Sky's End by Marc J. Gregson - OPTIONAL

Sky's End (Above the Black #1) by Marc J. Gregson, 416 pages. Candlewick, 2024 $19.00 

Language: R (193 swears, 0 'f'); Mature Content: PG13 (Innuendo, insults); Violence: R (Physical violence, fights to the death, murder, attempted murder, monster violence, monster hunting, lots of gore, many injuries) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

APPEALS TO: SOME 

16yo Conrad spent his childhood in luxury. His father was the Archduke. But when his Uncle takes the throne, and exiles Conrad and his mother to the Low, Conrad spends his early teens fighting for his life, and trying to earn enough money for his mother's medicine. At 16 he joins the Selection, and is accepted as a Hunter; Sky warriors who fight giant steel armored monsters called gorgantauns. But when Pound, his archenemy is put on the same ship, and Conrad find himself in the worst job possible - the Scabbie - he is desperate to rise to the position of Captain, and maybe win the chance of commanding his own airship. 

I gotta say - I had a hard time enjoying Sky's End. The Riches to Rags to Riches plot wasn't helped by Conrad's sullen and "trust no one" and "I can do this all myself" attitude. I don't love books where children kill each other and there is a lot of this - everyone is taught to fight, there are some senseless killings and the gore is a lot. Conrad gets beat up by Pound just before an important duel and fights with broken ribs. There are no adults directly supervising these kids. 16 is too young to be sent into the skies on a death mission to hunt monsters. An optional read, certainly because of the violence and swears, and the last 100 pages would have been better as the first 100 pages of the next book. The characters are humans. 

Lisa Librarian 

The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart - HIGH

The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart, 400 pages. Delacorte Press (Random House), 2022. $19. 

Language: R (42 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

The illusion of her put-together life started to slip when Lily’s sister Alice (18yo) attempted suicide. Since then, Lily (16yo) has found evidence that she might also be losing her mind and is determined not to let anyone else see those cracks. But the secret of Alice’s suicide attempt is getting harder to keep – and the secret of Lily’s questionable mental state isn’t far behind.

Stewart addresses difficult topics of mental health, suicide, and the stigmas surrounding the individuals and families who deal with these struggles through Lily’s experiences. The pressure of “normal” that weighs on us actually takes away from being our beautiful selves. Lily’s story is raw, and I loved watching her poetry express her highs and lows. While the ending wraps up too nicely and happily to reflect reality in dealing with mental health struggles, I love the hope it offers readers that things will not always be hard. There are struggles to find a way forward again and a reason to live after getting to the point of wanting to die, but it’s worth it. As Lily says, “the world could use more weirdos” – that includes you and me no matter what we are struggling with.

Lily and her family are implied white, and the main male character, Micah, is implied Hispanic. The mature content rating is for innuendo; self-medicating; partial nudity; and mentions of drugs, penises, orgasms, sexting, and sex. The violence rating is for blood, self-harm, attempted suicide, and discussions of suicide.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart - ESSENTIAL

Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart, 384 pages. Delacorte (Random), 2019. $19.

Language: G (5 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG (some teen drinking); Violence: G (some bullying)

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Once Ava had a mom, a dad, a best friend cousin Sara. That was a year ago. Now she has a big toe as a thumb, a claw for the other hand, a patchwork of skin grafts all over her body and face. She was the only one to survive the fire.  Her loving aunt and uncle, Sara’s parents, have been with her through the whole ordeal, moving Ava from rural Utah to Salt Lake City to recover. The doctors and her therapist says that it's time for Ava to go back to living.  Ava promises she will give it two months – she can keep her head down and get out in two weeks.  She didn’t count on meeting Asad, a kind, clueless, guy who won’t stop talking to her.  Nor could she have predicted Piper – a wheelchair-bound victim of a car accident, caused by her former best friend Kenzie. Nor does she anticipate finding her singing voice again and her love for theater.  Her patchworked body and her patchworked soul may be patched together strong enough to survive.

Shame on me for not reading this when I first received it!  My heart sang as I listened to Ava and to Piper both struggle to regain their lives.  You will love this! Bonus for me – Erin lives in Salt Lake City – so Utah HS librarians – she’s probably available for school visits!!

