Eleven-year-old Frances has taken to calling herself “Figgrotten.” A “natural observer” whose hero is anthropologist Margaret Mead, Figgrotten feels most herself when she’s all alone, perched high atop the rocks behind her house, conducting an experiment that requires feeding crows.

After a hurtful, hateful disagreement, Figgrotten vows to never again speak to her fashionable, popular sister, Christinia, who is mortified by her sister’s oddball ways, her unkempt hair and her too-small coat.

Figgrotten’s world collapses when her 83-year-old bus driver dies. Alvin Turkson was her Shakespeare-loving, Gandhi-quoting best friend. Adding to Figgrotten’s misery is the new kid in class, a shy, smart boy named James who seems to be favored by Figgrotten’s beloved teacher Mr. Stanley. Figgrotten eventually learns to navigate this tricky terrain, to deal with her grief, to make peace with her sister and James, and to even find a new friend. She discovers that she “could hang on to who she was and still be part of the world, which she could now feel tugging at her.”

Author April Stevens’ carefully crafted, beautiful prose imbues this tightly plotted, engrossing tale with weighty themes that never feel heavy-handed or preachy. The Heart and Mind of Frances Pauley sings out heartfelt truths about Stevens’ quirky and genuine characters, who will resonate deeply with lucky readers.

This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In Stanley Will Probably Be Fine, the new novel by Sally J. Pla, Stanley is fine, as long as he’s nestled in the reassuring quiet of his room with a stack of comics. Alas, he’s forced to leave his cocoon for the chaos of middle school, where his best friend, Joon, is distancing himself in favor of more adventurous friends. School is often too much sensory stimulation for Stanley, leading to humiliating breakdowns.

Then Stanley and Joon learn of a Trivia Quest to be held in downtown San Diego. Participants solve a series of clues using their comics expertise, and the winners earn VIP passes to Comics Fest, a dream come true for Stanley and Joon. Stanley, with his encyclopedic knowledge of comics, should be an ace partner—but only if he can brave the noise and crowds of the downtown scene.

Stanley is an engaging narrator, ruefully aware of the ways his personal challenges thwart his successful navigation of middle school. The Trivia Quest allows him to make tentative steps toward adapting, even as he would desperately love to hide in his room. Stanley’s friendship with a homeschooled girl, who is dealing with her own poignant circumstances, allows him to develop a kinship with another outlier.

Comics fans and young readers who experience the world more intensely than their peers will love this one.

Diane Colson is the Library Director at City College in Gainesville, Florida.

This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Children's Top Pick, February 2018

Two-time Newbery Medal-winning author Christopher Paul Curtis’ latest middle grade novel, a coming-of-age tale set in 1858, will resonate with readers for its timeless themes of justice, self-awareness and questions of right and wrong.

Little Charlie Bobo’s family are white sharecroppers for the Tanner plantation. It’s a meager existence, so Charlie’s father tries a few side hustles to earn more money, including joining the Tanner’s overseer and slave catcher, an unremittingly mean and clever man, in a scheme. However, Charlie’s father dies before he can complete his part of the bargain, and the overseer makes 12-year-old Charlie take his father’s place.

At first Charlie is excited to be traveling to Detroit to break up what the overseer explains is a gang of thieves who stole thousands of dollars from the Tanners. On the trip, Charlie carefully observes the overseer and eventually comes to several troubling conclusions about their mission. Charlie is further conflicted when he realizes one of the “stolen goods” is a boy not too different from himself. Without any guidance, Charlie must make several grown-up decisions of his own.

The historical accuracy of The Journey of Little Charlie educates readers on the efforts to capture runaway slaves and the fortitude of those who journeyed north to freedom. In this tale set in the past, modern parallels abound, offering a clear gateway for discussions that are painfully important today. As Curtis writes in his author’s note, the leap taken by Charlie is “[a] step that is available to all of us.”

