Middle Grade – Page 8 – Jill's Book Blog

Review: Blackwells and the Briny Deep

Title: Blackwells and the Briny Deep
Author: Philippa Dowding
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Dundurn
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 29, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Do you hear the distant drums? And what about that weird screaming … It’s BOOK 5 in the award-winning Weird Stories Gone Wrong series!
Emma Blackwell used to love mermaids. Jonah Blackwell used to love pirates. And William Blackwell tried to be a good captain. Which he would be, if he could get his twin brother and sister to stop fighting long enough to sail their boat, the Peregrine, across the bay. But after the Blackwells see a phantom ship, barely survive a terrible storm, and then mysteriously wake up with seaweed in their mouths, everything changes.
They’re becalmed in fog. They run aground on a strange island. They hear distant drums, and their weird adventure begins! The Blackwells face zombie pirates, terrifying mermaids, and a shipwrecked group of cursed ship’s figureheads, including a Roman gladiator and an English knight, all led by the strange dolphin-boy, Finn.
It’ll make a great sea yarn one day, if they can just survive it.

Review:

Siblings Emma, Jonah, and William like to sail their boat, the “Peregrine,” around the bay. While sailing one day, they’re caught in a storm and are all knocked out. They wake up with seaweed in their mouths and eventually reach the shore. While on this mysterious island, the three siblings are separated. They each encounter different creatures, including zombie pirates, evil mermaids, and ghostly ship figureheads. They must figure out how to find each other so they can return to their real world.

This was a fun adventure story. At the beginning, Emma, Jonah, and William bickered a lot. Their relationship evolved when they were thrown into danger, so they learned how important they were to one another.

There was a lot of ship lore in this story. The kids knew how to drive their own sailboat. The ghostly figureheads that Emma met on the island were based on true stories of shipwrecks or curses. I’m really curious to learn more about those real stories after reading this one.

Blackwells and the Bring Deep was a great middle grade adventure!

Thank you Dundurn for providing a copy of this book.

Other books in the series:

Jake and the Giant Hand
Myles and the Monster Outside
Carter and the Curious Maze
Alex and the Other

Have you read Blackwells and the Briny Deep? What did you think of it?

Review: Amal Unbound

Title: Amal Unbound
Author: Aisha Saeed
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 8, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The compelling story of a girl’s fight to regain her life and dreams after being forced into indentured servitude.
Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal’s Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she’s busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when–as the eldest daughter–she must stay home from school to take care of her siblings. Amal is upset, but she doesn’t lose hope and finds ways to continue learning. Then the unimaginable happens–after an accidental run-in with the son of her village’s corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family’s servant to pay off her own family’s debt.
Life at the opulent Khan estate is full of heartbreak and struggle for Amal–especially when she inadvertently makes an enemy of a girl named Nabila. Most troubling, though, is Amal’s growing awareness of the Khans’ nefarious dealings. When it becomes clear just how far they will go to protect their interests, Amal realizes she will have to find a way to work with others if they are ever to exact change in a cruel status quo, and if Amal is ever to achieve her dreams.

Review:

Amal had dreams of becoming a teacher in her small village in Pakistan. Her life changes when her mother has her fifth baby. Amal suddenly has to take responsibility for her younger sisters. She’s under a lot of stress, giving up her future and looking after her family. This leads to an incident with the son of the village’s landlord. As punishment for talking back to him, Amal is taken from her family to work as a servant. Amal has many enemies when she arrives at their home, separated from her family and friends. Then, Amal discovers some dangerous business that the family is involved in. Amal has to figure out how to save her village and her own future.

This was a tragic story with an uplifting ending. Amal was treated unfairly in many ways. Since she was the oldest child, she was expected to look after her younger sisters. She was also expected to stay home because she was a girl. When she had an incident with the son of a wealthy man, she was sent to work for them because she was lower class and required to pay off the debt for insulting him in public. Amal’s position in society set her up to fail at achieving her dreams.

