Ghost in the Night (MG)

Harmony’s grandmom has died, and her dad is a musician and travels a lot, and this time Harmony is with him.  The stop in Savannah, Georgia, is one where they will be there for a while, and Harmony wants to do some of the ghost tours, as that is her jam.  While on one, she takes a picture, she is sure there is more in it than anyone gives her credit for.  When she goes to get the picture printed and blown up, she meets a girl, Myah, who becomes a friend and will help her figure out the picture and the truth behind it.  Soon, the duo becomes a trio when Robby, the son of a lady that Savannah and her dad are renting a guest house from.  Harmony learns there has been a murder recently, and the deceased's son is still missing. Could this be related?

I really liked this book, it had lots of action, suspense thick as pea soup, and a good plot.  Yes, the mystery can be figured out really easily, but it is the path that makes this a good book.  The ghost stories, the friends, the historic tidbits, the grief journey, and the dogged determination not to be dismissed because of their age, that is what made this a great book for me.

 

Luca the Dragon Vet 1 (MG)

Luca dreams of one thing: becoming a dragon vet to honor her father, who was a dragon vet for the army.  She knows the rumors about her father and knows he would never do what some people think he did.  She is on her way to the school to take her final test before she can be admitted to the school and begin formal training.  Only the dragon flying her and some others take ill and has to land, it becomes a decision to help this dragon and miss the test and have to try again next year, or leave the dragon to die and take the test.  Luca stays, and even though some of the other girls at first leave, they come back to help as well.  What happens next?

This is a great manga for all middle graders.  It is exciting, suspenseful, and best of all, it has dragons.  I’ll admit this is something really new and refreshing in the area of dragons. I had never thought about them getting sick and needing a vet before, so this is a really cool take on all the dragon tales.  I really liked this book and am looking forward to Vol 2 in October.

 

Fatal Glitch: Camp Zero (MG)

 

Eleven-year-old Sofia is a gamer, and after a mishap with her sister, she is sent to a camp (so she can find perspective) far away from her games.  However, she finds out soon enough that camp is a huge game to be played, and she is out to win at all costs.  She will do anything to win and get her prize, and she doesn’t think that will be hard since she feels the other campers are not up to her level.  Will she win, or is there someone more ruthless than her?

Perfect for any gamer, even reluctant readers will appreciate the fast-moving plot and wonderful characters.  I really liked this book, and I can’t wait for more.  I hope other readers will feel the same, and we will get many more books out of this series.  Could this be the Goosebumps book of the 2020s?  Only time will tell, but until then, enjoy your week at camp.

The UFO Bombshell Before Roswell: Missouri's 1941 Crash and Cover-Up

 

There is a lot out there about aliens and the Roswell crash, but what about the crash and subsequent cover-up six years earlier in Cape Girardeau, Missouri?  This book explores that event and how many people knew about what was found there, how it was covered up, and whether they used some of that technology in building the A Bombs used in Japan.  The author explores all aspects of the cover-up and has done a lot of research on this event.  He even has some witness accounts and has found documents to back up his theories. 

While I am not so sure about the truth of aliens coming to Earth, I found this book interesting, as that time period interests me, and I used to live not too far from Cape Girardeau.  This is not the author's first book on the subject, and while I am not so sure I will go back and read the others, I did find this one entertaining.

Sleepless (MG)

How many times have you thought If only I had a few more hours in a day, I could finally get everything done?  What if you no longer needed to sleep?  This is what Levi, Mickey, Skye, Thea, and Cyrus ask.  The four each think they are the only ones who no longer sleep, until they find each other.   While they all agree no one else can know about this, they also use the time to become better than everyone else at things.   Levi, a big social media guy, starts making posts from different accounts around the world.  Cyrus the creator uses his time to invent new things, Skye, the great student, uses her time to become even smarter, and Thea practices songs from the upcoming play she is in.  Mickey is tired of being bullied, so he starts running and lifting weights.  It is a chance encounter on one of Mickey's runs when his running partner and best friend, his dog Baldy, gets loose, and Mickey follows to get him back, and that is when they start coming together and find they are not alone.  But the real mystery they need to solve is what caused their sleep to stop.

I'm not sure where the author keeps getting his ideas, but I hope it doesn’t stop anytime soon. This is another wonderful book that makes you stop and think, "What would I do?"  Would I even like it?  I really liked this book, told from the different viewpoints of the kids and what they are really thinking about it all, especially after it has been going on for a while, as they start to see the moral dilemma and decide how to deal with it.  This is a great book for middle-grade, reluctant readers, and would make an awesome classroom read. Maybe even read it when you can get to sleep.

 

How to Train Your Evil Robot (MG)

This is such a cute book about a girl, her dog, and a 3-inch-tall robot who thinks it can take over the world.  The girl patiently shows the robot why humans still need to exist, and they need to live together.  I like some of the facts she points out to the robot that explain the toll it takes on the environment, and how the robot had to learn from humans before it could do things on its own.  The book is in graphic novel format, so reluctant readers will enjoy this as well.  This book helps kids understand the new and rapidly evolving world of AI that they now live in.  I really liked this book a lot and hope it turns into a go-to book as an introduction to AI.

 

Stella (Best Friends Dog Tales) (MG)

Stella is a working dog.  She has been trained to sniff out explosives with her beagle nose.  But she missed a smell one day, and there was a huge explosion that killed her handler, Connie, and left Stella with some PTSD/anxiety, and she was retired.  But finding a new home has been challenging.  Minutes after her third return to the shelter, they decided she wouldn’t ever find a home and decided to put her down.  Lucky for Stella, a lady shows up and knew Connie and takes Stella back to her farm to be retrained to do something else.  But once the lady's daughter, Chloe, sees Stella, she knows that Stella is the dog for her.  What they didn’t know, and Stella had to work hard to prove, was what her new job should be.

This is a heartwarming book about second chances.  The people need to give Stella a second chance, and Stella needs to come to terms with what happened and give herself a second chance.  The book is told from the perspective of Stella and how she desperately wants to be a good dog. Hearing things from Stella’s perspective is so awesome, like the time she first sniffs Chloe.  I really liked this book, and it would be good for anyone who loves to learn about working dogs, and just a really good story.  The book has some action and suspense and will be good for any middle-grade reader, even reluctant ones.  PS: Stella does not die in this book.