This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Paul Durham, author of the Luck Uglies series, masterfully draws readers into his new book, The Last Gargoyle, with a cryptic first chapter that ends with a disturbing question: “What goes bump in the night? If you’re lucky, I do.”

And so we are introduced to Penhallow, the last gargoyle, whose mission is to tirelessly watch over his domain—the aged Boston apartment building on which he’s perched—and to protect its residents from all things dangerous and evil. Penhallow has scant memory of being anything but a block of stone with wings, claws and eyes that gleam with the light of life. He can shape-shift at will—at times assuming the form of a humanlike wisp in jeans and hoodie, other times becoming a teeth-gnashing, Netherkin-eating monster.

The city Penhallow inhabits churns with hostile energy. Penhallow can sense it, but he doesn’t know how to vanquish it. He can handle the Netherkins one or two at a time, but when he discovers he is up against the ruler of the underworld, the evil Boneless King, it will take all his strength—and the help of a new friend—to defeat him.

A tale of love, life, evil and death seems heady stuff for young readers, but they will relish it as fully as Penhallow relishes swallowing imps and Netherkins.

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Eleven-year-old Leonora (Leo) comes from a long line of talented bakers in Rose Hill, Texas. This Día de los Muertos, however, Leo starts to suspect that a talent for baking isn’t the only thing that runs in the family—and she soon discovers that her mom, her Tía Paloma and her four older sisters are all brujas, witches of Mexican ancestry whose recipes double as magic spells.

Leo has always felt a little separated from her Mexican heritage—she can’t even understand much Spanish—but she’s eager to discover whether she, too, is a bruja. Her sister Isabel assures Leo that she’ll acquire her own special power once she turns 15, but there’s no reason why Leo can’t start practicing some spells now, right? When Leo finds a spell to help her grieving best friend, it seems easy enough—but soon Leo’s magical baking project is wreaking havoc both at school and at home.

Chock full of humor, magic, friendship and sisterhood, Anna Meriano’s debut launches a new series that celebrates Mexican-American culture and traditions. Spanish-speaking readers will appreciate Leo’s renewed desire to learn Spanish, and readers of all backgrounds will be eager to try out their own baking (or magic?) skills with the recipes included at the end of Leo’s story.

This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Panthers sleep during the day and prowl at night. That’s how it has been, and always will be. In The Lost Rainforest: Mez’s Magic, written by National Book Award finalist Eliot Schrefer, the daywalkers and the nightwalkers live separate lives and never mix. That is, until Mez the panther sneaks from her den at dawn and discovers another nightwalker with an astonishing story to tell.

The magic that keeps the nightwalkers asleep during the day and daywalkers asleep at night was broken only once in recent memory: An eclipse combined the magic of the sun and moon, changing every animal born during that time into shadowwalkers, who can cross the Veil and walk in light and dark. Now, Mez discovers a growing group of shadowwalkers—including an anaconda, a bat, a tree frog and a monkey—who become bound together by a larger purpose. They must stop the Ant Queen before she emerges and destroys Caldera, their rainforest home.

Filled with well-developed and extremely likable characters, Mez’s Magic is a fast-paced and broad-reaching first entry in a new series. Animal lovers and fans of adventure tales will get caught up in the tense and twisting action.

This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Children's Top Pick, January 2018

Punch! That’s what Robinson Hart does to Alex Carter, the biggest bully in fifth grade, when he calls her a “motherless Robin bird.” Robinson’s mother died soon after she was born, so Alex hit a nerve. In this moment, the feisty, memorable, baseball-loving heroine of Lindsey Stoddard’s Just Like Jackie momentarily forgets the words of her grandpa: “The man you’re named for was a great ballplayer. The first black player in the league. People taunted him all the time, but he didn’t pay no mind.”

School administrators in the small Vermont town try to help Robbie control her broiling anger, but a family tree project isn’t helping. She knows little about her family, except that she is one-quarter black and lives with her black grandpa, whom she adores.

