Midnight on Strange Street by K. E. Ormsbee - OPTIONAL

Midnight on Strange Street by K. E. Ormsbee, 388 pages. Disney, 2020. $17.

Content: G (mild danger)

BUYING ADVISORY: MS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

50 years ago a mysterious blue light showed up on a quiet street in a little town.  About the same time a new substance, now called “glow” was also found, but mostly its used as a energy supply for a new glowboarding sport – like skateboarding without wheels. Avery and her mother have arrived back in town after Avery’s mom gets a divorce – after a disasterous incident at Avery’s school. She meets her neighbors, Dani and the twins, Bash and Lola, all 7^th graders too, who have a glowboarding team that Avery joins. During one of their glowboarding races, something goes really wrong and talking it through, the group finds out that all four of the have special powers – are these powers related somehow to that old blue light tale and to glow? As if being the odd ones out weren’t hard enough, now the group has these powers, and incomplete communications with aliens to contend with.

The publishers bill this for fans of Stranger Things, but it doesn’t quite deliver in book form.  Like my summary, it takes a lot of backstory to build up to the interesting parts. It isn’t until 2/3rds through that the tension really ramps up and the kids get a handle on the adventure. The addition of Dani’s awful parents seems a unnecessary distraction, and whenever Avery’s mom appears, the author keeps calling her Ms. Sills, which had me thinking she was going to revealed to be a government plant or something – not Avery’s real mother; it was very impersonal way to refer to her. Real fans of Stranger Things will choose Condie and Reich’s Darkdeep series first.

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS