Mini-Middle Grade Reviews on a Monday

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
By Kathi Appelt
Available now from Atheneum BFYR (Simon & Schuster)
Review copy
Read my review of Keeper

The eponymous scouts are Bingo and J'miah, raccoon brothers keeping an eye on the Sugar Man Swamp from an old, overgrown DeSoto.  They're to wake the Sugar Man, a Yeti-like figure, if the swamp is in trouble.

It quickly becomes apparent that the swamp is in trouble.

Kathi Appelt weaves together a tale of humans, animals, and cane sugar in a sweet, down-home voice perfectly suited to the material.  It's so beautifully descriptive that I wanted illustrations even as I was happy that everything was left to me to imagine.  It's funnier and less dark than her other books, although it still touches on important issues.  THE TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP is definitely worthy of that National Book Award Finalist medal on its cover.

Listening for Lucca
By Suzanne LaFleur
Available now from Wendy Lamb Books (Penguin Random House)
Review copy

LISTENING FOR LUCCA is the tale of Siena, who has just moved to a beach house with her parents and younger brother Lucca, who doesn't talk.  She quite likes their new hometown, but she and Lucca both suspect that their house is haunted.

I really enjoyed LISTENING FOR LUCCA.  This is a quiet, simple book.  The fantasy elements are likewise quiet - these are fairly passive ghosts.  Thus, LISTENING FOR LUCCA reads almost like a contemporary.  The family is well realized, both agreeing to let Lucca talk in his own time and individually worrying about how to convince him to talk.

I suspect lots of readers will identify with Siena, who struggles with fitting in and being a patient big sister.  I think this novel will appeal to fans of Mary Downing Hahn.

In Search of Goliathus Hercules
By Jennifer Angus
Available now from Albert Whitman & Company/Open Road Media
Review copy

Henri is a normal nineteenth-century boy until he goes to live with his aunt.  There he starts to realize that he can speak to insects.  But he runs away to the circus to escape his aunt's sinister neighbor, Mrs. Black, who might know his secret.

I liked how this story combined a mystery about Henri's father's disappearance, the mystery of Mrs. Black's motive and powers, and an adventure about life in the circus.  There is, of course, a search for a large insect known as the Goliathus Hercules as well.

In the end, I had niggling questions remaining about how some of the magic worked, but I did like IN SEARCH OF GOLIATHUS HERCULES.  Few books are so passionate about the insect world, and Jennifer Angus clearly knows her subject.

Magic Marks the Spot
Book One of The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates
By Caroline Carlson
Illustrated by Dave Phillips
Available now from HarperCollins
Review copy

I do enjoy books about pirates!  MAGIC MARKS THE SPOT tells of Hilary Westfield's journey to become a pirate, complicated by the facts that she's a girl and the daughter of an admiral.  I have always enjoyed girl-crossdresses-as-a-boy stories, but that is not this one.  Hilary is determined to do it all as a girl.

MAGIC MARKS THE SPOT is a very fun story, filled with a search for treasure and mysterious thieves and unexpected magic.  I'm not sure it's a great start to a series, because it stands very well on its own.  There are no loose ends here.  The only real problem is that the chapters end with bits of letters and newspaper articles.  This would be a nice way to catch up with what's going on with other characters, except at least half of the letters are in a little cursive font on a darkened background.  It's hard to read as an adult who was taught cursive - I can definitely see it tripping up kids.

The Savage Lands
Book Three of Tarzan
By Andy Briggs
Available now from Open Road Media
Review copy

I read the original TARZAN by Edgar Rice Burroughs back when I was a kid and Disney's Tarzan came out.  I must say, I never was a real Tarzan fan.

In many ways, I like the idea of a rebooted Tarzan, with modern technology and such.  In execution, Andy Briggs' THE SAVAGE LANDS didn't do anything more for me than the original.  I did like that Jane is very active in the series.  Why, the first thing she does is save a man with a well-timed machete swing.  You can certainly try this book with the young action/adventure fan in your life.

Review: Keeper

Sorry I've been somewhat MIA this week. I am still looking for a job, but I've managed to figure out what laptop I'm buying. (Don't know if I've mentioned it hear, but my laptop has been in death throes for two months. I've been sneaking time on shared computers.)

By Kathi Appelt
Illustrated by August Hall
Available now from Simon & Schuster (Athenum)
Review Copy



I promised I'd review more middle grade fiction and I'm keeping that promise. I first became aware of Kathi Appelt last year, when THE UNDERNEATH received the Newberry Honor Award. I haven't read it yet, unfortunately, but I did jump at my chance to read KEEPER, a novel about a ten-year-old Texas girl who believes in magic.

