The Collectors, a more personal side of scares, spooks for middle school

There is a lot of room in the spooky tent of middle school reading. Each corner or section will have its own specific bent with some going for the gore, others playing it for laughs, a couple emoting their way to the unknown, and some combining all of the elements. Fright Watch is a series of books by Lorien Lawrence that takes its time in weaving the scares together. The Collectors is the second book in the series and tells a ghostly tale that’s woven on top of some very human elements. It’s a case where the story of how the best friends, who most certainly don’t have a crush on one another, Quinn and Mike deal with the happenings on their street.

Middle school life, with a current of ghosts…

50 Things To Do At The Beach, is obvious and folksy

Imagine that you’re an adult who has never been to the beach. It could be for any reason, maybe you live in the middle of the country, and getting to the coast wasn’t an option. Perhaps ‘going to the beach’ is more of a creative exercise, like people might think about the woods as deeply as Henry David Thoreau. For those people, you can say one activity any number of different ways and it counts as a new experience, even though the scenery and actions in doing so are almost identical. It’s not technically a case of double-counting something, but it’s awfully close. 50 Things To Do At The Beach is a beautifully presented book that’s long on aura, education, and presentation. It’s a visually pretty book that is also more at home in a doctor’s office or library, rather than actually being used at the beach.

A folksy look at the beach for those who have never been there

The Suicide Squad is a relentlessly enjoyable, graphic ride

A caveat must be added to that title, The Suicide Squad is relentlessly enjoyable as a rated-R movie for audiences that know what to expect from such a film. That’s worth saying because I mentioned to my wife that this was a wildly enjoyable movie, but that she would have hated it. Our son started to pepper me with questions, asking if he could watch it and what aspects of the film he would like the most. Having an 11-year-old see a film that is a solid R-rated movie is a personal choice. For him, the violence in the film would’ve been far too much and he would not have understood most of the film’s context or its numerous, very funny sequences. Back in the day, the 11-year-old version of me would purchase a ticket to a generic family film and then sneak into The Suicide Squad. But this is a brave new world; what’s more likely to happen is that kids will watch it on HBO Max, brag to their friends that they saw it, but not really understand what makes The Suicide Squad such a great film.

The Suicide Squad is a brilliant mash-up of superhero tropes, graphic violence, horror and foul language for action movie fans.
Believe the hype, this is gonzo, I can’t believe that they made this-fun at the movies

Spy School At Sea effortlessly sails like few middle grade books can

Upper elementary school kids love the Spy School book series from Stuart Gibbs. One could insert ‘middle school’ instead of ‘elementary’ in that sentence. You could also just simply say that readers aged eight and up love the Spy School book series. It’s an example of an author who can create characters and a story that’s thoroughly engaging, as well as, very smart. Moreover, Gibbs is able to do so at a level that’s not going to scare away young readers due to its big vocabulary, nor adult readers due to being too juvenile. Spy School At Sea is the ninth book in this venerable series that deepens the personal relationships, without showing any age in our young protagonists.

Spy School at sea, all aboard for a fabulous read

Jungle Cruise control to a great first act and overall fun, but flawed film

There are many reasons why people could love or dislike Jungle Cruise. It stars Dwayne Johnson! It’s based on a theme park ride. It’s based on a theme park ride! Your negative reasons for liking it could easily be someone else’s reason for enjoying it. As a former WDW park employee, I can see many things to love about Jungle Cruise. The first act is jammed with subtle, meta winks to the audience as the film blurs between movie and self-realization that its premise is an audio-animatronic ride based on puns and adventure. That same period of the film is also wildly entertaining and will remind older movie fans of Raiders and Romancing the Stone.

As the film goes on, it will crib too much from those films, but more on that in a moment.

Jungle Cruise, we can’t really dislike you, but we wanted more

The Story of the Olympic Games, a go-to for a kid’s view on the games

The Story of the Olympic Games is a bold title for a book that’s geared to upper elementary through middle school readers. As of 2021, the Olympic Games have been around since 1896 and consist of 28 editions that have spanned the globe. Older readers are rightly questioning how a book could encompass such a massive event on arguably the biggest athletic stage in the world. Certainly, key moments would be missed and readers who know the Olympics might quibble about how they couldn’t include this or that. The fact that The Story of the Olympic Games is an engaging book to read is a testament to the adage, ‘brevity is the soul of wit’.

The Story of the Olympic Games is a beautiful book with tons of photos and content blurbs about each of the games in the modern era.
A great jumping off point for kids who want to see Olympic history

Athena: Goddess of Wisdom and War, nuggets of Greek graphic novel, goodness

And here I thought Athena was the only Greek Goddess. As previously mentioned I don’t know much about the Greek gods. Young readers or those who simply enjoy an entertaining graphic novel will like Tales of Great Goddesses: Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War. It’s from Imogen and Isabel Greenberg and details the Goddess of Wisdom as she helps Athens, learns to fear spiders, conceives the Trojan Horse, and more adventures.

The Who sang about her for good reason

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