FINISHED:
Kibuishi, Kazu. (2018). Supernova [Amulet #8]. New York: Graphix.Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Ukazu, Ngozi. (2018). Check Please! Book 1: Hockey. New York: First Second/Roaring Brook.

[.]

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FINISHED: 
Hanlon, Abby. (2018). Dory Fantasmagory: Head in the Clouds. New York: Dial/Penguin Random House.

[Dory's got a loose tooth, and Mrs. Gobble Gracker is posing as the Tooth Fairy.  When Dory can't find a banana on which to call for help, what will she do?]

STARTED:
Killermann, Sam. (2013). A Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender. Austin, TX: Impetus.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Gemeinhart, Dan. (2018). Good Dog. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Cuevas, Michelle. (2017). The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole. New York: Dial/Penguin Random House.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Eagar, Lindsay. (2017). Race to the Bottom of the Sea. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[Eleven-year-old Fidelia Quail must go live with her Aunt Julia, a librarian who lives above the town library, after her internationally-acclaimed, underwater biologist parents die at sea during a powerful storm while exploring in a submarine of Fidelia’s creation.  Not long thereafter, while still grieving the loss of her parents, Fidelia finds herself kidnapped by Merrick the Monstrous, a pirate, and is forced to help him retrieve a treasure in a cave deep under the sea.  White Fidelia is a strong, intelligent, richly-drawn protagonist with a gift for invention and inquiry, while periodic flashbacks cleverly build a full portrait of compassion for the eccentric, larger-than-life Merrick.  Though it feels slightly overlong at times, Eager provides cinematic action sequences which play as though you are watching a vivid movie, as well as a couple of startling revelations which should surprise even the most keen reader.  With an intriguing setting – which seems to exist in its own time and place – and dynamic characters, hand this one to those who enjoy broad adventure stories.]

STARTED:
Balliett, Blue. (2018). Out of the Wild Night: A Ghost Story. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Bartók, Mira. (2017). The Wonderling. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

STARTED:
Eggers, Dave. (2017). Her Right Foot. San Francisco: Chronicle.

[.]

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FINISHED: 
Wolk, Lauren. (2017). Beyond the Bright Sea. New York: Dutton/Penguin Random House.


[.]

STARTED:
Donoghue, Emma. (2017). The Lotterys Plus One. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

[.]

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FINISHED:

Phelan, Matt. (2016).  Snow White.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick.


[.]

STARTED:
Barnhill, Kelly. (2016). The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers.

[.]

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FINISHED: 
Grunberg, Greg, and Lucas Turnbloom. (2016). Dream Jumper: Book 1: Nightmare Escape. New York: Scholastic.

[In his dreams, Ben is a superhero of sorts, helping people fight off nightmarish creatures.  Thing is, he truly is jumping into the dreams of others!  When his mom makes him go to a sleep study center after seeing that he is constantly exhausted, Ben discovers a ward there filled with people in sleep-comas, including some kids that Ben has seen in his dreams who need saving from a snarling beast.  Billed as “Book 1”, this graphic novel definitely reads like an origin story, clearly setting the stage for further adventures and leaving some mysteries yet to be fully revealed, including a possible legacy of Dream Jumpers in Ben’s family, and the unexplained disappearance of his father.  Panels are, for the most part, clear and uncluttered, depicting a strong sense of energy and movement.  With a few side characters that have darker skin tones, there is an attempt at character diversity, though Ben and his best friend Jake (who hilariously wants to capitalize on Ben’s ability) are very white, and the object of Ben’s affection, Kaylee Wu, looks like Ben if he had long, dark hair.  With some creepy characters (like syringe-hurling doctors and ghoulish vampires) to add just the right amount of scary without being too nightmarish, this one should please those who are beginning to experience the joys of graphic novels.]

STARTED:
Springstubb, Tricia. (2016). Every Single Second. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[Re-reading for an ACL review.]

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FINISHED:
Oliver, Lauren, and H.C. Chester. (2016). Curiosity House: The Screaming Statue. New York: HarperCollins.

[All exhibiting remarkable abilities (mentalism, super-strength, bendability, etc.) Thomas, Pippa, Sam, and Max are tweens living in, and performing with, Dumfrey’s Dime Museum which is falling on hard times.  In an effort to draw crowds, the owner, Mr. Dumfrey, begins using mannequins to stage grisly tableaux of recent murders (which involve people the protagonists know), that seem to be connected to bad-man-on-the-loose Rattigan who “created” the tweens (and may still be after them).  Presumably catching the reader up on the events of Book 1 early on, it wouldn’t be entirely necessary to have read the previous installment to understand what is going on, but is probably a good idea.  Slow to get moving after slogging through a number of false starts, this second episode features intriguing, somewhat fleshed-out characters with nothing much to do.  Only really necessary where the first book is already on shelves.]

STARTED:
Grunberg, Greg, and Lucas Turnbloom. (2016). Dream Jumper: Book 1: Nightmare Escape. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

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FINISHED: 
Yang, Gene Luen, and Sonny Liew. (2014). The Shadow Hero. New York: First Second/Roaring Brook.

[.]

