Sanity and Tallulah by Molly Brooks

Molly Brooks has done it.  Pink is now the signature color for action and adventure. This brilliant comic stars eighth-graders who are smart and resourceful, devious and daring and __ girls! Sanity Jones, along with her friend Tallulah Vega live onboard space station Wilnick. Tallulah’s mother, Science and Engineering Director, discovers the girls are deep into a clandestine scientific project. Sanity has created a three-headed kitten, affectionately named Princess Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds. ​"Let me make sure I'm following your thought process here. You're feeding your carnivorous bioengineering experiment experimental bioengineered meat that you cloned yourself-" To everyone's horror, the kitten escapes and havoc reigns on Wilnick. A pet gerbil is murdered, something is chewing up major electrical system wires, and coolant leaks are wide-spread. Naturally everyone suspects the triple-headed feline.

Sneak Peek: More Sanity & Tallulah

Looking for more of the duo's adventures? ​View some sample pages. Head over to Comixology to order these webcomics.

Smoke and Mirrors by K. D. Halbrook

Weaving a tale of wonder filled with pain, regret, resolve, hope, and a generous dose of magic is difficult. K. D. Halbrook's words seem to flow effortlessly, creating an illusion that is enchanting, while simultaneously heartbreaking.   Sasha and Toddy are children of Cirque Magnifique performers. From infancy, their lives have revolved around the wonder of daring aerial acts and dazzling costumes. People come from afar to marvel at these performances. Everyone, that is, except for the residents on the other side of the island. They will have nothing to do with this strangeness Sasha is devastated when their parents decide that the siblings must attend school with the island children. She believes that she won't fit in. She doesn’t. ​The Cirque kids were color in a gray world, they were many languages and strange accents, they were children of bizarre grown-ups who didn’t have normal jobs or wear normal clothes or carry the same tired expressions in their eyes, like the other island parents did.

You remember every nice thing that's happened to you. The people who hugged you when you were sad. The ones who invited you to their birthday party and gave you nicest piece of cake. You think about the most beautiful sights on the island.

The Darkdeep by Ally Condie & Brendan Reichs

If I had a dollar for every time a student asked for a scary book, I could own a pair of Jimmy Choos. Let's face it: kids love creepy, spine tingling stories. Over time, this genre has consistently retained its appeal. R.L. Stein never goes out of style. Gaiman's Coraline, Black's Doll Bones, Baptist's The Jumbies, and Oppel's The Nest deliver contemporary horror to legions of young audiences. Now, a dynamic writing duo has tapped into middle grade fascination with horror. Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs invite kids to explore The Darkdeep. What if your worst nightmare came to life? What if the object of your childhood fears attacked you? What if a group of friends discovered that the terrifying figments of their collective imaginations took form? Twelve -year-old explorers Nico, Taylor, Emma, and Opal discover a mysterious island hidden beneath massive cliffs. A strange-looking houseboat is moored on the island’s pond. Filled with a collection of the bizarre, this floating oddity feels like a “psychopath’s attic.” But even more intriguing is a swirling pool of black liquid at the bottom of the houseboat.

Bonus

Coming to a city near you.... The Darkdeep launches a ten city tour, beginning October 1, 2018.

One lucky person's  will appear in next The Darkdeep book. Check out this offer to have a character named after you in the sequel.

24 Hours in Nowhere by Dusti Bowling

WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN WHY

Gus, a "thirteen-year-old boy in the body of an eight-year old," abandoned by his father and now living in a trailer with his grandmother who spends her days glued to the television. The ultimate underdog. Gus and his companions Rossi, Jessie, and Matthew must get enough gold from a deserted mine to buy back Rossi's stolen motorcycle. Dead Frenchman Mine "everyone who had entered the mine in the last seventy years had died an agonizing, suffocating, bone-crushing death. 24 hours.  That's all time they have to enter the mine, find the gold, and get the motorcycle in time for Rossi to enter the dirt bike competition.  "Justice. I had to fight for justice."

