Recent Reads, October 2024

popping in with a short list of reads from last month

Hi friends!

Where did November go? I can’t believe we are approaching Thanksgiving when I feel like Halloween was just yesterday. It’s been a slower couple of months of reading (at least for me in the younger age categories), but I still did manage to get in a few good middle grades and one YA (plus a bonus). No MG 5-star standouts this month, but hold on until I share November’s reads and I’ll have some stellar reads to review.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving. It might be small in the grand scheme of things, but I’m thankful for each of you who invite my newsletter to land in your inbox or app. Hope you each get in lots of reading this week (I know I have a large and optimistic stack that I’m staring down).

my reads below aren’t all that spooky (maybe one is!) but here are some displayed books in the library from October

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Here are the books I’ve read lately, with mini-reviews.

📚. Middle Grade

• Once Upon a Tim by Stuart Gibbs :: A wacky & funny adventure full of classic Stuart Gibbs humor. Lots of illustrations make this a great read for older elementary readers looking for a chapter book that’s less challenging, but this will also appeal to younger readers who like slapstick stories with unlikely heroes (they just might not get all the jokes).
  4 ⭐s

• The Superteacher Project by Gordon Korman :: This books is zany and fun. With a multi-POV cast, we get a variety of opinions on the new teacher on campus… and why he might not seem quite as human as the other teachers. The comedic characters includes a nostalgic, field-hockey obsessed principal, a class prankster (and nervous sidekick), a PTA mom with a crush, an oddly-old and grouchy “student teacher,” an oddball trivia-guru, and more. This book does a great job of bringing AI issues into the light on an elementary/middle-school level, and has a surprising amount of heart. My son and I laughed along with it and had fun trying to predict moments. And we both could have sworn we heard Liza Weil (Paris from Gilmore Girls) voicing one of the characters despite the credits not listing her.
  4 ⭐s

• The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson :: This was an interesting mystery with lots of puzzling elements. Reasons why this wasn’t a total hit for me (though I did like it): there were a lot of issues squeezed into one story. Also, there are 2 timelines and the story in the past focuses mostly on adults and older teens. I can see many young readers being bored by this timeline. I think overall this book would have been better-served if it was tweaked into being a YA novel.
  3.75⭐s

📚. Young Adult

• A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (Charlotte Holmes, book 1) :: I have read this book at least 4 times according to my records. After sitting down to read it in basically one day (a good comfort read while I was laid up with a thrown-out back), I was reminded that it is indeed one of my all-time favorite YA books (and series). That said, it is definitely upper YA and I recommend checking the content warnings before handing it to a teen. My 17-year old finally read it this year and really liked it. This Sherlock Holmes retelling is so cleverly done and well-plotted (it shouldn’t be surprising that Ms. Cavallaro is also a poet and a writing professor; she’s a really good writer). Jamie Watson is one of my all-time favorite YA characters. Charlotte is not easy-to-like but she is a fantastically complicated character. I will confess that I have still not read any actual Sherlock Holmes (maybe a goal for 2025?) but I have seen Sherlock and enjoyed other retellings/nods. But this one is still my favorite.
  5⭐s

• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens :: Wait, this isn’t a YA book, is it? Well, no, but I picked it up because it was required reading for my son for his English honors class (9th grade). I had never read it, but when at back-to-school-night the teacher throws out the challenge— I mean invitation— for parents to read along with their students, I’m not one to back down. Okay, I also just thought that I would like to give it a try. I was surprised by how much I loved this book. The characters were endearing (favorites were Pip, Joe, Herbert, and Wemmick), and there were moments of humor that I wasn’t expecting. The Gothic feel made it a perfect fall read, and I loved the ending! It was a great one to discuss with my son (he liked it greatly as well!). I bought a paperback but quickly got behind on his reading schedule, but Spotify premium audiobook hours to the rescue! (and I highly recommend the Spotify audio production).
  5⭐s

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I hope you find something here that you or a young person in your life might like to read. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Happy Friday and happy reading,

Nicole

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