Though Amal was treated unfairly, her story was not as tragic as it could have been. She ended up making friends at the home where she worked and being treated well by most of the people there. In reality, this probably wouldn’t have been the case. Even without a tragic ending, this story shows a life that many children in Western countries are probably not familiar with, so it is an important read.

Amal Unbound is a great middle grade story! I’m excited for the sequel to be published next month!

Review: Compass to Vinland

Title: Compass to Vinland
Author: Dani Resh
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Contemporary
Publisher: Warren Publishing Inc.
Source: Author
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: September 7, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Wren Larkin has a lot of things working against him-too tall, too thin, and living in a house that looks like an old boot. His only friends are a group of noisy crows that are always bringing him random trinkets. Needless to say, he’s not the most popular kid in town.
But things change when a girl named Maria moves to town and instantly befriends Wren. She continues to do the unexpected when she defends Rusty, the resident bad boy, who might not be as rebellious as Wren thought. Wren learns that it isn’t just coincidence that brought the three of them together when he discovers a shoe workshop under the heel of his house that’s holding-or hiding–three pairs of magical shoes intended for each of them.
When strangers arrive on Wren’s doorstep looking for the shoes, Wren and his new companions have no choice but to flee to Underfoot, an underground settlement full of magical creatures. In just a matter of days, Wren is immersed into a whole new reality that’ll take him on an incredible journey and reveal a lineage that might be better left secret.

Review:

Wren Larkin has never understood why he lives in a house shaped like a shoe. It was his mother’s childhood home, but he now lives there with his father while his mother is in a coma. His father is distant and never has time for Wren. One day, a new girl, Maria, arrives at school and they instantly become friends. She makes a scene when she defends Rusty, the bad boy in class. An accident brings Wren, Maria, and Rusty to Wren’s home, where they discover a mysterious and magical shoe workshop hidden beneath it. However, dangerous people have been searching for this workshop, and are willing to do anything to get to it. The three friends have to use the pairs of magic shoes to flee to a magical world called Underfoot. Wren has to figure out how much of his life was a lie, and how many of the fantasy stories he heard growing up were actually true.

This was a fun fantasy story. Wren had to discover that the secret magic that his family had was hiding in his house the whole time. There were hints of magic in their family, since his aunt would tell him stories of Vinland, but he never guessed that the stories were real. This classic storyline of discovering secret magical family history never gets old.

I would have liked the beginning to be more fast paced. There was a lot of description of Wren’s life at home and his time at school for the first few chapters. It took a while for the real action to begin. Once the magical aspects began, it was a really exciting story!

Compass to Vinland is a great start to a new series!

Thank you Dani Resh for providing a copy of this book.

Review: Sliding Home

Title: Sliding Home
Author: Joyce Grant
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Lorimer
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 1, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Miguel hasn’t missed El Salvador since arriving in North America with his mother and sister. But with his father still in El Salvador and gangs shaking down the old neighborhood, life isn’t easy for Miguel.
When his father’s situation becomes critical, Miguel becomes desperate to bring him to North America. But he can’t even afford to join his baseball team on a road game–how can his family possibly pay his father’s way? A solution comes from Miguel’s teammate, who proposes a big baseball fundraiser. As the team learns about the hard realities some new immigrant kids face, Miguel and his family learn to trust their neighbors and teammates.

Review:

Three years ago, Miguel moved to Canada from El Salvador with his mother and sister. His father remained in El Salvador, looking after their bakery, but he is constantly terrorized by gangs. Thirteen-year-old Miguel has to work as a babysitter to help support his family. He plays baseball with a local team, but he’s constantly reminded of how much less his family has when his teammates get new equipment and are able to afford to go to an out-of-town tournament. Miguel has to find a way to bring his father to Canada, which may mean opening up to his teammates about his problems.

This is a great baseball story. Though it was mostly about Miguel playing baseball, there were some important issues addressed. Miguel had to work, which his friends and teammates didn’t understand. He was constantly worried about his father and had to help his mother figure out how to bring his dad to Canada. Miguel had to deal with a lot of adult issues that his friends never thought about before Miguel told them about his life.

