Still Alive (Kidnapped From Ukraine, Book 3)

Written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Scholastic Press

978-1-5461-0457-5

320 pp.

Ages 8–12

April 2026 

 

 

While the war on Ukraine by Russia continues to this day, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is ready to resolve the story of twins Dariia and Rada Popkova. The story that began with Dariia's perspective on the attack and invasion of Ukraine in Under Attack (2025) after the girls' separation, and that led to Rada's story in Standoff (2025) comes full circle with a story that brings families together. They are still alive and fighting for themselves, each other, and their country.

 

Still Alive begins in November of 2022 with Rada and her mom living in a ski village in the Carpathian Mountains. Mom works as a manicurist at the Hotel Karpaty, and they are preparing to move into their prefab home in a new refugee area in nearby Prytulok. They receive unexpected messages from Dariia, who has been "adopted" by a Russian family in a Moscow suburb, with details about her "new" name and birthday, as well as those of other Ukrainian children who had been kidnapped to Russia. So begins their fight to get Dariia and the other children back to Ukraine.

 

With the help of Save Ukraine, a Ukrainian charitable organization whose initiatives includes rescue and reunification of children taken from Ukraine, Mom and Rada and their new family of friends get to work trying to find families of others so that they might rescue as many as possible. But it's an arduous task as all must be done legally, finding legal guardians, obtaining powers of attorney, and more.

 

The second part of the story comes after Dariia is rescued and comes to live with Mom and Rada. She may be back with much of her own family—the whereabouts of her soldier father are still unknown—but she must navigate a new reality. She and Rada may be twins but they have always been different. With the traumas that they have endured, it's not just being together like it had been. Here's healing that has to happen but still with the mission to help their country. In fact, they do even more. They find a way to...

...take a shattered world and make it into something beautiful. (pg. 273) 

A series titled Kidnapped From Ukraine does not intimate a story of joy.  Of course, a story based in the ongoing war on Ukraine could be nothing less than horrific. While Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is an author who tells real stories, she is also one who handles them with sensitivity, aware that there is a way to tell an impactful story and still offer reassurance. With Still Alive, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch remind us that this war is not over, and that people are still suffering. Rada's question about the senselessness of this war—"How much hate does it take to kill your neighbour with missiles aimed at churches, children, hospitals?" (pg. 43)—resonates throughout the book as Ukrainians consider atrocities, new or repeated. Their reactions are as diverse as their experiences but their resolve to do what they can—build drones, sew camouflage nets, feed abandoned animals—to save Ukraine is unmistakable. 

 

The Kidnapped From Ukraine trilogy may be disheartening in the nature of its story, but Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch heartens it by comforting young readers with a narrative of families, made and found, and hope for a new future.

 

Under Attack (2025)

Standoff (2025)

Still Alive (2026)

The Inside Scouts Help the Strong Cheetah

Written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths

Illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

Acorn (Scholastic)

978-1-338-89504-9

64 pp.

Ages 5-7

October 2024

 

Our intrepid inside-the-body explorers from The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion and The Inside Scouts Help the Brave Giraffe are back to help another animal with a body ailment.

From The Inside Scouts Help the Strong Cheetah, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

Sanjay and Viv, the children who can shrink down and go inside animals to help them feel better, discover that the cheetah has a leg cramp. Explaining it as a muscle that is stuck and will not relax, the two grab their gear and head out to meet Zora the cheetah. Zora explains how she'd been running when her leg started to hurt, and she had to stop. (This may be familiar to many young readers.) They carry her to their Care Lab and head inside Zora for a "little poke."

From The Inside Scouts Help the Strong Cheetah, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

Inside Zora, Sanjay and Viv pass through the fur, the skin and into the muscle, all appropriately depicted. The kids reach the muscle, described as made of bigger and smaller ropes and surrounded by a sleeve (connective tissue), and locate where the ropes are bunched up i.e., the cramp. With the help of a few nifty tools, they repair the muscle and head out. As a pain-free Zora returns to the wild, they advise her to rest, and stay hydrated.

From The Inside Scouts Help the Strong Cheetah, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

With a couple of information pages called "Fun Facts about Muscles," describing how muscles work in our bodies, including the use of terms like skeletal muscles, fibers and connective tissue, Mitali Banerjee Ruths informs while telling a sweet story about kids who help others. She's got a great blend of animals, kids, compassion and STEM to make the Inside Scouts a valuable and charming addition to Acorn's early reader books. And by focusing on an injury or ailment that any child might experience, some common and others less so, Mitali Banerjee Ruths's Inside Scouts will help kids understand and be comforted.

