middles grade books

Book Review: Starlet Rivals

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Starlet Rivals by Puneet Bhandal

Starlet Rivals (The Bollywood Academy)
by  Puneet Bhandal (Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

Bela dreams of becoming a movie star in Bollywood, and hopes that her dance skills will win her a scholarship to the famous Bollywood Academy, where young students are trained as actors, dancers, and film crew. Her mother, a dance instructor, convinces her that she is good enough to enter the Dance Starz TV competition, and Bela submits an entry. When Bela dances, she feels supremely happy as if the entire world just falls away. But will her love for dance be enough to win the competition and the scholarship?

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Book Review: Always, Clementine

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Always, Clementine by Carlie Sorosiak

Always, Clementine
by Carlie Sorosiak (Goodreads Author)

3.5 out of 5 stars
Clementine is a lab mouse. A genetic experiment has given her super-intelligence and she does her best to solve every maze and puzzle that the team of scientists give her. Clementine befriends a chimp named Rosie in one of the lab cages. When a scientist with a guilty conscience sets Clementine free, she begins a wild journey to prove her worth and hopefully save Rosie from the lab too. In the meantime, Clementine writes letters to Rosie (which are never written or posted) and tells Rosie all her adventures.

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Book Review- Explorer Academy: The Forbidden Island

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Explorer Academy by Trudi Trueit

Explorer Academy: The Forbidden Island (Explorer Academy, #7)
by Trudi Trueit (Goodreads Author), Scott Plumbe (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

In this final book of the series, Cruz and his friends are looking for the final piece of the puzzle that his mother left for him before she died. With time running out, the bad guys will take any risk to stop Cruz from finishing his quest. Dangers surround Cruz on every side, and someone close to him is feeding information to the enemy.

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Book Review: Brand New Boy

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Brand New Boy by David Almond

Brand New Boy
by David Almond, Maria Altes (Illustrator)

4.5 out of 5 stars
Daniel and Maxie are intrigued when a new boy comes to school. They can’t figure out if the new boy, George, is just a shy person or if maybe he has a developmental disorder. Max good-naturedly jokes that George might be an alien! They reach out to befriend him, but George’s behavior is a little odd. George is definitely weird, but after all… everyone in school is weird in their own unique ways. Daniel and Max, along with some other friends in their class, take George under their wing, inviting him to play football/soccer with them, and they are surprised by the interesting way George becomes their friend. Could George be something more than they ever realized?

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Book Review: Dragon and Herdsman

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Dragon and Herdsman by Timothy Zahn

Dragon and Herdsman (Dragonback, #4)
by Timothy Zahn (Goodreads Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars

In this fourth book of the series, Jack and Draycos visit a distant planet with their friend, Alison Kayna. They discover a herd of creatures called Phooka that appear similar to K’da like Draycos. However, the creatures are insentient, unintelligent, slow, and behave like animals with no language. Draycos wonders if his people, the K’da, could have evolved from this lower animal form. He questions what that could mean for his species in the future.
The mercenaries from the Malison Ring track Jack and Draycos to the planet, forcing them all to flee into the dense forest. Jack must herd the Phooka through miles of dangerous terrain to save them from being slaughtered by the mercenaries.

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Book Review: Beyond the Stars

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Beyond the Stars by Doreen D. Berger

Beyond the Stars (The Captain’s Daughters, #2)
by Doreen D. Berger (Goodreads Author)

3.5 stars
Diane and Robin are thrown into another adventure in this second book in the series, when they befriend Jannel, the future ruler of a planet under quarantine. Jannel is a girl their own age, who comes aboard their spaceship for safety away from the virus that is threatening her planet. The girls try to help Jannel overcome her fears for her future, but they wind up in terrible trouble.

I liked the world-building for this new planet that we visit with Diane, Robin, and Jannel. I appreciated that there is a history of politics that has led to the current unrest on the planet, and the way the virus plays into that is really interesting. We also get to learn a little bit about the wild flora and fauna of the planet!

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Book Review: Witchlings

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Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega

Witchlings (Witchlings, #1)
by Claribel A. Ortega (Goodreads Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars

Seven is worried that when she is sorted into her witches coven she might not be in the same coven with her best friend. However, she never imagined that she would be a Spare, a witch without a coven at all. Seven and the other two Spares are set an impossible task to defeat a horrific Nightbeast. They must complete the task, or they will lose their magic forever, or worse, be turned into toads!

This book has everything I was looking for! There’s a great magic system and interesting world-building. I really liked that the witches’ world has a distant past that must be reckoned with. You really get a sense of the depth of the history behind their laws and the way their everyday lives are ordered.

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Book Review: Pippa Park Crush at First Sight

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Pippa Park Crush at First Sight by Erin Yun

Pippa Park Crush at First Sight
by Erin Yun (Goodreads Author)

5 out of 5 stars

In this second book of the Pippa Park series, Pippa is in trouble when she agrees to host a massive Christmas party for the Royals. She is completely overwhelmed trying to schedule catering and decorations and entertainment for the party, plus she has to find the perfect dress and the perfect date! She still has a huge crush on Eliot, her math tutor, but there is a new boy in her life, Marvel, who is helping out with the church Christmas pageant. Which boy will Pippa ask to be her date to the party? Assuming she can actually manage to host the party without disappointing the Royals and everyone else.

This series retelling of Dicken’s “Great Expectations” is utterly brilliant from start to finish!

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Book Review: The BFG

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The BFG by Roald Dahl

The BFG
by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

A little orphan girl, Sophie, looks out the window one dark night and sees a mysterious shadow peaking into bedroom windows. It’s the Big Friendly Giant, the BFG! He whisks Sophie away to the land of the giants, and reveals his marvelous dream collection. But other giants are not so friendly, and Sophie and the BFG must devise a plan to stop the other giants from eating humans.

I love this story! It’s imaginative and fun. The language is hilarious and delightful. The BFG is dorky and silly and adorable. Sophie is brave and kind and intelligent. There are so many little details about the BFG that make this a truly interesting story; like the snozzcumbers that taste so disgusting, and the way he captures dreams, and his funny way of talking. All those things are so unique and wild and winsome.

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Book Review: Hunters of the Lost City

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Hunters of the Lost City by Kali Wallace

Hunters of the Lost City
by Kali Wallace (Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

Octavia has lived all her life within the walls of her city, the last refuge for humanity in a world that has been destroyed by war and plague. The only living things outside the walls were monsters. There was no human life left anywhere except in Octavia’s city…. or so she believed. Octavia meets a mysterious girl who claims to be from another city. Together they could destroy everything the town believes and bring healing to a society drowning in lies.

I loved this book so much! The adventure, the magic, the world building, the character growth; this book has it all! I got emotionally attached to the characters very quickly, and it was so wonderful to see how Octavia grows and heals and changes as the story progresses. There are so many big revelations and plot twists as Octavia learns just how deep the lies really go. Every time she discovers something new in her world, the reader discovers it along with her.

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