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS

The Bigfoot Files by Lindsay Eagar - ADVISABLE

The Bigfoot Files by Lindsay Eagar, 371 pages. Candlewick, 2018. $17

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: G.

BUYING ADVISORY: MS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Miranda is the middle school student body president and is looking forward to the summer leadership camp she has worked so hard for. There is just one thing standing in her way - her mom. Her mom keeps pulling her out of school to go on cryptozoologist expeditions and if Miranda misses any more school she will have to do summer school and miss her camp. Miranda hatches a plan to get her mom to stop looking for big foot and be more responsible. This plan involves going on one last expedition. 

I enjoyed this book, especially the relationship between a type-A daughter and free-spirited mom. I didn’t enjoy the writing though. It was lovely, but much to descriptive for a book that hung mostly on the plot. You get a good feel for the inner-landscape of Miranda, but it really slows down the book. Miranda copes with her stress by pulling out her hair, which may open dialogue for some students who have self-harm habits, but it is never resolved in the book.  

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher

The Rose Legacy by Jessica Day George - ESSENTIAL

George, Jessica Day The Rose Legacy, 260 pages. Bloomsbury, 2018. $17. Content: Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.  

Anthea has been moved from relative to relative ever since she was orphaned, until she is invited by a distant uncle to come and live with him.  Anthea is hesitant to live with this uncle because he lives on the other side of the Wall and Anthea has been raised to think only outlaws live on the other side.  When Anthea gets to her uncle's, she is further perplexed because he also owns forbidden horses.  Anthea seems to have a deep bond with one of the powerful stallions and starts to realize that there are many mysteries surrounding her life.  

I loved this story because Anthea is a strong character who is easy to empathize with.  The minor characters are also amusing and the plot moves along at a quick and interesting pace.  I imagine there will be more in this series because the ending left a few bigger questions open.  

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.

Time Jumpers by Brandon Mull - ESSENTIAL

Mull, Brandon Time Jumpers (Five Kingdoms #5), 434 pages.  Aladdin (Simon), 2018.  Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.

Cole and his friends an allies are desperate – the torivor Ramarro has escaped his prison.  He has been temporarily trapped inside a time loop in Creon, but he will break free at any moment.  Unless they can find the final princess and a few other very powerful allies, and put together at least the glimmer of a plan, not only are the Five Kingdoms doomed, but also Cole’s home – Earth.  Time itself if noth their enemy and their ally.  Cole will have to stretch himself – his power and his heart – in order to confront his greatest enemy.

Wow!  When it comes to plotting this tale, Mull has mastered the disparate elements into a cohesive whole.  His weakness, however is the dialogue.  His characters do a whole lot of talking – in terse sentences that feel strained at many points. Almost every time a conversation occurred I felt I was being short-changed;  I was surprised.  But the final action-packed confrontations were well worth the journey.

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

https://www.perma-bound.com/ViewDetail/147749-time-jumpers

The Princess in Black and the Mysterious Playdate by Shannon and Dean Hale - ESSENTIAL

Hale, Shannon and Dean Hale  The Princess in Black and the Mysterious Playdate, 90 pgs.  Illustrated by LeUyen Pham  CHAPTER BOOK Candlewick Press, 2017.  $14.99 

Content: G.  

Princess Magnolia (who is secretly the Princess in Black) leaves her kingdom to go to a playdate with Princess Sneezewort, but she doesn’t realize that a monster is following her.  During their playdate, they hear someone cry for help because the monster is trying to eat their kitten.  Both princesses make up excuses to leave the castle and don their disguises, so they can help the distressed.  They work together as Princess in Black and Princess in Blankets to help trap the monster.  

This is a fun addition to the Princess in Black series.  The Princess in Blankets is trying to be brave like her hero, the Princess in Black and she’s a likable character.  The pictures are fun and the chapters are short and easy to read.  

EL (K-3) – ESSENTIAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.

Real Friends by Shannon Hale -ESSENTIAL

Hale, Shannon and illustrated by Pham, LeUyen Real Friends 215 pages. First Second, 2017. $12.99. Language: G ( 0 swears) ; Mature Content: G; Violence: G.GRAPHIC NOVEL

This is beloved Utah Author Shannon Hales' memoir of her elementary school years. Readers discover the complex world of elementary school relationships as young Shannon tries to make and keep good friends. It doesn't go quite as planned and there are just as many bad times as good times. Luckily she has a fantastic imagination and loves to read. Her home life is also complex due to the poor relationship with her much older sister. When some cool sixth graders take her under their wing, she finds her confidence. Features stellar graphic novel illustrations by LeUyen Pham, which are both bright ans adorable. 