From The Inside Scouts Help the Strong Cheetah, written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Francesca Mahaney

The illustrations by New England's Francesca Mahaney have the right chemistry of biology and art. She keeps her shapes bold and distinct and surprisingly defined as necessary for a book that looks at the body structures. As a primer for health and the body, The Inside Scouts Help the Strong Cheetah shows the strong collaboration between Francesca Mahaney's art and the story of Mitali Banerjee Ruths, working like the body itself: distinct parts supporting and integrating.

 

I don't know if there will be more books in the series but, with plenty of injuries and body functions to delve into, the Inside Scouts would have heaps of helping to do. And by helping an assortment of animals, Sanjay and Viv are helping young children understand their own bodies and what can go wrong without taking them into circumstances like hospitals and doctors' offices which have the potential to cause anxiety. With these characters just trying to do good and using fabulous tech to do it, children get a playful but informative look at their own bodies.

 

 • • • • • • •

 

The Inside Scouts Help the Kind Lion (2024)

The Inside Scouts Help the Brave Giraffe (2024)

The Inside Scouts Help the Strong Cheetah (2024)

The Not-So-Simple Question (A Holly-Mei Book, #3)

Written by Christina Matula

Inkyard Press

978-1-335-00999-9

272 pp.

Ages 8-12

April 2024 

 

Isn't it lovely that we get to visit with Holly-Mei and her friends and family once again? The twelve-year-old who Christina Matula introduced us to in The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei and allowed us to join in her new life in Hong Kong is a little older, well-situated at Tai Tam Prep, and becoming familiar with her new home. But with all those important changes, Holly-Mei is now becoming a teen, and The Not-So-Simple Question is her coming-of-age story.

 

Holly-Mei and her family have now been in Hong Kong for nine months and she is in the last few months of her Grade 7 year. There are lots of important events still to come like Experience Week during which Upper Grade students travel to other Asian locations for a week of learning. It's a great opportunity for Holly-Mei to discover more about her Taiwanese heritage–her mother and Ah-ma, grandmother, are Taiwanese while her father is British–by visiting Taiwan. She's also hoping that it will help her clarify who she is, feeling less than others because of her mixed heritage. And then there's the problem with boys. Her friend Gemma is determined to have an end-of-year prom to which the girls must bring dates. Holly-Mei is obviously well liked by her friends, including Dev and Theo, but, unlike her younger sister Millie who is all about popularity and acting grown-up, Holly-Mei isn't ready for dating, and she doesn't know how to reconcile her feelings with the demands of her friends.

Holly-Mei has a lot on her plate but that is what it often feels like when you are entering your teen years. It's a balance of moving from childhood to adulthood and navigating when and how much you're wanting to change. But coupled with that is Holly-Mei's confusion about her heritage and feeling that others judge her by how she speaks Chinese, who her parents are, and if half of anything is enough for her to be her true self. It's no wonder the girl is feeling on edge and confused. And with Holly-Mei, that uncertainty often leads her to misunderstanding or saying the wrong thing. Thankfully, Holly-Mei's story is in Christina Matula's capable hands, and she ends it with understanding, acceptance, and accord. (And we get to take a wonderful trip to Taiwan to see the sights, the culture, and the food. Always the food!)

The first Holly-Mei book was just recommended by young readers of the Red Maple Forest Kid Committee for their summer reading list and it's nice to know that there are two more books in the series to reach for after you've enjoyed The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei. With The Not-So-Simple Question, we get to see how Holly-Mei has ended her Grade 7 year, after a full year of learning to deal with new friends, with sports competition, with sibling interactions, with misunderstandings, and more. With that learning has come an appreciation for who she is and the kind of person she wants to be. She's still learning to be the best version of herself but she's on the right path, and Christina Matula lets us tag along on Holly-Mei's journey of self-realization and growing up, while enjoying the sights and cultures of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

From The Not-So-Simple Question, written by Christina Matula

• • • • • • •

Holly-Mei Books

The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei (2022)

The Not-So-Perfect Plan (2023)

The Not-So-Simple Question (2024)

• • • • • • •

The Oracle of Avaris (Secrets of the Sands, Book 3)

Written by Alisha Sevigny

Dundurn

978-1-45974-435-6

368 pp.