Sliding Home is a great short middle grade novel! Be sure to look out for Joyce Grant’s upcoming book about spotting fake news for young readers, which is releasing later this year.

Thank you Lorimer Books for providing a copy of this book.

Blog Tour Review: Honest June

Title: Honest June
Author: Tina Wells
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: November 9, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

For June Jackson, middle school is hard enough–but it’s even harder when a fairy godmother grants her the ability to only tell the truth ALL THE TIME! Is it a blessing… or a major curse? June’s charming story will inspire big laughs and even bigger love for a new heroine for our times.
June Jackson is an expert at exceeding people’s expectations. She can’t help it; she’s a people-pleaser! She’ll do everything she can to be the perfect student, daughter, and friend, even if it means ignoring her own feelings sometimes. Cue Victoria, June’s secret fairy godmother, who blesses June with the ability to never tell a lie in the hopes that June will finally be honest with her loved ones. Instead of telling them the truth to their faces, June turns to a secret online blog–the only place she can write out her true feelings without hurting people.
When all of her responsibilities start to pile on–field hockey, the school paper, family responsibility, her friends–June begins feeling so overwhelmed that sometimes it feels hard to breathe. Not to mention June is desperately trying to figure out how to overthrow the spell at the same time! When the pressures reach new heights, will Honest June finally be able to break free and tell whole truth and nothing but?

Review:

Sixth grader June is always focused on pleasing everyone around her. That means that she often tells white lies to impress and please her friends and family. However, her own feelings get pushed aside as she tries to make everyone else happy. One day, Victoria, June’s fairy godmother, arrives and puts a spell on June that forces her to tell the truth. She can no longer lie about liking her mother’s cooking or wanting to follow in her dad’s footsteps to become a lawyer. June tries to get around this by creating a private blog to type up the truth so that she doesn’t have to speak it. June must learn the importance of the truth so the spell can finally be lifted.

This story had an important message about telling the truth, that is for adults as well as children. It’s so easy to tell little white lies that end up snowballing into bigger lies. Even just saying “I’m fine,” when you aren’t, is a lie that June was caught up in a few times.

June felt a lot of pressure from her family to do well in school. Her father had her entire life planned out for her when she was eleven-years-old, but she didn’t know what she wanted to do in the future. This could be very relatable for many readers. Once she finally spoke the truth and talked to her parents about what was bothering her, she was able to begin to solve her problems.

Honest June is a great middle grade novel!

Thank you Random House Books for Young Readers and TBR and Beyond Tours for providing a copy of this book.

Where to buy:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593378296/ref=x_gr_bb_amazon?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_bb_amazon_ca-20&linkCode=as2&camp=15121&creative=330641#detailBullets_feature_div

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/honest-june-tina-wells/1138802892?ean=9780593378298

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Honest-June-Tina-Wells/9780593378298?ref=grid-view&qid=1636044627003&sr=1-1

Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/honest-june/9780593378298-item.html?ref=isbn-search

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780593378298

About the author:

Tina Wells is the founder of RLVNT Media, a multimedia content venture serving entrepreneurs, tweens, and culturists with authentic representation. Tina has been recognized by Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, Essence’s 40 Under 40, Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Phenom, and more. She is the author of nine books, including the best-selling tween fiction series Mackenzie Blue, its 2020 spinoff series, The Zee Files, and the marketing handbook, Chasing Youth Culture and Getting It Right.

Tour schedule:

December 27th
Stuck in Fiction – Promotional Post
Cindy’s Love of Books – Review

December 28th
Mocha Girls Read – Promotional Post
Kait Plus Books – Journal Spread
Rajiv’s Reviews – Review

December 29th
Confessions of a YA Reader – Promotional Post
PopTheButterfly Reads – Review

December 30th
Whispering Stories – Review & Favorite Quotes
Peruse With Coffee – Review & Top 5 Reasons to Read Honest June

December 31st
The Book Dutchesses – Promotional Post
The Bookish Coven – Review & Favorite Quotes

January 1st
Nine Bookish Lives – Promotional Post
Jill’s Book Blog – Review
Phannie the Ginger Bookworm – Review, Playlist & Favorite Quotes

January 2nd
Fictionologyst – Review
The Nutty Bookworm Reads Alot – Review

Have you read Honest June? What did you think of it?

Review: The Thirteenth Fairy (Never After #1)

Title: The Thirteenth Fairy (Never After #1)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Contemporary
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: December 1, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nothing ever happens in Filomena Jefferson-Cho’s sleepy little suburban town of North Pasadena. The sun shines every day, the grass is always a perfect green, and while her progressive school swears there’s no such thing as bullying, she still feels bummed out. But one day, when Filomena is walking home on her own, something strange happens.
Filomena is being followed by Jack Stalker, one of the heroes in the Thirteenth Fairy, a series of books she loves about a brave girl and her ragtag group of friends who save their world from an evil enchantress. She must be dreaming, or still reading a book. But Jack is insistent–he’s real, the stories are real, and Filomena must come with him at once!
Soon, Filomena is thrust into the world of evil fairies and beautiful princesses, sorcerers and slayers, where an evil queen drives her ruthless armies to destroy what is left of the Fairy tribes. To save herself and the kingdom of Westphalia, Filomena must find the truth behind the fairytales and set the world back to rights before the cycle of sleep and destruction begins once more.

Review:

Filomena Jefferson-Cho lives an ordinary life in North Pasadena, but she loves to escape to the world of Never After in her favourite book series. When she gets the disappointing news on the release day that the thirteenth and final book in the series won’t be published, she’s so disappointed. As she walks home, she’s followed by someone who looks like Jack Stalker, the main character in the series. Jack catches up to her and tells her the world of Never After is real and she must go there with him to save it. The world is being taken over by ogres and Filomena has to help Jack and his friend Alistair. Filomena gets to enter her favourite fictional world that is closer to her reality than she can imagine.

As an avid reader since I was a kid, being able to enter my favourite fictional worlds would be a dream come true. It was so fun to read about Filomena being able to enter Never After. There are a few series I would have loved to enter as a kid, so this was such an entertaining premise.

I loved the references to fairy tales throughout the story. There were many fairy tale characters mentioned in passing, such as Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs. This was a great set up for more books in the series to explore other fairy tale stories.

The Thirteenth Fairy is a fun middle grade fairy tale story!

Review: The Undercover Book List

Title: The Undercover Book List
Author: Colleen Nelson
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Pajama Press
Source: Publisher
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: October 5, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

He’s known as the class troublemaker. She’s known as the bookworm. But when every note they send is anonymous, identity is suddenly what they make it.
Between her father’s posting overseas and her best friend Sienna’s move to the other side of the country, seventh grade is looking lonely for Jane MacDonald. But Sienna has left her with one last trick: a hidden message in a library book—the perfect plot to start a secret club and find Jane a new book-loving friend.
Tyson Flamand has problems of his own. Since the fourth grade he’s had a reputation as a bad kid, and there’s no point fighting it when teachers always think the worst. So when he finds an anonymous note in the library looking for a nerdy new friend, he knows he’s the last person in the world it could be meant for. But something makes him answer it anyway, and Tyson finds himself pulled into a secret book club where being hidden may be the first step to being truly seen.
With the insight of a veteran middle-school teacher, Colleen Nelson, author of the award-winning Harvey Comes Home and Sadia, weaves together two stories of identity, expectation, and the courage to challenge both. As their paths move ever closer, Jane and Tyson both discover their own self-reliance and their ability to overcome obstacles that seemed insurmountable.

Review:

When Jane’s best friend moves away, she leaves Jane a book scavenger hunt to find a new friend who loves to read as much as she does. There was a note left in the book Liar and Spy, with the start of the Undercover Book Club for Jane to start with someone else. Tyson sees Jane with the note, and decides to play along with the secret book club to play a trick on Jane. However, when he starts reading the books she suggests, he realizes that he actually likes to read. Jane tries to solve the mystery of who’s leaving notes for her in the Undercover Book Club, while Tyson tries to adopt a more serious attitude towards school and reading.

