Middle Grade

Nutcracked

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If there are two things that Georgie loves, it’s Christmastime and Ballet and this year is even more amazing as she is finally playing the part she was born to play in The Nutcracker as Clara. Her life long dream has come true as every time she dances with The Nutcracker, she enters a magical world where everything around her is larger than life. It’s so magical and amazing that Georgie can’t wait to return but what happens when the magic starts seeping into the real world and threatens to destroy Christmas for Georgie and her friends.

This was a cute book for the holiday season, I usually try and read books dedicated to the holiday as it’s always fun. Obviously, this is a middle grade book and I did like the characters, I found Georgie fun and adorable and enjoyed her relationship with her friends and The Nutcracker. The problem that I had with the book is that it started too slow and ended too fast. I felt like things were super slow and then all of a sudden everything got solved in such a short time that I actually had to reread the last few chapters to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I felt like it could’ve been fleshed out a little more with a few developments because that’s my big pet peeve with books. I’m not a fan of rushing things as it makes me feel like there I’m missing something but if you’re looking for a fun, cute, and quick read and you love retellings, then this is just for you!

Middle Grade Halloween Round Up

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Here is the next middle grade round up!

Having survived sinister scarecrows and malevolent smiling man in small spaces, newly minted best friends, Ollie, Brian, & Coco are looking forward to a relaxing winter break skiing together with their parents at Mount Hemlock Ski Resort. But when a snowstorm hits the resort and strange things begin to happen, the three best friends soon find themselves thrust into a terrifying new adventure. The three along with Mr. Voland, a ghost hunter who arrived at the resort to investigate the haunting. The four of them must reach out to the dead voices and discover that not all dead voices can or should be trusted.

If Katherine Arden wrote a phone book, I would buy it. Her writing is truly magnificent and feels so real. What I love about this particular series is that it’s season themed. Small Spaces had autumn vibes where this book has winter vibes and she does a fantastic job adding that touch to it. You can feel the wintery vibe and I loved every minute of it. I love seeing Ollie and her friends on a new journey and I’ll be reading the third installment for this coming month. A truly great and fun series!!!

Tessa Woodward isn’t thrilled about moving to her new home in Chicago. She already knows she’s not going to like the rainy days and gloomy skies especially compared to her home in Florida. But soon a longing for home turns into fear and anxiety as mysterious events start happening in the house. Tessa’s not sure what is going on but when her brother’s doll starts crying real tears, she’s determined to find out what is really going on. With the help of her new friends, Tessa begins to uncover that not only is something or someone trying to speak to her but what it has to do with her.

What a spooky, creepy, and entertaining read! This is the second book that I’ve read by Currie and I really enjoy her writing as it really sets up the atmosphere and makes you hooked from the beginning.I really enjoyed Tessa as I thought she was a likable character and I loved the relationship she had with her parents and brother. It was very heartwarming and you could tell how much they love each other. This book was a lot of spooky fun that all ages will love!

middle Grade ROund Up: Halloween

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So, since I have read quite few middle grade Halloween books I’m reading this month I decided to group them together in one post cause the reviews won’t be that long. I’ll be doing three in a post each week and that should be good enough! They’re cute books and I do this every year cause it’s fun to go back to childhood with spooky reads and some of them have actually been quite good.

The story follows Luke and Lizzy Morris and their family as they arrive at Horrorland where terror becomes a reality at every turn. But, Luke and Lizzy don’t believe the rumors and think it’s just to entice people to visit the park. But when mysterious things began to happen, Luke and Lizzy find themselves coming face to face with the frightening realization that the rumors are true.

It’s been so long since I’ve read goosebumps so when I was planning my TBR for this month’s readathon, I wanted to see about revisiting these books. When I was young I was so into Goosebumps and Fear Street, I read them any chance I could so this was a fun trip down memory lane. It did make me laugh thinking about things that occurred in this book and how my younger self was so shocked with what I had read. But, it was still a fun read.

Claire has absolutely zero interest in the paranormal. She’s a scientist and she can’t think of anything worse than helping her dad on one of his Chicago themed ghost bus tours. She thinks she’s safe when she sees a young boy with sad face and dark eyes sitting in the back of the bus. But there’s something off with his presence and at the end of the bus tour, she can’t find him. She shrugs it off at first but when strange things start happening to her, she’s beginning to wonder if she’s being haunted. She needs to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.

This is a fantastic middle grade story that blends Chicago history with spooky mystery and a fantastic friendship. Claire hasn’t had the best 7th grade as her dad’s ghost bus tour business has been embarrassing, the new girl is swooping in to steal her best friend, and she feels trapped. Even though I’m a lot older, I could feel Claire’s pain especially with losing a best friend to someone else. That’s never fun and I did find her a fun and unique character in addition the other characters and even with her dad. This is a really cute, spooky, and heartwarming tale that is bound to entertain readers of all ages.

This story follows, eleven year old Ollie who is trying to cope with a tragic loss and finds that books are her only solace. One of the books that Ollie finds is a mysterious and chilling tale that follows Beth and her two brothers who loved her and a peculiar deal they made with a sinister slender man who grants your timely wish for the ultimate price. Things get even more mysterious on a school trip where Ollie sees the graves of the very people she’s been reading about. On the way home, the bus breaks down and Ollie and two classmates heed the bus drivers warning to be careful and not venture into the woods.

This was actually a chilling and spooky tale which I give a lot of credit to Katherine Arden for. I would literally read anything she wrote cause her writing is so beautiful and captivating. This is debut middle grade novel and it was fantastic.This is a great introduction for middle grade readers who are looking for a spooky yet fun tale as it has everything you could want. Check it out if you want!

NightBOOKS by J.A. White

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“And now I realize—so what if I write scary stories? I might hurt someone with nouns and adjectives, but I would never hurt someone for real.”

While Alex’s hair raising stories are enough to keep Natacha, the witch who has imprisoned him. Alex has been imprisoned by Natacha and must tell her scary tell every night in order to survive. He needs to come up with a plan that will get out of Natacha’s clutches but time is running and he knows that if he doesn’t come up with a plan soon, he will be facing a more dangerous fate than he thought.

This was actually a very entertaining, suspenseful, and I highly enjoyed the plot twists throughout the book. I’m currently participating in a readathon so I decided to look through and find some middle grade halloween books and this was one of the books that seemed interesting to me. This might be written for Middle Grade but it really didn’t feel that way as I was hooked from beginning to end. Even though Alex is very young, it’s hard not to like him and feel for him in the situation. He was a very interesting protagonist and his vivid imagination and love for Horror made me like him even more. I felt like all the characters were likable in some way so that really helped and I didn’t feel bored for a minute. The way things developed throughout the story kept me on pins and needles if he was going to make it out of their alive. This book is a real treat so if you like ghost stories and are fans of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Coraline then this book is for you!