Mustaches and the magic of cards unexpectedly come in handy when a brain tumor challenges a brave 12-year-old girl.

Maddie Bridger always earns some chuckles when she dons a fake mustache. Even the teachers let out a laugh when she pulls a mustache from her pocket and slaps it on her face during her school’s Shakespeare play audition. Maddie’s classmate Cassie has high expectations of becoming Juliet, but when Maddie ends up landing the role, their friendship is strained, and Cassie begins bullying Maddie. Fortunately, Maddie is used to battling monsters—mostly imaginary ones, especially when she’s playing ninja-like games with the other fifth graders. But when the results of an MRI show that she has a brain tumor “about the size of two and a half golf balls,” Maddie knows that she has a real monster to face.

Authors Chad Morris (the Cragbridge Hall series) and Shelly Brown (Ghostsitter) are the parents of a real-life girl named Maddie, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 9. Their tale reflects the ups and downs of a young person braving such a terrifying journey. Morris and Brown capture the interests of middle grade readers from the get-go with Maddie’s high-energy, imaginative narration and her love for sporting fake mustaches. But the story doesn’t end there. Amid surgeries (she ends up having two within one year), there are topics that Maddie ruminates on, such as life, friendship and the importance of accepting oneself.

Very funny yet poignant, Mustaches for Maddie is an encouraging read.

“The thing that is essential to becoming an artist, something kids do and artists keep on doing after they grow up, is play,” writes Vik Muniz at the start of this fascinating, innovative (and, as evidenced by the title, most definitely playful) book. Defying simple categorization, it’s a combination of autobiography and personal memoir, art lesson and reflections on making art in today’s world.

Perhaps most of all, it’s like being on a studio visit. And that, in fact, is what inspired the project. We see the Brazilian-born Muniz talking to children in his studio, along with pictures of his early drawings. The feel of a personal, dynamic question-and-answer session is enhanced by photos of the artist as he leads viewers and readers on a journey through his artistic process.

Muniz encourages young people to try out ideas on their own, as readers are invited to participate directly. “One of the ideas I play with is RECOGNITION,” he writes, opposite a photo of a cloud shape. “What do you see here?” Lifting the flaps provides three possible shapes for the cloud formation. It’s unusual to have such an interactive design in books for this age. It’s not only fun, but it also works on many levels.

Another appealing aspect is the way the format makes the artistic process so accessible for children. On one page, for example, Muniz explains, “I don’t want people to simply see a representation of something. I want them to see how it comes about.” To do that, he tells us, he decided to use thread as a medium. Readers see not only a photo of a finished work but the artistic context and creative steps that underpin it.

With a glossary and guide to museums and further online reading, Jelly, Garbage + Toys is a rich visual treasure-trove, a book to be savored not just by young artists but by art lovers of all ages.

With her debut novel for young readers, award-winning memoirist Mira Bartók creates a classic, Dickensian-style adventure story populated with endearing characters, a steampunk atmosphere and an enduring message of hope.

For the Wonderling, a meek, one-eared fox boy, life has always been hard. Without a name, family or history to his knowledge, he is called by a number, Thirteen, and sent to Miss Carbunkle’s Home, where he toils miserably with the rest of the part-animal, part-human “groundlings.” The boy’s life is a lonely one, until one day, fate and courage combine to bring him his first friend in the form of a precocious bird groundling named Trinket. The two bond quickly, and Trinket bestows upon the boy a priceless gift: his own proper name. She dubs him Arthur, after the brave king. But little does Arthur know how soon his own bravery will be put to the test, as he and Trinket plan their escape from the Home and journey toward the great city of Lumentown in the hope of finding answers about Arthur’s origins.

This novel joins riotous exploits with heartfelt wisdom. The palpable grime and callousness of the city, as well as the rag-tag band of merry thieves that Arthur finds there, hearken back to Victorian-era adventure stories, giving the narrative a timeless feel. But the most notable element of this story is the pervading message of hope—that no matter how dark the world may seem, there is always light to be found, whether it be in friendship, in the simple sounds of nature or in the countless other small wonders around us.