In this book, the kids compete in a Kid Lit Quiz, which is a trivia competition about books. I don’t think that was around when I was a kid, but I would have loved it. I haven’t read many of the books mentioned in this story and I’m curious to read them now. I loved that the book club and quiz in this story turned Tyson, a reluctant reader, into a book lover. Whenever someone tells me they don’t like reading, I just say that they haven’t found the right book yet. That was true for Tyson in this story.

This story had two narratives, a first person narrative from Jane and a third person narrative about Tyson. It wasn’t obvious to me why Jane told her own perspective while Tyson’s narrative had a third person narrator. Jane had a more complex storyline, so maybe that’s why, but I’m curious why they didn’t have the same kind of narrator.

The Undercover Book Club is a fun middle grade story!

Thank you Pajama Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall (Shirley and Jamila #2)

Title: Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall (Shirley and Jamila #2)
Author: Gillian Goerz
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Dial Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: December 14, 2021
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

For fans of Raina Telgemeier and Victoria Jamieson, this middle grade graphic novel series tells the story of Shirley and Jamila, two girl detectives on a mission to stop their school’s biggest bully once and for all
As Jamila settles into the rhythms of classes and after-school basketball practice, Shirley has a new mystery on her mind. Her old enemy Chuck is up to his usual tricks: He’s been blackmailing kids all over school, and Shirley knows that she and Jamila can put a stop to it.
They hatch a plan: They’ll break into his house late one night and recover all the notes Chuck’s been using to blackmail innocent kids.
But while Shirley and Jamila are at the house, another intruder arrives–an intruder who can help them put a stop to Chuck’s crimes once and for all.

Review:

Shirley and Jamila are middle school detectives. In this story, they’ve just started the school year. Jamila is new at the school and eager to join the basketball team. Shirley is ready for their next case. She plans to take down her enemy Chuck, who has been blackmailing students, threatening to expose their most dangerous secrets. Meanwhile, Jamila makes a new friend at her community centre who makes her question if her friendship with Shirley is real.

Shirley and Jamila are like a modern day Sherlock and Watson. Shirley is methodical in her investigations, willing to wear disguises to catch the culprit. Jamila is quieter and thoughtful, questioning her relationship with Shirley. This mystery was based on the story “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.” I haven’t read that one but I’m curious about it after reading this graphic novel.

This story had important lessons about friendship. Though Jamila didn’t have any obvious interests in common with Shirley, they had fun together and that’s what’s important in a friendship.

Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall is a great middle grade mystery!

Thank you Dial Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Other books in the series:

Shirley and Jamila Save Their Summer

Have you read Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall? What did you think of it?

Review: Frankie and Bug

Title: Frankie and Bug
Author: Gayle Forman
Genre: Middle Grade, LGBTQ
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 12, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In the debut middle grade novel from #1 New York Timesbestselling author Gayle Forman comes a poignant and powerful coming-of-age story that follows a young girl and her new friend as they learn about family, friendship, allyship, and finding your way in a complicated world.
It’s the summer of 1987, and all ten-year-old Bug wants to do is go to the beach with her older brother and hang out with the locals on the boardwalk. But Danny wants to be with his own friends, and Bug’s mom is too busy, so Bug is stuck with their neighbor Philip’s nephew, Frankie.
Bug’s not too excited about hanging out with a kid she’s never met, but they soon find some common ground. And as the summer unfolds, they find themselves learning some important lessons about each other, and the world.
Like what it means to be your true self and how to be a good ally for others. That family can be the people you’re related to, but also the people you choose to have around you. And that even though life isn’t always fair, we can all do our part to make it more just.