Ages 8-13

January 2022

 

In Alisha Sevigny's earlier books in the Secrets of the Sands trilogy (The Lost Scroll of the Physician and The Desert Prince), Sesha, daughter of the Great Physician Ay, had kept herself and her young ailing brother Ky alive after the deaths of their parents and endeavoured to find the notable scroll believed to have the power of life over death and which was desired by all. This led her and her fellow scribes, Reb and Paser, along with the Hyksos spy Pepi away from Thebes to the desert to free Sesha's friend and the Pharaoh's daughter, Princess Merat, who'd been given in betrothal to the Hyksos chieftain, Yanassi. But their adventures are far from over and, with a copy of the scroll newly rescued, the foursome–Sesha, Reb, Paser and Pepi–are heading to the capital of Hyksos to help prevent a war between the Hyksos and the Thebans.

In Avaris, King Khyan is dying. His son, the chieftain Yanassi, believes himself to be his father's successor and is anxious to wage war and extend the Hyksos's power. Pepi, the king's nephew who believes that he may actually be the king's son, is determined to maintain peace between the nations and see that the prophecies, both contained in the scroll and as recounted to him by his priestess mother Kalali upon her death, be fulfilled. But there is a complication: Pepi believes that Sesha, one from the line of the physician as prophesized, should rule. Still the king is determined to wait to hear directly from the Oracle who is expected to attend solstice ceremonies. 

But the Oracle is missing. And so Sesha, Reb and Paser head out on their newest quest: to find the Oracle, confirm the prophecies that would determine the future of Hyksos, and bring her back to Avaris before the imminent death of the king.

For middle-grade readers looking for an extraordinary adventure in a historical setting, The Oracle of Avaris and the earlier books in the series deliver. There are dangerous vipers of the serpentine and human varieties, conflict between nations, enigmatic predictions and perilous journeys. There is discrimination between nations and peoples, illness and injuries that devastate, and familial discords that could be fatal. But Alisha Sevigny does more than tell a great story. She takes us to ancient Egypt to witness the struggles of its peoples, the foods, transportation, clothing and ceremonies of its cultures and a landscape of desert, temples, palaces and humble huts. Young readers will feel the heat, worry about a Nubian mercenary, cheer for some and sneer at others, and wonder about the true meaning of the prophecies. And, better yet, Alisha Sevigny leaves readers secure in the knowledge that Sesha and her compatriots will be remembered by their deeds and their hearts.

...to an Egyptian, there is nothing more important than being remembered.      (pg. 352)

The Lost Scroll of the Physician (2020)

The Desert Prince (2020)

The Oracle of Avaris (2022)

The Serpent's Fury (A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying, Book 3): Guest review

 This review was written by guest reviewer Matthew Green

 

 Written by Kelley Armstrong

Puffin Canada

978-0-73527-015-2

352 pp.

Ages 10-14

June 2021

 

 

The Serpent's Fury by Kelley Armstrong is the captivating third installment of the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series. It’s just as exciting and action-packed as the previous two books, featuring many of our favourite characters as well as some new ones!
 

The Serpent’s Fury tells the story of 12-year-old Princess Rowan, Tamarel’s Royal Monster Hunter elect. Rowan and her fearless companions try to figure out why all the monsters, who up until recently lived in a large forest adjacent to Rowan’s country, are migrating south and interfering with the livelihood of Tamarel’s people. This migration is becoming a danger to Tamarel’s citizens who are getting hurt or even killed. While trying to figure out this mystery, Rowan, Dain, Alianor and some other old and new companions also have to deal with poachers who are trying to take advantage of the disruption. While on the journey, Rowan and her friends learn a lot about the intentions of people and their motives. Whether it’s greed or goodwill, even unconsciously, these intentions will show.

Like the two previous books, one of the many things that I loved is that The Serpent's Fury is told from Rowan's point of view and, like the two previous books, I enjoyed seeing Rowan’s thought process. Another thing that I loved in the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series is that a few pictures of the monsters that we see throughout the book are compiled after the last chapter. It really helps me visualize the monsters in the book.

In the first two books, the squad that goes adventuring primarily stays the same but, in The Serpent’s Fury, a new character is introduced: Trysten! The “kinda-sorta” prince from Dorwynne was sold into slavery because his father didn’t want any competition for the throne. Now, after he has been saved by Rowan and the crew, he is indebted to them. But his loyalty is questioned by Rowan and the others.
 