This book is absolutely heartbreaking. I see this type of cliquey and exclusionary behavior in the students all the time. There is often this attitude that its normal as children learn interpersonal dynamics, but I think people skills need to be taught.  As the librarian I am not around the entire class for the amount of time the classroom teacher is and I wish there was more I could do to build healthy people skills. This is a great read for students to see how those kids that are left out and emotionally bullied feel. This book could be very beneficial to many young readers and they will relate to many of the situations. As a librarian I love to add non-fiction graphic novels.

EL, MS –ESSENTIAL Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.

Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull - ESSENTIAL

Mull, Brandon Dragonwatch, 364 pages.  Shadow Mountain, 2017.  

Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (some danger).

It has only been a few months since Kendra and Seth defeated the demons and re-imprisoned them in a new realm – just long enough for them to feel a little bit bored.  There’s never any real rest to the heroic and talented, however.  Soon the siblings are called on for a mission more dangerous that anything they have ever done – they will together become the new caretakers of Wyrmroost, the sanctuary that holds Celebrant, the King of the Dragons.  Since they tasted freedom in the demon war, the dragons have been agitating to be released from their “prisons” and allowed to roam free over the human world.  Only by using all of the wiles, their courage, and their courage will Kendra and Seth succeed in even a small way.

Mull’s Fablehaven fans will gobble up the first book in his latest series.  As annoying as I find Seth most of the time, he doesn’t lack in the "right idea at the exact right time" skill.  Kendra stretches her own muscles here and together the pair continue to make formidable foes for magical creatures who get out of hand.

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

My Lady Jane by Hand, Ashton, Meadows - ADVISABLE

Hand, Cyntha; Ashton, Brodi; Meadows, Jodi My Lady Jane, 491 pgs. HarperTeen, 2016.  $17.99.  Language PG; Mature Content PG; Violence PG. 

At sixteen, young King Edward is dying of ‘the Affliction’ and must find someone to inherit to inherit his crown.  His cousin Jane seems like a wise choice and her mother is only too happy to marry her off since Jane’s idea of a good time is reading anything in print, or quill, which is a big turn-off in this not-so-merry-old England.  Unbeknownst to Jane, her court selected betrothed has the unfortunate condition of turning into a horse when the sun is up.  There is plenty of intrigue in the kingdom and Lady Jane’s history would imply that perhaps, the throne may not be the safest place for her.

If you love English Tudor History, you may or may not love this book.  The authors take the story of Lady Jane Grey and turn it on its ear, creating an alternate history that includes a goodly portion of the populace who can turn into animals.  Think Animorphs in corsets . There is plenty of action and the dialogue is incredibly witty.  The characters are delightful and the turning into animals thing really works.   The PG rating comes from the referrals to a “very special hug” that happens after marriage and consummation.  Plus, clothes don’t morph, so there is that awkward nakedness before and after a change.   I wanted to give this book an essential because it is so fun, but at almost 500 pages, this book was 100 pages too long and the plot was beginning to drag.

MS/HS - ADVISABLE.  Michelle in the Middle

The Immortal Throne by Bree DeSpain - ADVISABLE

DeSpain, Bree The Immortal Throne (Into the Dark #3), 332 pages.  Carolrhoda LAB (Lerner), 2016.  $19.  Language: PG (4 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Biolence: PG-13 (torture, battle).

Everyone fell for Garrick’s lies and now he is the King of the Underworld and Daphne is to be his bride.  Haden is desperate to return to the Underworld to save Daphne, but the known way won’t open again for another 6 months.  Whatever it takes, however, he will do it.  Meanwhile, Daphne isn’t sitting around waiting to be rescued.  If she has to aligned herself with the biggest shade she has ever seen, then so be it.  The are both racing against the clock to avoid a fate that actually is death.

I’m so glad DeSpain was able to find another publisher and finish off her trilogy.  It is definitely a romance first that happens to be supernatural fiction, but it is cute enough to add to any romance collection.

MS, HS – ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher