Review: Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers

Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers by Chris Grabenstein Harper, 2012,  Ages 8 to 12

12-year old Riley Mack is the leader of a band of unsung local kid heroes who look for trouble, but instead of making it, they try to solve and correct it. His mom works at the bank for Chuck “Call me Chip” Weitzel who along with the Chief of Police are the real criminals, which put Riley and his merry band to work solving crime big and small. Since the Chief of Police thinks Riley is nothing but a troublemaker, Riley must come up with clever solutions to problems like who is stealing things from kids at school and how to prove the Chief’s mother is in on the job. Told with great humor and characters you want to get to know better, Riley Mack puts cool into doing good and standing up for the little guy.

Book Review : THE ISLAND HORSE, a children’s novel

The Island Horse by Susan Hughes

Kids Can Press, 2012, Ages 7 +

Ellie and her dad live on the coast of Nova Scotia during a time long ago. She is content with her best friend Lizzie and her dreams, stories, and drawings of wild horses. So, when the only job her father can find is to patrol and rescue on the remote Sable Island, Ellie is devastated. The only saving grace is that there are real wild horses on the island. The descriptions of Ellie connecting to one of the wild horses are the stuff dreams are made of. When she discovers the horses may be in danger of being captured, she and her new friend find a way to save some of them, including Elli’s special horse. An endearing, engaging novel for young readers who have moved past easy readers but are not yet ready for longer fiction.

Nerd Camp

Nerd Camp by Elissa Brent Weissman

Gabe is ten years old, but that is the least of his problems. He is gifted,  a math whiz, a voracious reader, a geek, a nerd. In other words, all the things of which other kids make fun. He can handle that alright, as long as his soon-to-be stepbrother Zack likes him. When he finally meets Zack, he sees the complete opposite of himself, a very cool guy. The only thing Gabe has that is cooler than anything Zack has are plans to go to sleep-away camp.

Of course, he doesn’t tell Zack that it is the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment camp where kids are basically in school again,  or in other words, Nerd Camp. Gabe is thrilled to get to camp and find roommates that are interested in the same things he is, and that don’t think he is weird at all. But is he “a nerd who only has nerdy adventures?” He approaches the problem like a logic proof, with two columns, one for things he can’t tell Zack (nerd things) and one for things he can tell Zack (not nerd things).

While every reader, nerd or not, has experienced embarrassment and self-doubt, this book is a great choice for all readers 8 to 10. The author approaches the whole with good humor and fun. By the end, kids will wish they could go to Nerd Camp, and hopefully, see that gifted kids are just like everyone else. A great summer reading choice!

Only One Year

Only One Year by Andrea Cheng, illustrated by Nicole Wong
Lee & Low, Fiction for Ages 7 to 10
Mama is starting a job at the junior high, and says that to a babysitter, 2 year-old DiDi is just a job, but to
grandparents in China, he is a well-loved member of the family. And so, Sharon says goodbye to her baby brother
just before she starts 4th grade and struggles with the differing cultures of her family and her friends. Having DiDi
back turns out to be more of a struggle than Sharon realized, but together they become a family again.

Andrea Cheng manages to tell a big, heartwarming story in a short space for young readers. Children will
recognize some of their own family struggles while learning about some in another culture. Well done!

The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

The Magician’s Elephant by Kate Di Camillo, illustrated by Yoko Tanaka, Candlewick Press, 2009

Well, she’s done it again! The Magician’s Elephant is another masterpiece by the talented Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, Mercy Watson books).

“At the end of the century before last,” a boy named Peter is sent to the market by his guardian, an old, somewhat senile soldier, to buy food. The lure of the new fortuneteller tent is too much as he has had a question on his mind for a long time. When she tells him to find what he is looking for by following the elephant, it seems preposterous. And yet, not impossible at the same time. 

Full of delightful surprise and suspense, characters from another time and place that are so real and familiar, and writing that never talks down but instead reaches up to children. From Chapter One:    

That day in the market square, in the midst of the entirely unremarkable and absolutely ordinary stalls of the fishmongers and cloth merchants and bakers and silversmiths, there had appeared, without warning or fanfare, the red tent of a fortuneteller. Attached to the fortuneteller’s tent was a piece of paper, and penned upon the paper in a cramped and unapologetic hand were these words: The most profound and difficult questions that could possibly be posed by the human mind or heart will be answered within for the price of one florit.again. The audacity of the words, their dizzying promise, made it difficult, suddenly, for him to breathe. He looked down at the coin, the single florit, in his hand….

 

Peter read the small sign once, and then

 

Will he or won’t he? What is possible and what is believable? The well-developed cast of main characters have essentially one thing in common, they long for a better, but improbable life–an elephant, a magician, an orphan, a crippled cathedral sculptor, a policeman with a tender heart, the nun/gatekeeper of the orphanage door, Peter, and more. Their stories intertwine in fascinating ways, and they all come to believe in the possibilities of  life. Kate DiCamillo says that the story is about hope, redemption, faith, love, and it made her believe in happy endings.

The Magician’s Elephant is a treasure that will be enjoyed for generations to come.