STARTED:
Markell, Denis. (2016). Click Here to Start. New York: Delacorte/Penguin Random House.

[.]

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FINISHED: 

Stewart, Trenton Lee. (2016). The Secretkeepers. New York: Little, Brown.

[.]

STARTED:
Wolff, Jana. (1997). Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother. Honolulu, HI: Vista Communications.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Thorne, Jack. (2016). Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Turner, Pamela S. (2016). Samurai Rising. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

[.]

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FINISHED: 
Cole, Henry. (2016). The Somewhat True Adventures of Sammy Shine. Atlanta: Peachtree.

[.]

STARTED:
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. (2015). Between the World and Me. New York: Spiegel & Grau.

[Recommended by Matt de la Peña and Allie Jane Bruce.  I mean, with endorsements by these two, it must be a slam-dunk winner.]

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FINISHED:

Joyce, William. (2016). Ollie's Odyssey. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Brown, Peter. (2016). The Wild Robot. New York: Little, Brown.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Cossanteli, Veronica. (2016). The Extincts. New York: Henry Holt/MacMillan.

[Hoping to help his single mother out financially, George answers an ad for help at a local farm, only finding out when he gets there that its owner is taking care of a menagerie of extinct and mythological creatures.  With the help of a girl named Prudence, George is on a mission to find a basilisk from the farm who is on the loose and turning the town’s animals (and a few humans) to stone, hoping to catch it before it can fall into the hands of Prudence’s taxidermist stepmother.  Dry humor abounds, and George learns that “real men aren’t afraid of pink” and that it’s ok to be friends with a girl, though Prudence’s evil, taxidermist stepmother and her henchmen come across as villainous caricatures.  Originally published in the UK, there are a few “British-isms” that may confound some (Mum, redundancy money, rugby tackle, cherry stone, fancy-dress party), but shrewd readers should be able to discern their meaning through context clues.  Digitally-created, spot illustrations that read somewhat flat are scattered throughout, while a glossary at the end provides a bit of information about some of the creatures featured in the story.  Readers eager for a more sophisticated story about a sanctuary for fanciful creatures are best to try out Brandon Mull’s far superior Fablehaven series (Shadow Mountain, 2006-).  Review based on ARC.]

STARTED:
Joyce, William. (2016). Ollie's Odyssey. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[New William Joyce!  New William Joyce!  And it's an illustrated novel!]

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FINISHED:
Mull, Brandon. (2012). The candy shop war: Arcade catastrophe. Salt Lake City, UT: Shadow Mountain.


[.]


STARTED:
Mauser, Pat Rhoads. (1982). A bundle of sticks. New York: Atheneum.


[Read this one in middle school - remember it vividly because the title refers to the word "faggot", which is what the protagonist gets called by the school bully...]

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FINISHED:
Meloy, Colin. (2012). Under Wildwood. New York: Balzer + Bray.


[Prue and Curtis are reunited in this sequel to Meloy’s own Wildwood (Balzer + Bray, 2011), with Prue being drawn back to Wildwood by the voices of the vegetation there (a newly-discovered ability that she has), and Curtis having become a full-fledged Wildwood bandit-in-training.  The two of them embark on a quest to unite a fractured land by finding a just and rightful leader for Wildwood, along the way finding themselves underground and assisting mole people in a war to regain their throne from an usurper.  Meanwhile, Curtis’s parents leave his two sisters at an orphanage to watch the girls while they are away in Istanbul, having received a tip that Curtis may have been spotted there.  In typical fashion, the orphanage turns out to be a factory sweatshop run by a faded Russian movie starlet and her inventor boyfriend who is obsessed with finding a way into the Impassable Wilderness, sure that it’s potential as an industrial site is untapped.  There’s A LOT going on here, and it’s not until 400 pages into the novel that things begin to overlap and you understand how all of the storylines are related, but the language is rich and it does flesh out the woods more, exploring new terrain and expanding upon the world-building in the first book.  In addition, as with the previous tome, this one comes with fanciful and striking spot art illustrations (as well as a couple of full page, color plates) by Meloy’s wife, Carson Ellis. One of the major storylines deals with the topical issue of the growing economic disparity in the world and rise of rampant corporate growth:  after the Russian starlet Desdemona sees The 1% Journal on a desk, Meloy writes, “She didn’t understand the industrialist sensibility…  She’d fallen in with the crowd because she’d been attracted to the money… though she understood now that there was more to success and satisfaction than just blindly following the money.”  Whereas the first book could work as a contained story on its own, this one feels like a “middle book” – a bridge between stories – which, at the end, leaves all of the characters with things left to do and concludes with, “Their daily struggle, the tenuousness of their lives in the vacuum of power that has remained in the wake of a revolution, can wait until tomorrow.  Winter is passing.  A Spring will soon arrive.”  And the next installment can’t come soon enough.]

STARTED & FINISHED:
Kibuishi, Kazu. (2012). Prince of the elves [Amulet: Book 5]. New York: Graphix/Scholastic.


[.]


STARTED:
Martel, Yann. (2001). Life of Pi. New York: Harcourt.

[Re-reading before the film is released.  One of my favorites, so I'm glad to read it again...]

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