Robbie is happiest when she’s helping Grandpa fix cars at his garage, along with the other mechanic, Harold, who is adopting a baby with his partner. But Robbie’s been increasingly on edge because she’s also trying to hide an important secret: Grandpa is becoming more and more forgetful. She knows she needs to find out about her family before Grandpa’s memories are gone forever.

Robbie soon learns that she’s not the only one aggravated by the family tree project. She’s forced to attend Group Guidance meetings at school, along with none other than the dreaded Alex Carter and several other students. A sensitive counselor named Ms. Gloria gently allows each group member to gradually open up and reveal their troubles in a Breakfast Club sort of way.

Just Like Jackie covers a cornucopia of social hot points: Alzheimer’s, a parent dying of cancer, divorce, mixed-race families, gay couples, anger management, bullying, adoption and more. The story never feels forced, however, nor the issues gratuitous. Stoddard’s natural storytelling talent allows Robbie’s character to emerge like an extraordinary butterfly breaking its way out of a cocoon.

This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

A lavish hotel with chandeliers, a lake for ice-skating, snow-covered hills for skiing, a candy kitchen and a library complete with a librarian—who wouldn’t want to stay at Winterhouse for the Christmas season? Orphan Elizabeth Somers has no choice when her stingy aunt and uncle disappear, leaving her only a train ticket and reservations at the grand hotel. But in this charming, detailed debut novel by Ben Guterson, the 11-year-old bibliophile immediately finds Winterhouse to be magical—perhaps too magical.

More than the setting, the guests and staff—from proprietor Norbridge Falls, who entertains with evening tricks, to the old men who return year after year to work on a 35,000-piece puzzle—are what truly make Winterhouse special. Elizabeth is thrilled to find a friend in Freddy, who shares her love of anagrams, but she can’t help but become suspicious of a dubious book-collecting couple. When Elizabeth finds a rare book about codes and discovers tales of Winterhouse family secrets that can be unlocked through a magical volume, she wonders if she can solve these mysteries.

Guterson blends enchanting hotel luxuries, warm friendship and plenty of word games and book references with creepy villains and ghostly elements as Elizabeth puts her sleuthing skills to work. Elizabeth’s biggest mystery, however, may be her own family history.

The first book in a planned trilogy, Winterhouse is a cozy-socks, comfy-chair story—the kind to snuggle up with on a long, cold evening.

Activist and award-winning author Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz, joins with novelist Renée Watson to give middle grade readers a glimpse into the early life of Shabazz’s mother.

“Count your blessings, young lady. Name them one by one—even the small things.” Eleven-year-old Betty Dean Sanders has no idea that when she takes this advice to heart, it will equip her for bigger life issues. These words, spoken by the woman who eventually becomes Betty’s adoptive mother, are a turning point in the preteen’s abusive childhood.

Betty is growing up during turbulent times in 1940s Detroit, but she maintains a thankful attitude toward family, friends and the opportunity to be involved with the Housewives’ League, which supports black businesses. Keeping sight of graciousness amid hostility helps Betty become “an outspoken advocate for human rights, women’s rights, racial tolerance, and the goal of self-determination and self-reliance.”

This engaging coming-of-age tale shines a light on one young girl’s hope for happiness and equality in the midst of apparent hopelessness and despair. Shabazz and Watson weave the historical horrors of racism into this lyrical story, making Betty Before X a provocative, powerful read.

“It is my hope that by reading my mother’s story,” Shabazz writes in an author’s note, “young people who may be feeling abandoned or neglected, fearful or hopeless, anxious or unsure, will find inspiration.” Shabazz’s goal is completed in this lovely book.

Real magic does exist . . . you just have to know where to look. That’s the lesson that young Carter, a runaway street magician, learns in Neil Patrick Harris’ debut middle grade novel.

American actor and singer Harris has a background in magic, which shines through in this tale of Carter and five other magically gifted kids. The trick-filled tale moves quickly, as the gang tries to outsmart a crooked carnival boss and his cronies, sideshow freaks and the ill-intentioned Pock Pickets. Aided by master illusionist and kindred soul Mr. Vernon, the kids band together in their altruistic goal of saving the citizens of the city from its villains and thieves.