Marty is the perfect dog—he’s loyal, smart, learns tricks, and everyone seems to love him. Unfortunately, Marty happens to be a 350-pound pig. In Saving Marty by Paul Griffin, 11-year-old Lorenzo Ventura has to figure out how to convince him mom to let him keep Marty, whom he has raised since he was the runt of the litter, while Marty keeps making things more difficult by chewing through fences and running over mailboxes.

Life isn’t particularly easy for Lorenzo, his mom and his grandfather, Double Pop (or just Double, as Lorenzo calls him). Their peach farm is failing, Double’s knee needs to be replaced, and money seems to get tighter each month. Lorenzo is also struggling to accept that his best friend, Paloma, is getting the opportunity to live out their dream at a summer camp for musicians, and he’s dealing with difficult truths about his father, who died just a week before Lorenzo was born. Then there are the Taylor boys, who think that Marty would make particularly good ham steaks.

Saving Marty quickly goes beyond a light story about a boy and his pig. It’s filled with friendship, loss, understanding, acceptance and what it means to be a family, and readers will find themselves caught up in the melodic words of this story. Renzo and Pal, Marty, Mom and Double draw readers into their stories, their lives, their songs. And in the end, maybe Marty isn’t the one who needs to be saved, but instead might do the saving.

Readers first met Corinne La Mer in Tracey Baptiste’s The Jumbies, in which she defeated the malevolent jumbie Severine, who fell to the depths of the sea and was crushed by rockfall. While on her quest to restore peace to her Caribbean island, Corinne discovered she wasn’t just part jumbie—an evil spirit or trickster—but that Severine was her tante (French for aunt). At the revelation of her blood ties, many ostracized the youngster, and tensions have yet to dissolve.

In the captivating sequel, Rise of the Jumbies, islanders’ tempers and accusations against Corrine flare when neighboring children vanish. To clear her own name and find the missing, Corinne seek the help of sea-dwelling jumbie Mama D’Leau, who’s known for entrapping the naive and turning the wisest of men into stone.

Mama D’Leau agrees to help Corrine and her friends Bouki, Dru and Malik—for a price. A quick trip to an unknown land leagues away seems like a fair trade in Mama D’Leau’s icy blue eyes. To guide them on their quest, Mama D’Leau partners Corrine and her crew with four mermaids, and the serpentine jumbie sends them to the shores of West Africa to pilfer a long-lost treasure. But will Mama D’Leau hold up her end of the bargain if the group returns victorious? Or is there another game piece at play that prevents even the goddess of the ocean from intervening?

Rise of the Jumbies is a captivating tale that hooks readers from the onset and doesn’t let go. The imagery is crisp and nuanced, the leading characters are gutsy yet kindhearted, and the villains are just the right amount of wicked for middle schoolers. Baptiste’s inventive story is based on Haitian folklore, a nod to her Trinidadian culture. Readers learn about diverse characters, are exposed to Francophone terminology and even take a brief dip into an age-appropriate account of the Transatlantic slave trade.

If you’re looking for a story that’s original, action-packed and inspiring, look no further than Rise of the Jumbies.

Kaitlyn Wells is a freelance writer based in New York City. Find her on KaitWells.com and Twitter at @KaitWells.

A new novel from Katherine Paterson about a fascinating, little-known chapter in Cuban history is reason to celebrate. Paterson—a Library of Congress “Living Legend” and two-time winner of both the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award—doesn’t disappoint with her first novel since her husband’s death in 2013.

It’s 1961, and 13-year-old Lora lives with her family in an apartment in Havana. Upon hearing about Fidel Castro’s campaign to make the nation literate in one year, Lora ignores her parents’ concerns and joins an army of young volunteer teachers (more than 250,000) heading into the remote countryside. There Lora and the other “brigadistas” live and work alongside poor families in primitive conditions. Lora gains self-confidence as she learns to love several families, experiencing the challenges and rewards of teaching both children and adults, all while facing grave danger.

