Title: The Casandra Curse Author: Hope Bolinger Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
STRANGER THINGS X CURSED PRINCESS CLUB
Charity’s acts of kindness always end in disaster, but when one clown costume too many lands her in the Vice Principal’s office, she receives a mysterious note from a group called “The Cassandra Coalition,” asking her if she wants to be rid of the curse that seems to follow her.
The teens of the coalition claim to be cursed by a mirror world connected with their hometown known as Delphos. To make things worse, Delphos appears to be invading their world and turning people into zombies—either that, or someone switched all the coffee to decaf.
When one of their members goes missing, they’ll try to track her down, close the portal to their world, and find a way to end their curse, before the curse ends them.
Can I adopt this feisty unicorn of a grandma, please?
“That’s awful,” Io agreed as her grandmother placed the triangle on a half-done quilt and scooted back her chair. “It’s not even snowing that hard.”
Grandma grunted as she rose and reached for her cardigan draped on the chair. She threw it over her shoulders. Paused. “Io, dear, do you know what the opposite of love is?”
Io rubbed her bare fingertips on a navy triangle of fabric. She froze. No doubt, she’d had a hard time adjusting to the ‘no touching rule’. Charity thought back to their kitchen hug.
“That’s easy, Grandma. The opposite of love is hate.”
“No.”
Grandma raised a finger and jabbed it toward the ceiling. The white popcorn pattern had a few water stains that formed indiscernible shapes.
“The opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s apathy.” She squinted at Io and then the other two. “Not caring, indifference, whatever you want to call it. It makes you tired, lethargic, unaware of the pain of others. It can take a kind old woman and keep her at home, instead of helping to make a blanket for a family without a home.”
Remnants of the Big Sad surged back into Charity. Apathy, the word had a horrible touch of the familiar.
Is that what happened to me when Dad left?
Hadn’t the Big Sad clutched her back at the park? How the gray atmosphere had forced her eyelids near-shut and calves to trudge forward.
If she remembered right, the Big Sad acted fast and without mercy. What if the same thing was happening with the curse? Let’s hope Cassandra gets us another clue, and fast.
Hope Bolinger is literary agent, freelance author and editor, YA novelist, and obsessed with anything to do with theater.
Books include The Quiet and the Storm (Taylor University Press), Blaze (IlluminateYA), Den (IlluminateYA), Dear Hero (INtense Publications), and Dear Henchman (INtense Publications). She’s also contributed to books that were published by Broadstreet Publishing and New Hope.
When she isn’t busy adding to her 600+ bylines, or showing up in her town square dressed as Red Riding Hood, she loves to connect with readers. Find her at hopebolinger.com or connect with her @hopebolinger
As an affiliate at retail sites, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclaimer for more details.
Three reasons you should read this Middle Grade Novel:
Diary of a Fifth Grade Bully by Beth Riwa takes a long look at how grade-schoolers see themselves and each other.
Bullying in schools is a hot topic, and I feel like the author did a great job of showing how not all bullies mean to be bad – some do, but some may not understand.
Dewey is a complicated character, and his friends really showcase the power of friendships and how they can help people be better.
Title: Diary of a Fifth Grade Bully Author: Beth Riwa Series: The Inside Story #1 Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary Fiction
If you like Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Dork Diaries, you’ll love Diary of a Fifth Grade Bully! Meet the newest bully on the block, Dewey Shoemaker. Except according to Dewey, he’s not a bully at all.
In book one of this debut series, Dewey Shoemaker is anything but a normal ten-year-old kid. After all, it’s hard to be normal when your dad has a million and one demands, and your mom collects creepy porcelain dolls. It doesn’t help that Dewey can’t seem to stay out of trouble at school. He’s pretty sure his teacher Mrs. Stapleton has it out for him. Worse still, somewhere along the way Dewey was called a bully, and it stuck.
Dewey’s mission, if he chooses to accept it, is to prove them all wrong. But it’s a lot harder than he thought, especially when his best friends—Stinky, Slinky, and Zora—aren’t always there when he needs them. Not a lot of people are interested in hearing a “bully’s” side of the story.
Until now.
A diary is the perfect solution! As Dewey writes in one entry, “If they won’t listen, I’ll write it instead. People are more willing to read books than to hear someone talk.” At least that’s how he feels when he’s sitting in Mrs. Stapleton’s class.
Will Dewey be able to convince everyone he’s not the bully they think he is? Diary of a Fifth Grade Bully introduces a new type of hero who embodies the challenges of being a kid in today’s tough environment. With a little understanding and a lot of self-awareness, readers will learn from Dewey how to identify and deal with bullying in this humorous, relevant, entertaining series that will keep young readers hooked on books.
Diary of a Fifth Grade Bully by Beth Riwa was a much deeper story than I expected it to be. I highly recommend that you read this with your child. It does have some pretty heavy topics. Bullying (intentional and unintentional), abuse, and poverty. I think Beth Riwa did an amazing job of approaching these in a respectful way. But some children may have a hard time relating or understanding.
Dewey was not what I expected at all. At first, I didn’t feel bad for him and wholeheartedly agreed with the assessment that he was a bully. But then I got to know him a little better. He’s one of the deepest characters I’ve read in a middle-grade novel. As I learned more about him, his friends, and his school, I started to understand him a lot better. He’s more than what he seems at first, so you’ll have to give him a chance to show you.
Diary of a Fifth Grade Bully is written in the popular style of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which was the perfect way to present this story. Getting to see into Dewey’s mind and hear his thoughts and feelings in his own words was incredibly impactful.
Dewey learns a grows lot in this first book. And he doesn’t seem to be afraid to look at himself and see what he’s doing well and what he’s doing wrong. He has some amazing friends that help him along his journey to proving he isn’t a bully.
My only real complaint about the book was the cartoons in my digital copy were incredibly small and couldn’t really be read easily.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
I picked up Tyrabbisaurus Rex for my eight-year-old at PennedCon earlier this year and read it once evening before dinner. It was such a fun book. As an adult, I really enjoyed it, and when I got home, and my son read it, he enjoyed it as well.
“Cuddles,” as the children have named him, is a class pet, a rabbit that truly believes that it is a T-Rex. The book alternates between his POV and those of the children in his classroom. The rabbit’s chapters and internal dialog are hilarious and very entertaining as he tries to escape his captivity and try new things to nibble on.
The children all have their own opinions about Cuddles, and their chapters show those very well. From absolutely wanting nothing to do with him, to thinking he’s pretty cool but not that interesting, to wanting to spend all their time snuggling him – the students and Cuddles interact along with the teacher to create an entertaining story that delicately touches on quite a few things. From making friends, death in the family, self-esteem, and self-image (of the rabbit).
I highly recommend this for boys and girls in the early grade school years. It’d make an excellent read-along for adults and children to experience and talk about together.
Title: Tyrabbisaurus Rex Author: A.J. Culey Genre: Children’s Book
Tyrabbisaurus Rex doesn’t appreciate being locked in a cage. Sure it has three levels and is full of scrumptious veggies, but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to accept his fate as a classroom pet.
Ginger’s not happy about the always escaping, poopy rabbit. First he chewed the dress her mom gave her. Now he keeps staring at her favorite hat. The demon bunny has got to go!