It was supposed to be a wonderful day for Keeper, her guardian Signe, and the other residents of Oyster Ridge Road - Dogie and Mr. Beauchamp. But everything went wrong, and now Keeper slips out while everyone is sleeping to find her mermaid mother Meggie Marie with BD (Best Dog) and Captain (a watermelon-loving seagull). KEEPER is postmodern magical realism for kids.

But as an adult, it's a fairly harrowing reading experience. Like the narrator, an adult reader knows the danger of a young girl alone in a boat catching the outgoing tide. Unlike Keeper, the adult reader doesn't believe the mermaids will be waiting. Yet as intense as the sense of danger could be, Appelt keeps everything on a slow boil.

She slips into a variety of POVs - all animal and human characters get their say. She also slips back and forth in time, all the way back to old Mr. Beauchamp's young love in Paris. (Her matter-of-fact treatment of homosexuality is welcome and appropriate to the age group.) Her language is lyrical and lulling, obscuring the dark undercurrent, much like the sea that is integral to KEEPER's story.

I also love the illustrations by August Hall. They're simple and bold. My favorite may be the fist time we see Signe, young and fierce. Hall illustrates a nice mix of dramatic and intimate moments, which contributes to the tone of the novel, which remains calm no matter how badly things go wrong.

Most middle grade books don't end in senseless tragedy, so I wondered how Appelt could reach a satisfying end. But she does, without betraying the characters or the story. If you're looking for action and adventure, KEEPER might not be the best choice. But it's still a good summer read that will make you long for a nice bowl of gumbo.

Cynthia Leitich Smith and Kathi Appelt

I go to a lot of book signings and such, and often end up wondering afterward if I should write something up for the blog. So this is a testing of the waters. Please tell me whether you enjoy it or not.

You can read Cynthia's write-up here. I'm in one of her shots and I hate to think I actually looked that bad.

First: I arrived super early because I took the bus, which runs every forty minutes or so and takes me fifteen minutes to walk to the stop. I didn't have many choices of which to take. I grabbed a book off the shelf I've been wanting to read (must buy my own copy so I can enjoy it again) and went up to wait.



Cynthia and her husband Greg were setting things up with the workers, which surprised me. At BookPeople the authors usually wait somewhere else and you don't get pre-event interaction. Anyway, Cynthia quickly figured out that she "knew" me and thanked me for coming to the event. It was very nice, and I enjoyed watching her greet others as they trickled in. Cynthia's blog and efforts with SCWBI have really made her a presence in the young adult/children's lit world and it seemed like she knew every one of the 100+ people who attended.

Then it was time for the event to actually begin! Cynthia and Kathi introduced each other, which was very sweet and a good way to get brags in. (I can tell you, this event sold me on THE UNDERNEATH. I'm buying it as soon as it comes out in paperback.)



Next came readings: Cynthia's from Zach's POV in ETERNAL and Kathi's . . . a song!




It turns out Kathi once wanted to be a songwriter, so almost every character in THE UNDERNEATH had a song. But her editor chopped them out one by one, until only one was left: a blues number for the dog, who was based on Kathi's childhood dog.



She looked really cute while singing so I did her the disservice of managing to take the pic while her eyes were closed. (See her foot tapping?) Of course, my cell was almost dead so I only took four photos . . . should've accounted for mistakes like this.

There was also a showing of the trailers:



. . . with a little technical difficulty for the ETERNAL trailer.

Eternal Trailer


Anyway, there was a very cool Q&A and fanmail reading section. My favorites: a sixth-grader telling Kathi how to improve her writing and a librarian telling Cynthia she wanted Zach and Miranda (the main characters of ETERNAL) to have sex.



The questions they asked each other mostly involved the appropriate approach to sex and violence in books for young adults and children. Their answers were very sensible and unfortunately, the crowd was probably their choir. I did like an audience member's follow-up question, about whether those aspects were differently received in other countries. (The violence is apparently more common in America.) Both had interesting issues with France editions - they can't decide whether to market Kathi's as children's or adult and for Cynthia, there is no French translation of "tantalize." Hard to believe as much as the country likes food.

Then came signing, which made me sad I managed to leave my copies of Cynthia's books at home after Spring Break. I'd forget my head if it weren't glued on, seriously. But I did take the opportunity to finish the book I'd snagged at the beginning!