Greg Leitich Smith

Three friends in the 7th grade navigate a love triangle and a science fair.

On the one hand, this seems to be the only book I can find written by an Asian-American author with a random Asian-American character that isn't about immigration. On the other, it's one of my least favorite genres: the awkwardness of navigating one's love life in the 7th grade.

The plot point about the authoritarian "I have to be right" teacher is an interesting one. The ending feels unsatisfying because the teacher show more magically turns into someone reasonable. I don't know how I wanted that conflict to resolve: the student accepting unfair punishment and learning that life is unfair? The student fighting the teacher forever and losing? I'm not sure. show less

Aidan used to think his parents' space-themed motel was pretty cool. But now that he's getting older he wishes they could live somewhere else - and that it wasn't so much work! Even the weird stuff, like the strange new girl, Dru, and his friend Louis' obsession with aliens isn't much fun anymore. But when there's a series of strange and frightening occurrences around the latest space launch, Aidan finds himself launched into a shocking adventure and more in tune with aliens than he ever show more thought he'd be.

This is a pretty straight-forward, old-fashioned, aliens-among-us, scifi adventure. There's not a lot of character development or introspection and the twist at the end felt forced and didn't really make sense. I'm not really a fan of science fiction and it took me, well, let's just say it's a good thing I had this checked out on my work card which has no due dates...

However, I'm not sorry I bought this for the library and I definitely recommend it. Why? Because it's so hard to find simple, plot-driven, short books for the middle grade age group. Bonus points that it's science fiction (even hard to find, despite how much kids love a good alien adventure) and the touch of diversity with Louis' prosthetic leg and Dru's alien origins.

Verdict: This won't win any awards but kids will thoroughly enjoy it and will be pleased to find a fun story about aliens that's not daunting in length or text. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781596438354; Published 2014 by Roaring Brook Press; Purchased for the library show less

A vegan living in a carnivore world. That is what Frederika is confronted with when she is expelled from her current school in Texas and sent to live with her Opa and cousin Hans-Peter in Chicago. You see, Opa owns Delicatessen Kowalski and Hans-Peter is working on a new recipe for sausage when he isn't reading about dinosaurs.

Frederika reputation for staging dramatic events in her promotion of veganism, that tended to go awry, was well known at the prestigious Peshtigo School, a private show more school by Lake Shore Drive. She had been attending there before her family moved to Texas. This was to be of no help to Hans-Peter who had just applied to attend it.

There was also the trials of living in a small bungalow house with one bathroom, two bedrooms, two teens and an Opa who didn't put up with shenanigans. There are also two bullfrogs and a paper-mache dinosaur in the mix.

This was a fun and quick read. Written from both perspectives presented alternately throughout the whole book, you get the story from both sides. Both kids have goals and how they go about it is pretty humourous. With Opa keeping the helm on track life seems to somehow weather the small storms that arise. show less

Cute fantasy. Yes I know it's 'realistic fiction' - but nonetheless it's a fantasy. I mean to say, would the science teacher really be so short-sighted at such an expensive school? Or would Shohei's parents really be so blind to what he's really interested in - to the point of being, actually, racist? Or would Elias' big brother be that unavailable?

And if it's written about smart kids, smart kids are probably going to read it. And they're going to be just as exasperated as I by the show more hyper-fast shifting of the three points-of-view. Experienced readers do not have such a short attention span.

Still, it's really fine, and I'm tempted to give it four stars, just to counter all the negative reviews here. I can't quite justify that though. It's cute, fun, with some interesting ideas, but nothing special. Imo. show less