The Serpent’s Fury explains all of the things that you need to know, in case you haven't read the previous books (A Royal  Guide to Monster Slaying, 2019, and The Gryphon's Lair, 2020), but I think that you would enjoy The Serpent’s Fury more if you first read the earlier two books.

All in all, I really loved this book! For me, it was super exciting to see Rowan react to these situations with her unique perspective that not every monster that you run into has to be killed. Even though it is a book meant for middle school kids, I think it’s a fun book for all ages. Lastly, and all things considered, I would give this book a 9/10.

P.S. I can’t wait for the next book!

~ Matthew Green, 12 years old, Grade 8

A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying Books 1-3

Thrive (The Overthrow, Book 3)

(If you haven't, I encourage you to read Bloom and Hatch, Books 1 and 2 in The Overthrow series, first. You'll want to know the whole story. Really.)

 

Written by Kenneth Oppel

HarperCollins

978-1-4434-5691-3

404 pp.

Ages 10-14

May 2021

 

First there were the black grasses, strangling vines and pit plants (Bloom, 2020). Then came the eggs that developed into mosquito birds, giant water striders and horrific mega-worms (Hatch, 2020). Now, in the conclusion to Kenneth Oppel's The Overthrow trilogy, the cryptogens themselves are coming to invade. But will they succeed in overthrowing humans for the planet?

Being a teen is hard enough but, for Anaya, Petra and Seth who have dealt with strange allergies and physical ailments all their lives, things have gotten a lot stranger since learning that they have cryptogenic DNA that has given them extraordinary powers but also unconventional bodies. Anaya is a runner, with unusual body hair and claws. Petra has an affinity for swimming and has scaly skin and a tail. Seth is a flyer with razor-sharp wings and a powerful sound weapon. During the horrific experimentation on the kids and others like them at the hands of the nasty Dr. Ritter, they learned that they are able to telepathically communicate with each other and Anaya was able to connect with the cryptogen she calls Terra. 

 

This connection has lead to the arrival of a ship, at the conclusion of Hatch and the beginning of Thrive, from which a trio of rebel cryptogens have emerged. Terra, who is a runner and scientist as well as pilot, is accompanied by another scientist, a swimmer for whom Petra uses the pronouns ze and zir, and a flyer who was a military leader, hence their moniker of him as the general. Together the three cryptogens had formed an alliance, and a rebel movement of several hundred was established to overthrow the flyers who have used their sound power to keep runners and swimmers enslaved to them. 

The rebels admit that Anaya, Petra and Seth, as well as the other hybrid children, had been implanted with DNA to help produce a virus to destroy the flyers' ability to use sound as a weapon and thus to help them defeat their oppressors. Now the rebels have come to earth to retrieve that hidden DNA.

 

While Petra helps the swimmer to get materials needed to repair their ship and Anaya works with Terra to develop the virus, Seth worries for Esta, a hybrid flyer such as himself, with whom he'd bonded at Dr. Ritter's bunker facility. Learning that Esta, like most hybrid cryptogens, is being detained at an internment camp, Seth sneaks out to rescue her and ends up captured along with Esta and others by the primary ship of invaders. Now Seth has to decide whether he agrees with Esta who believes the cryptogen commander, a flyer, really has their best interests at heart, or whether a rebellion against the flyers is necessary to stop the oppression of the runners and swimmers and an invasion of earth.

Kenneth Oppel pounds out his story of an alien invasion and rebellion with little respite for the reader, just as there was none for the trio of teens who are thrown from one alarming situation to the next. Even before the initial arrival of terrifying plants and menacing creatures, Anaya, Petra and Seth have had to manage their physical stresses. Now with the menace of extraterrestrials, they have to balance being seen as both threats and saviours, and doing what they can, what they want to and what they'd rather not. There's always some new threat with which they must deal and, as they are punched with pressure after pressure, as each new creature and knowledge is revealed, Kenneth Oppel takes the reader with them. As such, Thrive is an intense read, throwing the reader along with the story's characters, from one dangerous situation to the next, manoeuvring on a flying platform, being swallowed by a wall, fighting off a wolverine squid or plunging through the atmosphere in a pod with limited oxygen. The action is relentless and it's not until the very end that Kenneth Oppel lets us know how The Overthrow, the series and the operation, actually turns out. I won't give away the ending but I will reassure that the wild ride that is Thrive leaves room for a sigh and a promise for resolution.