Paterson seamlessly brings this tale to life, skillfully weaving in just enough historical detail to give curious readers a sense of the complex historical factors at play (Cubans’ delight and the United States’ displeasure at the fall of Baptista’s corrupt regime), with a helpful timeline of Cuban history. Castro’s bold campaign worked, making Cuba the first illiteracy-free country in the Western Hemisphere.

“We did it, we did it, we did it!” Lora and the brigadistas sing upon their triumphant return to Havana. Lora notes: “We were like an army of sharpened pencils marching into the center of the capital.”

Lora’s brigadista year transformed her life forever, as it did for many actual participants (one of whom is Paterson’s friend). In a wonderful epilogue written years later, after Lora becomes a doctor, she notes: “My country is not perfect, but, then, is yours? . . . No, we are not perfect, but we do have a literate, educated population. We do have doctors.” She adds that many doctors and nurses are heading to West Africa to care for Ebola victims.

As always, Paterson eloquently delivers a fascinating slice of history, then gives her readers important points to ponder, making My Brigadista Year a gloriously timeless story.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Q&A with Katherine Paterson for My Brigadista Year.

This article was originally published in the October 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Watch out for Rosie, who is whip-smart but as mean as the snakes she tries to catch. During the summer before sixth grade, Rosie is as gruff and gritty as her grandfather and the town where they live. Rosie’s lawyer mother abandoned her as a baby, and life with Rosie’s dad was good until he had a serious stroke a year ago, leaving him so severely disabled that Rosie can’t bear to visit him in the rehab hospital. Rosie’s gnarly but loving grandpa stepped in, taking over her father’s doughnut store to try to eke out a living.

Rosie has little to be happy about in Chasing Augustus, Kimberly Newton Fusco’s spirited novel. Her grades have tanked, and her foremost goal is trying to find her misbehaving dog, Augustus, whom her mother gave away when her father had his stroke. For Rosie, losing Augustus was the crowning blow: “When you lose your dog, there’s a hole in your heart as big as the sun. Your head aches all the time and you are so empty inside because you are half the girl you used to be.” Rosie will do anything to find him, even break the law, and she’s pretty sure her dog is living on a farm with a woman known as Swanson, a town outcast who doesn’t speak and is rumored to shoot squirrels.

Helping in Rosie’s quest to find her dog—and herself—is a cast of quirky characters, including a withdrawn foster child named Philippe, an annoying chatterbox named Cynthia and a gifted sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Peterson, who challenges Rosie to open her heart and her mind.

There are no easy answers for Rosie, but through her own determination and with the help of a trusted few, she learns to find her way.

This article was originally published in the October 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In David Barclay Moore’s page-turning debut novel, The Stars Beneath Our Feet, Wallace “Lolly” Rachpaul isn’t even a teenager yet, but growing up in the projects of New York City has stripped him of anything resembling a normal childhood. Every day is a battle to keep away from the neighborhood gangs and to avoid the fate of his older brother, Jermaine. Jermaine’s shooting death just a few months earlier has added a level of anger and frustration to Lolly’s life that he doesn’t quite know how to handle.

Thankfully, the adage “it takes a village” holds true on the streets of Harlem, as Lolly finds that the community he resents also provides a sort of respite from reality. Mr. Ali, the after-school counselor, provides a space for Lolly to pursue his ultimate Lego obsession with the construction of a giant make-believe city. In the process, Lolly gets stuck with Big Rose, the strangest girl in the after-school program. But the two have more in common than they think and end up being each other’s silent cheerleaders.

Despite the best intentions from family, friends and the community, Lolly ultimately must learn that the power of choice lies in his own hands and no one else’s. Will he choose wisely to pave his own path out of the projects, or will he succumb to his brother’s unfortunate destiny? Moore leaves us wondering until the very end.

This article was originally published in the October 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.