mglit | Page 2 of 10

Rebels, Robbers, and Radicals makes the Bill of Rights interesting, for real

I just had an Arsenio Hall moment. During his talk show, he had a catch phrase where he’d say “Things that make you go hmmmm.” As best I can remember, Hall would pause his monologue or joke and say his phrase. He wouldn’t directly state the implication that he was going for, because that’s to be determined by the audience. In my “hmmm” moment, I was reading about the Dred Scott decision. It’s just one of the multiple dozens of court decisions that are discussed in a common-sense manner in Rebels, Robbers, and Radicals: The Story of the Bill of Rights.

Rebels, Robbers, and Radicals looks at one of the simplest, yet confusing documents in United States history and makes in interesting for ages ten and up.

The nat geo effect, but with government for middle school

Exploring Grief and Growth in Loon Cove Summer

Donna Galanti’s books have inadvertently been on vacation with us twice now. The first was an emerging reading chapter book about unicorns. As a point of reference, I read Unicorn Island and found it to be mixed in with enough action and mystery to latch in kids, but mainly girls, aged eight and up. Loon Cove Summer snuck in our beach bag this year and mainly hammers that audience, but with one big difference.

Resistance is futile

Vanya and the Wild Hunt plays it safe for the mglit crowd

Vanya and the Wild Hunt is a tale of two books and follows a trail of breadcrumbs that mglit audiences except and appreciate. A young girl has mysterious parents. Something happens to her, or her parents, which reveals her proclivity towards magic and a quest ensues. There are elements of these patterns or tropes that have existed in literature for the past 100 years. Vanya and the Wild Hunt know their audience. The core audience for this book is fifth-grade through eighth-grade girls. There will always be outliers, but if 100 copies of this book were in various people’s hands, the vast majority would fit in that demographic.

Vanya and the Wild Hunt is mglit that uses the same playbook with minimal changes, but will preach to girls aged 8-12.

Deja vu

Discovering Fun in The Secrets of Lovelace Academy

If the end result of a bait and switch is fun or beneficial, does it really matter? That depends on how strict you want to stick to your initial interpretation of the subject matter. Did you mis-judge it based on its cover or did it change its trajectory during the course of the story? I don’t even remember what I thought The Secrets of Lovelace Academy would be about. However, by the third chapter I didn’t care, and was fully engrossed in the story of a teenage orphan girl who was living in group home. If you’re like me; you need to read mglit about an orphanage at the turn of a century, as much as you need to spill coffee on the essays that you need to grade. That’s not bloody likely, is it?

Why books are read

Rebellion 1776: A Captivating Read for Reluctant Students

Don Quixote charges at the windmill, raging at the fact that people don’t read enough. “This is actually good”, said a ninth-grade student of mine today as they were thinking about the two-page article they’d read. Granted, I had just spoken to them about their less-than-stellar grades and they were probably trying to placate me, but I’ll take it as a win. This all leads to Rebellion 1776. This is historical fiction that cooks at a slow boil, but is bubbling over the sides of the pot before you realize it.

Rebellion 1776 is historical fiction aimed at mglit readers that sneaks its way into the nightstand if you’re a fan of the genre or not.

Historical fiction to make non-fans interested

Bad Badger: A Unique Friendship Story for Young Readers

It’s easy to misinterpret a book; these are interesting times aren’t they? Bad Badger: A Love Story is the sort of emerging reader chapter book that has the potential to be loved, but can also struggle to find its people. At its core, Bad Badger is a sweet story about friendship, but tells the story through a very smart lens with a bigger vocabulary and a more mature, nuanced setting that will reward those who have the patience for it.

Bad Badger: A Love Story is actually one of deep friendship, replete with old-school charm, loving details and chapters for ages 8 and up.

Don’t look for hidden inferences, this is straight up charming

My Mummy Vs. Your Ghost continues the promise of the Versus Series

Why do middle school students read? A more accurate question to posit would be why don’t middle school students read more? I praise those in sixth-through-eighth grade who willingly read as it’s more commonly done under duress. It’s the kind of torture or discomfort that’s normally reserved for vampires who are shown sunlight as they climb the ceiling like a spider trying to escape its deathly rays. They just want that dark corner of the room, with the squinty whites of their eyes attempting to burn a hole through your conversation-starting soul; before they can revert to their dark, sullen place, much like an early teen. My Mummy Vs. Your Ghost is also known as Versus Series book 2 and manages to pull a Superman 2, Lethal Weapon 2 or The Empire Strikes Back.

My Mummy Vs. Your Ghost is the second book in The Versus Series by Paul Tobin and cements this series at one of the tops in MGLIT.

This book is awesome. This book series is spectacular

The Other Side of Tomorrow: A Graphic Novel Review

Are hyper-realistic graphic novels a genre? I don’t think they are, but The Other Side of Tomorrow is a graphic novel that wields a mighty hammer in knocking at the doors of book classification. It’s realistic fiction, but is so realistic, both in the manner in which the illustrations are done, and the taut nature of the story that you’ll pinch yourself in gratitude that it’s not happening to you. This is a graphic novel that entertains via drama, age-appropriate political intrigue, familial love and armchair travel. Moreover, The Other Side of Tomorrow manages to tell its story alongside one of the greatest geographic areas and humanitarian crises that middle school kids never learn about, North Korea.

The Other Side of Tomorrow is a realistic fiction graphic novel whose potentially heavy topic is buoyed by the art, presentation and pacing of the story.

A graphic novel as art, entertainment and discussion