By Piranha T.

Francie knows there are other worlds besides the one she’s grown up in. Like the big city over the river, where children don’t have to scavenge the streets to find trash to sell to the local junkman, and people have enough to eat. But what would it even be like to live there? All she’s ever known is life on the streets, where her hardworking mother can barely make enough to support her family: Francie, her mother, her younger brother Neely, and their occasionally working father, widely acknowledged as an alcoholic. The world beyond the ragged streets of Brooklyn is unreachable to Francie and the others who live in New York’s slums.

Francie dreams of visiting the city, although she knows it is impossible. There is little hope of leaving Brooklyn, even as her family gathers pennies in a milk can, imagining gathering a whole fifty dollars to buy their own land. She has a hard life, but she accepts it. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the story of how she grows up, overcoming hardships, finding work, learning the ways of that world and the one outside Brooklyn, too.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a partially autobiographical account of the author’s life in Brooklyn, New York just after the turn of the twentieth century. It is an amazing, compelling, and beautiful story. I don’t often prefer historical fiction, but this book was unusual; instead of focusing on the times themselves, it highlighted what happened in them. Although outside events were mentioned, this is a personal story, one of the rare books which makes you feel like the character and live her world as she would have a hundred years ago. Francie is a strong and sympathetic protagonist. This book makes you not just love it, but feel it, too. It is one of those classics which has stood the test of time, remaining accessible and real to the modern reader. I would highly recommend A Tree Grows in Brooklyn to readers ages eleven and up.

By Super Kitty
 
Just before Ari and her older brother Gage’s mother died, she made them promise to stick together, no matter what. So four years later, when Gage announces that he’s gotten an apartment and will no longer live with Janna, their prickly guardian, eleven-year-old Ari follows.

It’s only when they’ve packed their things and left Janna’s house that Ari learns the truth: Gage hasn’t found an apartment yet. He doesn’t have a job, either. Until he can find steady work and a place to live, they’ll have to sleep at friend’s houses, and occasionally the homeless shelter. Gage promises that it’s temporary, but as the weeks go by, Ari begins to feel as if her entire world is crumbling. It’s all but impossible to manage schoolwork, friendships, and activities when you don’t even know where you’re staying on any given night.

Whenever it all feels like too much, Ari plays with her Paper Things—pictures of people, furniture, and houses cut out of magazines and catalogs that form a land of paper dolls. When she’s surrounded by Paper Things, all the problems of the real world fall away and she’s part of a happy family, with parents and a house and even some dogs. In those precious moments, Ari pretends that she’s just a normal girl. And hopes with all her heart that someday, she will be.
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I listened to this book with my family, and we all enjoyed it. The characters are believable, trying to do the right thing, but also flawed and vulnerable. It’s one of those books which reminds you not to make assumptions, because everyone is facing problems that you don’t even know about. Although older readers might consider the ending a little too perfect, it’s a great book for kids and parents to read and discuss together—although it deals directly with homelessness, giving a glimpse into the lives of many children and teens today, it stays solidly middle-grade and never gets dark or inappropriate. It’s also an excellent choice for book groups. Poignant and thought-provoking, I would recommend Paper Things for readers ages nine and up. ​

By Piranha T.

Fourteen-year-old Genna has never before broken one of the most fundamental laws of her people: never to leave her house at night, and never to go into the forest after dusk. The forest, which borders her small village, is inhabited by nightlings, mysterious creatures with legendary powers. The two realms are kept at peace only by an ancient treaty, giving humans reign over day, and nightlings rule by night.

But then Genna and her brother Dan break the pact and journey into the forest at night, thinking that only there lies the hope of saving their mother from the brink of death. Instead, they uncover something more dire than they could have imagined. A nightling slave tells them of a dangerous agreement the village’s leader has made with the nightling leader, Letrin—a scheme which, if fulfilled, could cost much more than Genna’s mother’s life.

When Genna is brought before Letrin herself, she strikes a deal with him whose terms even she doesn’t fully understand. She must set off with her brother along dark Moonroads to bring back what Letrin has requested, and uncover the truth about the nightlings, truths which will overturn the parts of her world she has always taken for granted.

The Ruby Key was an interesting, well-written fantasy with a lush and well-developed world of danger, mystery, and power. It took me a little longer than normal to get into this book, mostly because of the layers of the world I was trying to understand, but once I did, I was hooked. Genna is an excellent, relatable character with strong motivations and a likable personality. And the world is like a character in and of itself, with multilayered history and magical creatures of dangerous power, the kind of world fans of Blackbringer will love.

This book is on the older end of the middle-grade age range, so I would recommend it to readers ages eleven and up; parts of it might honestly be scary for younger readers. However, for fantasy fans of that age who like strong plots and complex worlds, I would highly recommend The Ruby Key.

 By Super Kitty
 
Pacy Lin is excited about the upcoming Year of the Dog—according to her parents, it’s a year to “find yourself” and make friends. As one of the only Taiwanese-American kids in her school, Pacy sometimes feels like she doesn’t fit in, and the Year of the Dog seems like a good time to figure out who she really is.

Sure enough, she becomes fast friends with Melody Ling, a new girl in school who has so much in common with Pacy that they’re practically twins! Pacy is hoping that the Year of the Dog is a sign that she’s going to discover a new talent and decide what she wants to be when she grows up, and as the year goes by she and Melody compete in a science fair, perform in the school play, enter a Halloween costume contest, and more. But as the end of the year gets closer and closer, Pacy begins to wonder: will she find something that she’s good at before the Year of the Dog is over? Or will she be stuck without a special talent forever? 

I read The Year of the Dog before Piranha T. and I started Rapunzel Reads, and we’ve been meaning to review it ever since! I loved it as second grader, and it was just as good when I re-read it recently—it’s one of those books that is impossible to grow out of, and while aimed for younger kids, older readers shouldn’t take that as a reason not to read it. There are some books which really capture what being a kid is like, and this is one of them. In an author’s note, Grace Lin, who based the story on her own childhood, says that when she was young her favorite books were about normal kids: “When I read those books, it was as if I was wrapped in a warm hug. I saw all the things that I loved and lived—my neighborhood, my friends, and my school. The only thing I didn’t see was me….I wrote [The Year of the Dog] because it was the book I wished I had had when I was growing up, a book that had someone like me in it.” Fun, believable, and engaging, I would highly recommend this book for ages eight and up. And if you enjoy it, I also loved both sequels: The Year of the Rat and Dumpling Days.
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By Piranha T.

Collun likes gardening much more than fighting, and is quite content to stay in his village for his whole life. But it seems the world has other ideas for him. When his sister, Nessa, disappears, he has no choice than to set off, away from the life he’s always led.

But as he travels, he learns more is amiss in Eirren than simply his sister’s disappearance. Legendary monsters are returning all over the land, and a great lord has disappeared. However, Collun is not alone. Along the way, he is joined by a mysterious wizard, a fierce young archer, and an ambitious bard. But will he be able to surmount the final danger and save his sister?
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Hero’s Song is a fantasy quest for lovers of mythology. Edith Pattou draws from Irish myths and legends to create a medieval landscape of monsters, danger, and magic. This is a book for lovers of Over Sea, Under Stone, and The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander. I would recommend Hero’s Song to readers ages eleven and up.

By Piranha T.

Once, the river was lively. It flowed beside the houses raised on stilts in a cascade of flashing water. A young water sprite known as Perdita splashed in the waves, waiting for the elders to finish building a portal to another world, where humans had not yet disrupted the delicate peace of the river.

But things are different now. Many years ago, the river was dammed with fallen trees and mud, and no one since has been able to get it to flow. Now, the houses have been raised much higher, to avoid the rising water. A marsh has formed where the river used to be. And anyone who swallows the marsh water gets a wasting sickness no one has a cure for.

Luna has grown up in the houses raised above the marsh, paddling through the still water with her little sister, Willow, on the prow of her ship. She doesn’t believe that the wasting sickness comes from a curse, or that magic exists at all.

But then Willow gets the wasting sickness. No one believes anything can be done to save her. But Luna is ready to do anything to make her better—even believe in magic.

A Nearer Moon was a beautifully written fantasy which read almost like a fairytale. The world of the river—in the times of both Luna and Perdita—felt real and unique. Melanie Crowder wove together the two stories of Luna and Perdita in an exciting, beautiful narrative. I would highly recommend A Nearer Moon to readers ages eight and up.

By Super Kitty

Ten years ago, three young children were taken from their home, escaping an ancient being of darkness who wished to destroy them. Separated from their parents, the siblings are sent from one orphanage to the next: fourteen-year-old Kate, who promised her mother to take care of her younger brother and sister just before they were taken away; Michael, a twelve-year-old bookworm with a deep fondness for dwarves; and Emma, the fiery, fearless, and often irritable youngest, willing to fight just about anyone and who thinks dwarves are completely ridiculous. Remembering their mother’s promise that one day their family will be reunited again, they have refused to be adopted, getting transferred to increasingly horrible orphanages as year after year goes by.

Just when they think things can’t get any worse, they are moved once more—this time to an ancient, crumbling house in a half-forgotten town that no one seems to know anything about. While searching for the truth about the strange village, the siblings stumble across a hidden book, and are pulled into a conflict that has raged for eons. The book holds a power that some fear and some desire, and to unlock its secrets and set right the wrongs that have been done in its name, Kate, Michael, and Emma begin a journey that will take them through time itself. Along the way, they will meet monsters and sorcerers, allies and enemies—and, perhaps, find out the truth of who they really are.

Kate, Michael, and Emma are great main characters—they might have extraordinary destinies and be the key to ridding the world of evil, but they’re also believable children who argue and make mistakes, much like the protagonists of Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Mysterious Benedict Society. In fact, the entire cast is well done, especially the (very intriguing) villains, who we can’t wait to see more of in the rest of the trilogy. There are lots of books which include time travel, but the way John Stephens uses it doesn’t feel cliché—the various twists and side effects of altering the past are both creative a​nd amusing. Clever, fast-paced, and fun, I would highly recommend The Emerald Atlas to readers ages nine and up.

By Piranha T.

In beautiful poetry, Newbery honor winner Jacqueline Woodson narrates the story of her childhood as an African-American girl in the south. In the sixties and seventies, when the Jim Crowe laws were still in effect in many places in the south, the author was told not to simply accept that way of living. Instead, during her journey from Ohio to South Carolina to New York City, she’s taught to stand by her beliefs and learn who she is.
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In Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson combines lyrical poetry with an incredible autobiography. Each poem is like a tiny work of art, a glimpse into her life, scraps of stories which sweep together into a moving, mesmerizing narrative. It tells not just the story of a girl discovering who she is but also what it was like as a Jehovah’s Witness, as someone who never felt quite at home, as a young writer discovering the power of words. It doesn’t have to be action-packed, like many books are today, to be impossible to put down. Jacqueline Woodson’s poetry—and the story she tells in it—is truly incredible. Even though this book is an autobiography, it reads like a story, which is why I placed it under the fiction tab. I would highly recommend Brown Girl Dreaming to readers ages ten and up.

By Super Kitty

Nine-year-old Cassie Logan knows the world isn’t fair. Like how she and her brothers have to walk miles to their school every day, rain or shine, while the children of white plantation owners get to ride the bus. Or how storeowners serve every white customer in the store before asking her what she wants to buy. No one seems to see her past the color of her skin. It’s not right, but in 1933, Mississippi doesn’t show any signs of changing.