Bonus

​Rossi is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, a "federally-recognized tribe that includes approximately 28,000 members" occupying tribal lands in the Sonoran Desert located in Southwestern Arizona. Learn more about this tribe, its history, government and culture.

We Rise. We Resist. We Raise Our Voices
Wade Hudson (editor) Cheryl Willis Hudson (editor)

Anthology of poetry, essays, and art reflects and honors the ongoing struggle for Justice, equality, and respect. It simultaneously celebrates the rich cultural heritage of under-represented members of our society, while acknowledging the painful past as well as current unsettling conditions. As the title We Rise. We Resist. We Raise Our Voices suggests, young readers are encouraged to take an active role, making positive and much-needed changes in their world. Rather than sink into despair, this book is a call to action. A reason to believe that change is possible. A sense of hope permeates every page. The striking red cover is instantly attention-catching. The bold color palette, carefully crafted page design, and visually arresting art on every page engages readers. A variety of formats fill these pages with important ideas, deeply held beliefs, and strong emotional connections.

Bonus

Yes. I have an ARC signed by both editors: Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson. Lucky me!

Monster School by Kate Coombs ill Lee Gatlin

Coombs has applied her considerable talent for creating clever rhymes to the subject of monsters. In this collection, the monsters are students. Common school occurrences are given a slightly macabre twist: a science fair project created by Frankenstein’s grandson, baseball played in the graveyard, a student who constantly misplaces school supplies in addition to losing his body parts. ​These clever and entertaining riffs are monstrously fun. Verses include a variety of poetic forms and rhyme schemes. Most patterns are predictable, making it easy for students to sense the rhythm and rhyme within each stanza.  Gatlin captures the zany shenanigans happening at Monster School with full page illustrations. Muted autumn shades of grays, browns, and greens make the ghostly white faces and eyeballs pop out of each page

School is in Session

These poems are too delightful to keep to oneself. They beg to be shared. How about creating some puppets based on the monsters depicted throughout the pages? Gather up a handful of craft supplies, a copy of the book, and a fertile imagination. Viola! You have the beginnings of one monstrously good puppet show. There are endless possibilities for puppets: finger, sock, glove, stick, paper sack, or create something more inventive. The choice depends on what is on hand and the skill level of the puppet makers. A few of the craft supplies that I assembled: foam squares, felt, yarn, pom poms, chenille stems, goggly eyes, yarn, and even some corn husks. Add some wooden skewer sticks and hot glue gun.  Operation Frankenstein-esque Creature Lab was underway.

I looked for clues in the text to help create my puppets. The head of snakes featured in "Hair Care" was made with chenille stems, shaped by twisting them around a pencil. I used tiny green buttons for the snakes' heads. The purple hair mentioned in "Monster Mash" is a scrap of tulle, tied off at intervals. The hair for "Song of the Freckles" does not follow the image in the book because.... we had some fresh corn and the husks and silk were too funky to throw away. I twisted the damp husk slivers around a pencil and let them dry. They made the perfect curls for a monster girl.

Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome

It is 1946. Young Langston's life has been turned upside down.  Gone are quite slow-paced days. Gone are family and friends. His warm rural Alabama hometown has been replaced with Chicago. I pick up my life And take it with me And put it down in Chicago, Detroit Buffalo, Scranton. After his mother dies, Langston's father decides to move north, seeking a better life for his son. Moving into a shabby apartment with wallpaper created from newspaper is a huge adjustment. This Alabama transplant wears overalls and speaks with a distinctive drawl. Instantly he is derisively called "country boy" by the class bully. Others join in taunting the new boy in school. He wonders, can he ever feel at home in this strange place?

