uncovers the secret of who he really is.

Follow James on his hilarious, adventure-packed journey to find self-worth in this heartfelt middle grade novel The King of Average by debut author Gary Schwartz.

Review:

This is a very cute middle grade story.

It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. James travels through the land of Average, much like Dorothy and Alice travelled through their magical lands. James also encountered many strange creatures just like them.

There are countless puns and jokes in this story. The names, such as Kiljoy the pessimist and Mayor Culpa the scapegoat, were funny. Some of the names of the places they visited included The Sea of Doubt and Lake Inferior. These names would be entertaining for the young readers, as well as their parents who may read the book with them.

I enjoyed the illustrations in the story. I wish there were more. Since there were many unusual things in the story, pictures would have helped me imagine what was going on.

I didn’t like that James and Jerome’s names were so similar. I kept mixing them up. Their similarity draws attention to their similar situations. But it was confusing sometimes when I was reading.

I really liked this story. It’s a funny read for middle grade readers!