Summer Reading Recap

mini-reviews of my end-of-May, June, & July MG and YA reads

picture me reading here 🥰🙌🏼

Hi friends! I’m back from a lovely little lake vacation and slowly adapting back to real life. Next week, I ease back into working for a new school year, with the kids and I all officially starting back the following week. Summer was a weird blur for me, but I still did manage to get in some good reading.

I naturally tend to tone down my MG and YA reading during summer break but I still wanted to share what I read in these categories over the last few months. I hope you find something that sounds good here for yourself or the young readers in your life.

Middle Grade

• Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega (graphic novel) :: I can see why so many of my students love this book! The illustrations are lovely, and the story is realistic and inspiring, tackling an issue that might seem unimportant on the surface (how are hair is styled/looks), but goes so much deeper, addressing how we feel about our own appearance and how we often let others dictate how we think we should look. A great addition to elementary and middle school library collections, I think many young readers will be encouraged by how Marlene learns to be comfortable in her own skin (and hair!).
  5⭐️s

• Mrs. Smith's Spy School for Girls by Beth McMullen :: Very fun! I liked the characters and the plot was interesting and exciting. A little confused about why the spy school is just for girls (especially since there is a cool boy character involved), and I think that’s unfortunate because it’s less likely a boy will pick the book/series up (which is too bad, because they’d enjoy it too!). This the first in a series.
  4.25⭐️s

• The World-Famous Nine by Ben Guterson :: Very fun setting, endearing main characters, and an interesting mystery. This will definitely appeal to fans of the Winterhouse books. The speculative element didn’t quite captivate/convince me, but all the other elements made up for that. 
  4.25⭐️s

• Ruby Lost and Found by Christina Li :: Really liked this story about a girl “sentenced” to spending the summer with her grandmother, mainly hanging out at her senior center. It was endearing and tackled the difficult issue of dementia and loss of a loved one, but without being too sad or heavy-handed. There’s a great friendship storyline as well— how friendships evolve, and how new ones can come along. It took me a little while to warm up to MC Ruby, but I think that was intentional. 😉
  4.5⭐️s

• Charlie Thorne and the Royal Society by Stuart Gibbs (Charlie Thorne #4) :: These books are always a well-written, rollicking good time. I love Charlie and all the adventures she gets into, and the side characters continue to grow on me.  I’m also always impressed by the amount of research that Stuart Gibbs puts into his books, and how they still end up so fun and entertaining despite being full of interesting (many true) facts. My 14yo son also loved it, as did my students who got to it before me!
  4.5⭐️s

• Really Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick (Pumpkin Falls Mysteries #3) :: This book was different from what I expected from the cover, but in a good way! The mystery ended up being more intricate than I expected and I loved how it all came together in the end. Add to that Mermaid Academy, subtle crushing, a small-town theater production, and pirates, and you have a very fun MG book. At times Truly’s negativity bothered me but she came around in a lot of ways at the end and her struggles felt very real. One spoilery thought here about Truly’s dad. This is a great mystery series, and there’s one more after this book.
  4.75⭐️s

• The House Swap by Yvette Clark :: This was such a cute middle grade mashup of The Holiday (note how one of the houses on cover looks exactly like Iris’s) and The Parent Trap, that was also very much its own story. I loved how the two MCs each had a distinct voice and while they each made some unwise decisions, they felt like very realistic characters. The author did a good job portraying both a child’s perspective on a potential divorce, and sibling rivalry. I especially liked how Sage’s family interactions felt very true to life. It’s nice to see siblings that don’t get along perfectly in a MG book (but also to have some redemption there too). The diary and crystals were fun plot elements (one of my book club friends brought us each a crystal!) as was the history of Bletchley Park.

  5⭐️s

Young Adult

• Woke Up Like This by Amy Lea :: I loved this book! It was such a fun twist on the waking-up-in-the-future trope. I loved how the author stayed in the YA voice even while the characters were older. She also did a great job describing the end-of-senior-year feels. It deals with some tough issues, but not in a heavy-handed way, and I don’t recall any graphic content inappropriate for teens. My MG/YA book club had a great time discussing this one (and it paired great with the adult romance The Good Part, which I had just read, and of course, 13 Going on 30, which I had just watched with my daughters).
  5⭐️s

• Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross :: I welcome any and all You’ve Got Mail retellings and this one was an unexpectedly beautiful fantasy story that put such a creative spin on the mystery-letter-writing-connection. I fell in love with the characters, and though it was a little heavy on the warfare for me, the story and mythology really captured me. The ending was as surprising and exciting as everyone has said, and I’m glad that the sequel is already published at my time of reading. See my SG review for content info/spoiler. (Book 1 of a duology)
  4.5⭐️s

• What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez :: What a captivating, immersive story. These characters drew me in even though I still have my suspicions about several. 🤨 I can’t wait for book two to come out because the ending really took me by surprise in this one. The magic in this world was subtle enough to feel like a real part of history. This is the perfect YA read for fans of Indiana Jones, the Mummy, and Death on the Nile. There’s a bit of language/violence and kissing/innuendo but I wouldn’t call the content overly mature for YA. (Book 1 of a duology)
  5⭐️s

• The Getaway List by Emma Lord :: This was mainly a miss for me personally. I like how the book resolved and I wouldn’t say I disliked the book, but throughout it I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between the main characters. I also didn't really find myself caring about the characters a lot, and I didn't care for the lack of communication between kids and their parents. Will also note that I felt the writing could have used a stronger editor. I still enjoy Emma Lord’s writing though overall and will continue to give her books a chance (pun intended since I loved her book When You Get the Chance 😉).
  3.5⭐️s

• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins :: Despite buying this book on release day, I put off reading it for over 4 years simply because I don’t tend to love villain origin stories. But it was too tempting not to go back to Panem (and also my son pressured me into it after he loved it), and I’m so glad I read it. While it was in one sense, what I expected, it was also so much more. I loved how I didn’t feel manipulated into feeling too much empathy for Coriolanus. Deep down he is who he is, and this is always clear throughout the book. The Easter eggs and explanations (or at least discoveries) of why things are the way they are in Katniss’s day were fascinating and so well-done. What a well-crafted world Suzanne Collins has created. I can’t wait for Haymitch’s book.
  4⭐️s

• Related: I also read A Court of Mist and Fury this summer, and I wanted to list it here cautionarily. I know a lot of libraries and bookstores shelve this as YA, but I would like to note that I firmly place it in the NA/Adult fantasy category due to its mature content. With that caveat said, I really loved it (here’s my review). As someone I know told a friend (whose 14-year old wanted to read this series): “do not make me read you these scenes to prove my point. 🤪”

Whew! That was a serious recap. My plan moving forward is to share these Recent Reads reports of mini-reviews to you once or twice a month (depending on how much I’m reading), which should make them quicker reads. 😉 I’d love to know if we share (or differ on!) book opinions on any of these, and if you pick any up, let me know!

Happy reading,

Nicole