Month: October 2018

Book Review: Inkling

~ Beth Mitchell ~ 6 Comments

34807717Inkling by Kenneth Opel is a fantastic story about an ink blot who comes to life and helps the Rylance family get unstuck.

Sixth grader Ethan Rylance is frustrated. Just because his dad is a famous artist, all of his friends assume he can draw too, so they’ve put him in charge of the art for their group graphic novel project. It’s not going well. And his dad is no help. Ever since his mom’s death, his dad has suffered from writer’s block. He often leaves it up to Ethan to take care of his younger sister Sarah, who has Down syndrome.

Then, one night, an ink blot pulls himself off of Mr. Rylance’s sketch pad and starts exploring…

You might think that an ink blot wouldn’t make a very interesting character, but you’d be very wrong. Inkling is a fascinating creature and an empathetic and loyal friend. He can make himself small enough to fit on the top of a shoe or large enough to splash a giant King Kong across a wall. He can be a drawing tutor for Ethan or a puppy for Sarah, and he might even be able to help their dad. My favorite thing about Inkling is that he eats stories and pictures. Superhero comics make him hyper, and The BFG makes him spell out things like “I is having a frothsome adventure!”

This book is both entertaining and heart-warming. I recommend it highly.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book. It will be available in bookstores on November 6.

Book Review: The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl

~ Beth Mitchell ~ 5 Comments

33004208If you like stories about math, shelter dogs, or middle school friendships, you should check out The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty. Larrabee and I both enjoyed it.

Twelve-year-old Lucy Callahan was struck by lightning when she was in 2nd grade. The damage to her brain turned her into a mathematical genius and also left her with some obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Since then, she’s been home schooled by her grandmother, and she happily spends most of her free time in an on-line math forum (where she’s known as LightningGirl).

She wants to take on-line college courses starting in the fall, but her grandmother has other plans. She’s sending Lucy to public middle school. All she asks is that Lucy try it for one year, make one friend, do one thing outside the apartment, and read one book about something other than math or economics. (Lucy notes that this year is brought to you by the number “1”).

But all that is not as easy as it sounds for Lucy. In addition to navigating English class and the middle school lunchroom, she’ll have to complete a community service project with two or three other 7th graders. It turns out, though, that her friendship with Windy and Levi and her volunteer work with the Pet Hut and a dog named Cutie Pi (π!) are the best things that could have happened to her.

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl is an engaging read, with short chapters, good pacing, and plenty of funny and heart-warming parts. Highly recommend!

Book Review: Masterminds

~ Beth Mitchell ~ 2 Comments

25816933Masterminds is the first book in a thrilling trilogy by Gordon Korman. Larrabee loved it and insisted that I drop everything and read it.

Eli Frieden lives in Serenity, New Mexico, an isolated and idyllic town with a population of 185. Eli’s dad is the school principal and the mayor and reminds him often how lucky he is to live in a community with no crime and no poverty.

One day, his best friend suggests that they ride their bikes out of Serenity, something Eli’s never done in all his thirteen years. When they get to the town limits, though, Eli starts to feel sick. Before they know it, they’ve been rescued by the local security force (nicknamed Purple People Eaters by the kids) in a helicopter. A few days later, Eli’s friend is shipped off to live with his grandparents in Colorado, but he leaves a note where only Eli can find it: “There’s something screwy going on in that town.”

The story of what’s really going on beneath Serenity’s perfect facade is told through the point of view of five different kids. I don’t want to spoil any of the plot twists, so I’ll just say that Masterminds has a mix of action, mystery, and suspense that’s rare in middle grade books.

The other two books in the series are Criminal Destiny and Payback, and Larrabee highly recommends them too. He says the series gets better and better!

Book Review: The Wishmakers

~ Beth Mitchell ~ 9 Comments

28138801The Wishmakers by Tyler Whitesides is a very funny book about wishes and their consequences.

One day, twelve-year-old Ace opens a peanut butter jar without reading the fine print and releases a genie named Ridge. The good news: He’s now a Wishmaker and may make as many wishes as he likes. The bad news: For every wish, the Universe imposes a consequence and he has just thirty seconds to decide whether to accept. The worse news: The Universe has given him a quest, and unless he completes it in seven days, all the world’s cats and dogs will turn into zombies.

Things get even more complicated when he meets Tina and Jathon, other young Wishmakers with quests of their own that seem to conflict with his. And things get more complicated still as they make more and more wishes with consequences on top of consequences (which may last for an hour, a day, a week, or forever). For example, at one point, whenever anyone says Tina’s name, she claps, and whenever anyone claps, Ace’s shoelace comes untied. Ace also accepts a day without his left arm, a week without being able to read, and a lifetime with a green tongue. It all adds up to a fast-paced and zany adventure.

Larrabee and I both enjoyed this book and are looking forward to the sequel, The Wishbreaker. It’s coming soon!