Her family has something, though, which keeps them from losing hope. The land. For generations it’s given the Logans a source of income and pride that keeps them from being forced into sharecropping. But it can’t protect them from everything, and it draws the attention of people, powerful people, who would do anything to get their way.

The world isn’t fair, and everyone knows it. To accept the way things are is to be considered inferior, to be mistreated and abused. But change comes at a price, and to rebel is to put at risk everything close to your heart.
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry won the Newbery Medal, and it’s one of those books which completely deserves it. The author creates a setting and cast which truly seem real, and doesn’t shy away from the deplorable things which happened during that period in history. Cassie’s narration is strong and believable, and her family and friends are all stunningly human. The effects of racism and intolerance are far-reaching, and the story makes clear just how horrific they can be. I would highly recommend this powerful, unflinchingly honest book to readers ages 11 and up.

By Piranha T.

Little Rock, Arkansas has been known throughout the country as a hotbed of the segregation and integration movements. In 1957, several African-American students, known as the Little Rock Nine, went to one of the high schools. A year later, high schools are closed all over Little Rock to ensure that they won’t be integrated.

Twelve-year-old Marlee Nisbett isn’t caught up in that piece of the drama, but her older sister Judy is. She’s sent away to their grandparent’s house, and Marlee, who has always been shy and reserved, feels as though her world has been torn apart. Only because of Judy has Marlee even remotely participated in school. Marlee, however, always feels like she’ll say the wrong thing, and usually doesn’t speak in class unless she has to.

But despite believing going to middle school will just make everything worse, Marlee meets Liz, a new girl. Though they have almost nothing in common, they become fast friends. Liz helps Marlee grow more confident with talking to other people as they work together on a project for school. It’s not long, though, before Liz has to leave—and it doesn’t take Marlee long to learn why. Liz is really African-American, trying to get a better education at a better school. Marlee, though, isn’t willing to give up on a friend who has helped her so much, and is determined that their friendship won’t end here. But in 1958 Little Rock, that’s not as easy as it sounds. If anyone learns what they’re doing, both their lives could be in danger—and the world which Marlee’s always known may be about to fall apart.
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When I started The Lions of Little Rock, I didn’t think it would become one of my favorite books, since historical fiction isn’t usually my favorite genre. But Marlee was an interesting, sympathetic heroine who I could understand every step of the way. Although the schools closing in 1958 and the issue of integration were major points in the plot, what drove the force of the story were the characters and their choices. It didn’t feel like a lesson from a history book, but I learned a lot. It was an excellent book, well-written, weaving in bits of history naturally and easily. I would highly recommend The Lions of Little Rock to readers ages ten and up.  

By Super Kitty
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When ten-year-old Fidge loses her temper, she expects some things to happen. Little things, like getting a scolding, and maybe being tortured by her maddening cousin Graham. Definitely not getting trapped in an alternate world, where she’s been mentioned in a strange prophecy and has to overthrow a villainous ruler in order to get home. But there’s more to the strange, colorful, cheerful world that Fidge is stuck in than she first thought: things seem oddly…familiar. And that connection might be the single thing which can save the peculiar world, and get her and Graham home…
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I liked Wed Wabbit for several reasons. It’s entertaining, exciting, and highly amusing, plus it has great characters and a very amusing and original setting—read it and you’ll see what I mean! I would recommend it to readers ages eight and up who like funny stories, clever puzzles, or have been forced to read an annoying picture book again (and again and again.)  

By Super Kitty
Aramanth is a perfect city. There is no crime, no favoritism of certain races or people. Each citizen is tested in mathematics, history, and the like in a fair and unbiased way, and it is by their test ratings that they are categorized—determining where they live, what their jobs are, and the class in which they are ranked—and nothing else matters. If someone works hard, they can rise in position; if they are lazy, they are demoted. Everyone has a job, and all jobs are considered equally important. Aramanth is, in all, perfection.

At least, that’s what its leaders say.