Harris intersperses the book’s chapters with several clever “intermissions,” which directly address the reader to offer instructions for easy tricks to impress their friends. Harris knows his magic and has crafted an impressive group of kids that readers will happily follow on their magical journey of stopping the bad guys, as well as finding their own way. All these characters are misfits for various reasons, but when they band together, they truly belong, as each discovers friendship—possibly for the first time.

Combining the talents of seasoned children’s author Kristin Kladstrup and the renowned illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events, Brett Helquist, this new take on a classic tale makes for a perfectly nostalgic Christmas story.

It’s 1892, and St. Petersburg’s famed Mariinsky Theater is preparing to debut its latest ballet: The Nutcracker. But the cast and crew don’t know that in the spaces between the walls, the mice who call the theater home are also hard at work staging their own production. But will a mousy audience come to see a ballet that features their kind as villains? It’s up to Esmerelda, rising star of the Russian Mouse Ballet Company, and her comrades to come up with a solution. They may need help from an unlikely source: a human girl named Irina with a kind heart and a clever mind, who may prove indispensable in saving both productions, human and mouse, of the soon-to-be Christmas classic.

This sweet, nostalgic tale evokes the thrilling joy of dance and music, and shows that such a feeling is universal in all creatures, big and small. It’s steeped in all the drama and romance of old-fashioned show business, and the setting of the theater provides a perfect backdrop for the story to unfold. Tinged with the magic of the season, this novel makes for a perfect read-aloud story for all ages to enjoy.

From the duo behind the bestselling Wildwood Chronicles comes a new adventure that illuminates a thrilling, underground world of pickpockets.

As the son of a consul general, Charlie Fisher lives a sheltered, sometimes lonely life in the marvelous city of Marseille. His days often consist of nothing more exciting than lessons with his tutor and social events with his father. But all of that changes one seemingly ordinary Tuesday morning, when Charlie happens to witness something extraordinary: a gang of young pickpockets pulling off a robbery in the middle of a crowded, public square. Charlie is mesmerized, and from that fateful day he becomes entrenched in the world of masterful thieves known as the whiz mob. But when this seemingly harmless new pastime leads Charlie into danger, he must decide if this life is really worth the risks that come with it.

Colin Meloy writes in a voice sharp with wit and precision, creating a rich and vibrant world complemented by Carson Ellis’ art at every turn. Each member of the whiz mob is given a distinct voice and personality, making readers feel as if they are part of the crew themselves, learning the lingo and pickpocketing culture right alongside Charlie. This is a unique and uproarious reading experience, and one not to be missed.

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

Everyone needs a Mr. Gedrick in their lives, but especially 9-year-old Stanley Darrow and his family, who are reeling from the death of Stanley’s father. Stanley’s older brother and sister ignore him, while his architect mother flounders as she attempts to work from home. Meanwhile, the house is a mess, as no one has the energy or heart to take over the duties of the Darrows’ stay-at-home dad.

Healing begins when the Darrows’ self-appointed nanny, a strange man named Mr. Gedrick, suddenly appears on their doorstep—a Mary Poppins-like figure with a fuzzy green jacket and an odd little car he calls Fred. Initially wary, Stanley and his family can’t help but be amazed by the newcomer. Cleanup happens magically in minutes, with everyone working together with “a splish and a splash” or “a flick and a sniff.” Mr. Gedrick has secret projects in store for everyone in the family, giving them the courage to tackle huge hurdles that have become roadblocks since Mr. Darrow’s death, and helping them find the faith they need in themselves and each other in this new, dadless world.

Rare is the book that takes on weighty subjects like grief and loss with such grace, love and wonder, but Mr. Gedrick and Me by bestselling author Patrick Carman does all this and more while overflowing with marvelous fun.

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