Review:

1987: Ten-year-old Bug just wants to spend the summer with her older brother at the beach like they’ve done for the past few years. Instead, her fourteen-year-old brother Danny, has decided he needs to spend time with his friends instead of his little sister. Their neighbour’s nephew, Frankie, comes to visit for the summer and spend time with Bug. However, Frankie isn’t interested in the same things as Bug. He doesn’t want to go to the beach. Instead, he wants to investigate the murders happening in the area. Throughout the summer, Frankie and Bug learn life lessons, including that family can be the people you choose to be close to, instead of your relatives.

This was such a beautiful story. It included some important life lessons that Frankie and Bug had to learn. They both had problems within their family, with some family members not treating them fairly. Bug often pointed out when things weren’t fair, but not everything in life is fair.

There were some emotional subplots in this story. I won’t give away what happened, but there was a transgender character as well as a gay character. Neither of these characters were treated fairly when others knew their gender identity. Though these were tough subjects, they were handled really well for a middle grade reader. There were some upsetting scenes, but generally these topics were treated in a positive way.

Frankie and Bug is a beautiful middle grade coming of age story!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Sleepover

Title: The Sleepover
Author: Michael Regina
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel, Fantasy
Publisher: Razorbill
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: November 9, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Perfect for fans of Stranger Things, this middle grade graphic novel follows a group of kids trying to cheer up their friend after a recent loss with a fun-filled sleepover, but their plans soon take a dark turn when they discover his new nanny may literally be a monster.
When the Russo family returns home from vacation to discover their nanny, Ruby, has unexpectedly passed away, Matthew takes the news the hardest. After weeks of reeling, his three best friends decide to cheer him up with a night of junk food, prank calls, and scary movies. But their plans for a sleepover are jeopardized when Matt’s single mother–unable to take any more time off of work–is forced to hire a new nanny on the fly to watch over Matt and his younger sister, Judy.
Miss Swan, however, is all too happy to have the boys over. And although she seems like the perfect babysitter, letting the kids eat whatever they want and mostly leaving them alone, there’s something about her that Matt doesn’t trust. He thinks she may actually be the witch from local legend–the one who torments children into the night and then eats them. Is he just having a hard time dealing with Ruby’s replacement, as his friends suspect? Has he watched one too many scary movies, as his mom fears? Or are he and his horror-buff friends in for the fright of their lives as they come face-to-face with a real monster?

Review:

Ruby was the best babysitter for Matt and Judy. When Matt and Judy return home from vacation to find that Ruby has passed away suddenly, they need to find another babysitter. Their mom hires Miss Swan for the evening while Matt has his friends over for a sleepover. However, there’s something strange about Miss Swan. Matt suspects that she is actually the rumored witch who lives in the woods behind their house and supposedly eats children. His mom thinks that Matt is just missing Ruby, and that’s why he doesn’t like the new babysitter. Matt has to try to convince everyone else that Miss Swan is actually a witch.

This graphic novel reminded me of Stranger Things. It was set in 1993, and the children loved watching horror movies. Each of the four friends had their strengths and weaknesses when it came to figuring out the truth about the witch. Judy tried to join in with the boys, but since she was the little sister, she wasn’t always included. Though it is set almost 30 years in the past, this story still had relatable characters and relationships.

Fears were an important theme to this story. Ruby was scared of thunderstorms, so she always had to be close to Matt and Judy during a storm. This showed that even adults can have irrational fears that can affect their lives. A fear was the key to the ending of the novel, so it was an important part of the story.

The Sleepover is a spooky middle grade graphic novel!

Thank you Razorbill for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Alex and the Other by Philippa Dowding

Carter and the Curious Maze by Philippa Dowding

Other books in the series:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan

Once Upon an Eid edited by S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

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The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Revenge of Magic by James Riley

Goodreads Synopsis:

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What to read next:

Tagged Out by Joyce Grant

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Clean Getaway by Nic Stone

Where to buy:

About the author:

Tour schedule:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Harvey Comes Home by Colleen Nelson

Me and Banksy by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Other books in the series:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Shark Summer by Ira Marcks

Shirley and Jamila Save Their Summer by Gillian Goerz

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

The Hiddenseek by Nate Cernosek

Stranger Things: The Other Side by Jody Houser