Twins Kestrel and Bowman Hath have lived in Aramanth their entire lives and have heard of its superiority more times than they can count. But it’s not a fair system, not a true story, and certainly not a perfect place—as Kestrel learns all to well when she revolts against the harsh laws governing her family’s lives, finding out just how flawed their world is. Without any other choices, and determined to make a difference, she, Bowman, and an unexpected (and somewhat unwelcome) ally flee the city and set off on a desperate quest to find the voice of the wind singer, a legendary object that may be the only thing capable of returning light and happiness to Aramanth. But as they journey deeper, they realize that they have taken on far more than they realized, becoming involved in an ancient conflict and drawing the attention of the Morah, an ancient keeper of powers that control Aramanth—powers that could just as easily destroy it.  

​This was one of those wonderful books which I saw at the library, flipped open, and couldn’t stop reading. Clever and entertaining, it also managed to be a thought-provoking read. Exciting, engrossing, and liberally sprinkled with clever twists, The Wind Singer is an excellent book that I would recommend to readers ages ten and up.  

By Piranha T.

Ten-year-old Robert Linnet is the first to remark, “Why don’t we run away?” An after all, why not? The four Linnet children are stuck with their grandmother, who thinks children should be seen and not heard, while their father is away in Egypt. So, Nan, Robert, Timothy and Betsy escape. Soon they find their Uncle Ambrose, who they grow to love, and his gardener, Ezra. And there they stay.

However, the real fun begins when they meet Lady Alicia—a kind old lady whose son and husband disappeared long ago. The Linnets decide to find the missing Valerians, but will they find them? Of will the possible witch Emma Cobley and her unusual black cat thwart their plots before they can even really begin their search?

I liked Linnets and Valerians because even though it was also a fun story about children running away, there was also excitement and magic, even though you may not get that idea from the cover. However, it was also an adventure with plenty of excitement and fun. I would highly recommend ­Linnets and Valerians to readers ages nine and up.
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Note to older readers: just because I say ages nine and up does not mean older readers should snub it—I enjoyed it quite a lot and think older readers will as well.

By Contributing Writer, A.R., Massachusetts

ages 9-15
realistic fiction

This book is about a boy named August who is going into middle school. When August was born his face came out very different than most other people, so naturally he is nervous of being made fun of in middle school. August has been home schooled up until this point, so he barely knows anyone in his class. The book shows persistence and good friendships, and is an amazing and unique story.

I loved how realistic the author was about middle school students in the book. I also loved how the author switches point of view a lot to help you understand all sides of the story.

Note from Super Kitty & Piranha T: We also loved this book - it is one of our favorites and, if you haven't read it already, we highly recommend reading it with friends - it makes for excellent discussion!

By Super Kitty

One midwinter’s day, Silas Heap finds a violet-eyed newborn baby in the snow. Although he already has seven sons (the youngest being only hours old), he takes her home with him. But when he arrives, the midwife has proclaimed his newborn son Septimus, the seventh son of a seventh son, dead, and has swept him away.

The Heaps bring up Jenna (as they name the baby) as their own, and though they have their suspicions about her true family, they are only confirmed on Jenna’s tenth birthday, when ExtraOrdinary Wizard Marcia Overstrand appears and tells them the truth about Jenna, the day she was born, and the evil forces that now threaten the castle and all inside. They escape to the Marram Marshes, but they can only evade the rising sinister forces for so long.
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I thoroughly enjoyed all seven books in the Septimus Heap series, having, in fact, read them all multiple times. Although they are quite lengthy (Fyre, the final book in the series, is 702 pages) they are quick-paced, engrossing, and amusing.  Another thing I liked was that despite the main characters aging from ten to fourteen during the series, they stayed true to themselves. I would not, however, recommend it to anyone below nine, as there are some nefarious characters and malicious schemes. I would highly recommend the Septimus Heap series (and companion trilogy, TodHunter Moon) to any reader who likes fantasy, adventure, and (eventual) happy endings.