Magic of Words

The Lifters by Dave Eggers read by Dion Graham

Gran, short for Granite, and his family have moved to Carousel, living in his great grandfather's old home. Everything seems lonely and a bit off balance. No one at school speaks to him. It's as if he doesn’t exist. One day he comes upon classmate Catalina entering a hidden door in the ground. Gran is intrigued and follows her. He discovers a series of subterranean tunnels, crisscrossing the earth beneath the town. He watches as Catalina labors underground, propping up the tunnels with all manner of items to keep the town from sinking. The two join forces, working to defeat The Hollows, powerful winds which sense sadness and threaten to tunnel deep underground, blowing away the foundations of Carousel.

Listen Up

Bonus

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

Welcome to the world of Victorian England’s chimney sweeps. Jonathan Auxier has created a tale that is part historical fiction, part fantasy, part social commentary, and pure magic. ​Nan Sparrow has only known life as a chimney sweep. From infancy she was nurtured by a man she calls the Sweep. Together they did more than simply survive a grubby, demanding life of toil and deprivation. Instead he taught Nan to find joy in what others might deem a joyless existence. ​The Sweep had never understood how a person could sleep through the sunrise. 'It's like Heaven itself is offering you a gift you're too lazy to open,' he used to say. Then he'd wink and add, 'Ah, well. More for us.'

​And yet, here in the dusty crawl space, she held a miracle in her hands.

"A sage or rabbi--​ that is, a Jewish priest— forms a body out of mud or clay and then brings the creature to life with a sort of magic word called a Shem"...
"In your stories, why did the rabbi make his golem?"
"Why does a person create anything? Out of necessity... The golem is made to help people who fear for their lives.”

Stories to Tell. Stories to Share.

Sometimes on nights when there was no food to eat, the girl and her Sweep used to make Story soup. The girl would fill her pockets with trash she found on the streets - scraps of paper or trampled strings or bits of colored glass. At the end of the day, she would present these things to The Sweep. “Make Story soup!” she would tell him.’
​”Oh-ho!” The Sweep would always exclaim, rubbing his belly with both hands. ‘You’ve brought us ingredients for a right feast!’

​It's a very private thing to open a present and a person deserves to do it on his own way.

Bonus: The Wit and Wisdom of Sweep

​What is a year?
A year is a bunch of days put together.
Oh, it's much more than that! ...A year is a little lifetime.

Path to the Stars:
​My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist 
by Sylvia Acevedo

Meet Sylvia Acevedo, daughter of a Papa, Texas chemist originally from Mexico and Mami, a native of Mexico who didn’t speak English. She recalls this story of her birth: ​Some of the babies had blond hair. Some had brown hair or no hair at all, and nearly all of them had fair skin. Only one baby had very dark hair. “That was me!” Acevedo grew up in Las Cruses, New Mexico, surrounded by a close-knit family. Young Sylvia had the desire to learn about her world and the drive to excel in a wide variety of endeavors. She credits the Girl Scouts with helping her learn to set goals and work to achieve them. From childhood she realized that she had an affinity for numbers and a curiosity to learn how things work. By the age of thirteen, she assumed the responsibility of maintaining the family vehicle, including changing the oil. In junior high school, she opted out of home economics class, choosing instead to take an additional math course. Interestingly, one of the most challenging Girl Scout badges for her to earn was the cooking badge.

​I was nine years old, living in a small desert town. And on that day I decided I would go to Stanford someday.

They'd never had a woman engineer, so they didn’t even have a bathroom for women in the test labs.

From Brownie to NASA scientist. Still the same winning smile!

My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist (English edition)   ​is also available in Spanish:  Camino a las estrellas: Mi recorrido de Girl Scout a ingeniera astronáutica This autobiography is enhanced with liberal use of personal and family photographs inserted throughout the text. The author's "Note about Girl Scouts Yesterday and Today" provides context.

Companion Reading

Super Women: ​Six Scientists Who Changed the World

First Girl Scout: ​The Life of Juliette Gordon Low

Hidden Figures: ​Young Readers Edition