The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand

A few months ago, my friends' son asked this question: "Dad, is a univerthity where you go to learn to be a ninja, a knight or....a librarian?" Oh, my heart grew like the Grinch's.  And I had just learned this book was coming out, so I could say "Yes...oh yes."

The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand by Jen Swann Downey is a fun, middle-grade book.  When Dorrie and her brother Marcus chase a pet mongoose into their local library, they find something pretty amazing: Petrarch's Library, the headquarters of a secret society of ninja librarians.  

Their mission is to protect those whose words get them into trouble, anywhere in the world and at any time in history.  People like Socrates.

Petrarch's Library can stop anywhere there's trouble, like the Spanish Inquisition, or ancient Greece. Dorrie really wants to join the society, and learn to fight with a real sword! But when she and Marcus become suspected of being traitors, can they clear their names before the only passage back to the twenty-first century closes forever?

Oh, I loved this.  Amazing for word nerds :-D  a) I love a book with a strong, female character; b) I love books about libraries, because, well...obvi; c) it's also good for guys, what with all the sword fights, and history and stuff.

It's kind of like the manga Library Wars (which is a favorite of mine)- fighting censorship and all.  But, like Library Wars mixed with The Phantom Tollbooth.  Has anyone read that?  It's one of my all-time favorite books, and in the city of Dictionopolis the characters can give a "speech" before dinner...and then they eat their words.  In Ninja Librarians, characters can read passages out of books to create their meals.  No lie, I used to stay up dreaming of what my speech would be...

It also, with all its time-traveling goodness, introduces various historical characters: Socrates, Saul/Paul, Timotheus, the real Cyrano de Bergerac, and others!

Entertaining and educational historical(ish) fiction for middle-grades!

The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand is published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.  Review copy graciously provided by the publisher.  

Released: 04.15.2014

The Summer I Wasn't Me

I read this book in one sitting.  Granted, I read it in the backseat of a car heading 4 hours back home from PLA in Indianapolis...there wasn't anywhere else for me to go.  But!  This made the time go by much faster, and pretty enjoyably minus a brief bout of car queasiness.  

The Summer I Wasn't Me is a YA novel by Jessica Verdi.  Lexi's father has recently passed away, her mother isn't coping well, and she's just found out Lexi likes girls.  To rescue her unraveling family, Lexi agrees to go to New Horizons-a camp that promises to transform her; to make her like boys.  She wants to do this, she wants to start over.  However, her summer at New Horizons brings surprises, both good and bad.  

I love the movie But I'm a Cheerleader.  I think it was the first LGBTQ movie I saw that was, while satirical, poignant enough to leave a lasting impression.  Actually, I still have the song Glass Vase, Cello Case in my iTunes "Favorites" playlist.  This book was similar- but so much more gut-wrenching, heart-breaking.  I think I connected with the characters more.  Lexi is pretty awesome, and The Great Gatsby is one of her favorite books.  The symbolism in the books comes into play quite a bit throughout The Summer I Wasn't Me.

What's kind of a kicker, too, is Lexi's perspective is one who has grown up in the church.  At one point she brings up the sermons and how it was "getting harder and harder to listen to everyone talking about me like God didn't love me quite as much as he did them.  They didn't know they were talking about me, of course, but that didn't make it hurt any less."  

It's so...crazy, but then you realize that there are camps like this.  I tried to find a memoir from someone who had been through a similar experience, but to no avail.  

This book brings up tough issues like religion, family, choices in general, abuse, but specifically from the perspective of LGBTQ teens.  Definitely a conversation-starter on many levels.  

Bonus!  Author Jessica Verdi will be guest posting in a couple of weeks- stay tuned!




The Summer I Wasn't Me is published by Sourcebooks Fire. Review Copy graciously provided by the publisher.
Released: 04.01.2014

Ava and Pip

Wow! W-O-W! I've been getting all these awesomely wordy books lately! Palindromes, homophones, alliteration...makes an English major happy!

Ava and Pip by Carol Weston (who's also been the advice columnist at Girls' Life since 1994) is about two sisters who are very different.  Ava is the outgoing, spunky younger sister to Pip, a shy, quiet loner.  In an attempt to stick up for her sister, after her birthday is ruined by the popular new girl, Ava writes a story for the school library's contest.  As the story gets mentioned, things begin to change, and Ava and her new friend Bea may help Pip break out of her shell.

Told in diary format, 10 year-old Ava tells the reader about her quiet sister Pip (who is 13).  They don't look or act alike (much like my sister and me), and Pip was a preemie (also like me!)  As you can see, I connected with quiet, shy, Pip.  I even had to reschedule a birthday party when a girl who was more popular had hers the same day :-(  Ava's attempts to give her sister a voice are both heartwarming, and sometimes frustrating (much like real sisters).

Ava and Pip, and their parents, all have palindrome names.  Check one for awesome.  The family plays games like The Homonym Game.  Check two.  In order to keep Ava busy, her parents would give her pages of Os to turn into Qs.  Check 3.

The story has a great flow- I actually had to make myself stop reading and get to bed.  I wanted to see what happened next, and the entries are so short, you just keep reading...and reading. 

I know bullying and mean girls have been a hot topic for awhile, and rightfully so- it needs to be talked about.  But it's refreshing to read a middle-grade fiction about girls, Jr. High girls, that is more about being friends and helping each other.  On top of all the word-awesomeness, this is what made me love Ava and Pip.  Building each other up, and not assuming things about people.

One more tidbit about this book: it comes with a Common Core educator's guide, for all my teacher friends.  Just head over to the Sourcebooks website.





Ava and Pip is published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.  Review copy graciously provided by the publisher.
Released: 03.04.2014