KIDS IN UNUSUAL SITUATIONS

I still have a few of my summer reading books to tell you about so I will start this school year's blog with two of them. In Wendy Mass's book The Candymakers, four children visit a local candy factory as contestants in a candy making contest. Logan grew up in the candy factory because he is the candymaker's son. Miles is a shy boy whose parents hope this contest will make him forget a tragic event in his past. Daisy is fascinated by the factory, but often disappears --why? And finally, Philip comes dressed in a suit and is always scribbling in his notebook -- what's that all about? Yet somehow these four children are intertwined, become friends, and solve a mystery. There are many descriptions of delicious-sounding candies that will make your mouth water for a taste.

Gordon Korman's Ungifted is a 2015 Caudill nominee. In Korman's usual style he combines realistic situations with humorous twists. Donovan is the ungifted student who through a twist of fate escapes serious trouble at school by getting transferred to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction, a special school for gifted and talented students. Donovan knows he is in the wrong school but terrible discipline awaits him if he returns to his old school. The other students in his class soon figure out that he doesn't belong, too, but they recognize that his coming from a regular school allows them to learn about real life. Finally the teachers realize that Donovan is in the wrong school and they begin the process to send him back. Despite all this confusion, Donovan makes friends, helps the gifted students with their robotic competition, and learns that he needs to change his ways. You will smile and chuckle as you follow Donovan's adventures.

BIRDS, MAGIC, AND MYSTERY

Kathleen O'Dell's book The Aviary presents a most unusual situation. It starts as a story about an old lady dying in a rundown mansion cared for by a young girl, her mother, and a housekeeper. Mrs. Glendoveer, the old lady, was married to a magician who performed all over the world and was struck with tragedy when her six children were kidnapped. Five of the children's bodies were recovered, but the youngest boy Elliott was never found. That would be enough mystery for one book, but there's more. Clara, the young girl, is frightened by the five birds in the aviary who were supposedly part of the magician's act. One day when Clara actually speaks to the birds, they surprisingly talk to her. As Clara learns more about Mrs. Glendoveer's children from the birds and snooping around the old mansion, she realizes that she may also be learning about her missing father. This mystery with a touch of fantasy slowly reveals the unusual circumstances that occurred almost fifty years before.

While not a brand-new book, this one does appear on the Anderson's Mock Newbery list and I've been waiting to find time to read it.  It was worth the wait.

ACTION AND HIGH ADVENTURE

The first book in David Gilman's Danger Zone series is The Devil's Breath. The action starts right in Chapter 1 as Max Gordon is out on an evening run in the woods near his boarding school when someone starts shooting at him. Barely missing this assassination attempt Max returns to school only to learn that his father is missing somewhere in Africa. Trying to find his father, Max evades other death attempts, tries to survive in the desert on foot, learns of a Bushman prophecy with him as the savior, sneaks into the stronghold of the dangerous Shaka Chang,and tries to fly an airplane to safety with no flying experience except on a flight simulator on his computer. Each thrilling chapter will keep you reading to the very end.

CREEPY NEW BOOK

Three middle school friends, Zach, Poppy, and Alice, find themselves on a strange quest from a ghost who appeared to Poppy in dreams. A creepy, bone-china doll known as the Great Queen must be buried in the ghost's hometown for the ghost Eleanor to rest. As the three set off on this adventure, nothing seems to go right. Poppy believes that the doll contains Eleanor's ground-up bones. A passenger on the bus the teens take claims to see Eleanor. As the trio gets closer to their destination, Zach starts to see Eleanor in his dreams. If the teens fulfill their quest, will ghostly Eleanor let them go? Three teens who enjoyed playing make-believe games for years, now have a real-life adventure in Holly Black's new Newbery Honor book, Doll Bones.