He was half human, half cryptogen, but for the first time in his life, he was starting to feel whole. (pg. 404)

• • • • • • •

The Overthrow (a.k.a. Bloom Trilogy) 

Bloom (2020)

Hatch (2020)

Thrive (2021)

The Case of the Burgled Bundle (A Mighty Muskrats Mystery, Book 3)

Written by Michael Hutchinson

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-166-4

208 pp.

Ages 9-12

April 2021

The four cousins from the Windy Lake First Nations, who were first introduced in The Case of Windy Lake which was Michael Hutchinson's award-winning entry in Second Story Press's 2018 Indigenous Writing Contest, are back to solve a mystery at the National Assembly of Cree Peoples.

The week-long event begins with the handover ceremony during which the kids' grandfather, the head of the Windy Lake Elders Committee, receives the pipe from the Elder from last year's host, Butterfly Narrows. But this auspicious event does not go to plan when the ceremony is held under cover of Butterfly Narrows's teepee, excluding the majority of event participants, and Grandpa makes a joke that annoys their Elder Eugene Lone Man. 

The lands of Butterfly Narrows have taught them to hold tightly to what they have, to protect what they haven't yet lost. (pg. 19)

Grandpa is ever respectful and circumspect about this slight and invites Elder Leon Shining Deer and Mrs. Shining Deer a.k.a Aunt Dee as Bundle Holders to share the bundle for Treaty 12 and the stories that are linked with it in hopes of easing tensions. Following the protocols associated with the bundle, Elder Leon conducts a welcoming ceremony to which all are welcome. But, though the bundle is guarded all night long in the Butterfly Narrows teepee, it disappears. Worried that his own misstep of toppling the Elders' pipes accidentally during the meal may have damaged the ceremony, Otter and his three cousins, Chickadee and brothers Atim and Samuel, help their Uncle Levi of the RCMP to investigate.

Though The Case of the Burgled Bundle is a great middle-grade mystery with a host of suspects and red herrings to confuse the young investigators, it's the lessons about treaties, treaty bundles, ceremony and customs that gives the story its unique perspective and opportunities for learning. Michael Hutchinson, a member of the Misipawistik Cree Nation, has not just told a story about a stolen item. He has taken us to an assembly of Cree Nations, each different in their histories, their needs and their expectations.

"Grandpa says, you are the land you live on. And the Cree people are spread across some pretty different landscapes." (pg. 8)

There is an appreciation for the differences between First Nations and the treaties they made (Treaty 12 is a fictional treaty), including how they were made and the responsibilities involved with them. Though the components of the bundle are never revealed in detail, its presentation provides the memories of its creation and the importance of guarding it and the stories for all time. With that and a culprit not easily deduced by the reader–the Mighty Muskrats are far more savvy than this reader–The Case of the Burgled Bundle has given us a whodunit rich in relevant Indigenous lessons of history, culture and people.

• • • • • • •

 

The Mighty Muskrats Mystery Series

The Case of Windy Lake (2019)

The Case of the Missing Auntie (2020)

The Case of the Burgled Bundle (2021)

Torch (The Flight and Flame Trilogy, Book 3)

Written by R. J. Anderson

Enclave Publishing

978-1-62184-160-9

239 pp.

Ages 11+

February 2021

 

 

When we first met the piskey Ivy in Swift, the first book in R. J. Anderson's The Flight and Flame Trilogy, she'd been determined to look out for her family and friends of the Delve, worried about poisonous air and long-held conflicts with spriggans, faeries and even humans. But, because of her unique wingless nature, Ivy has always had to prove herself. In the second book, Nomad, while looking to help the piskeys of the Delve escape the tyranny of her Aunt Betony, the Joan i.e., the queen of the Delve, Ivy becomes romantically involved with the spriggan-faery Martin whose own story needed telling. Then, after a violent confrontation with the Joan, a handful of piskeys, including Ivy's little sister Cicely, brother Mica and his fellow hunter Maddock, follow Ivy above-ground.

Now, Ivy is challenged to providing a safe home for the piskeys who've followed her, but worries that she could never become the Joan they need, as she lacks the skill of making fire at will. Things become worse when a deception is perpetrated to make her appear to make fire, and she is compelled into a betrothal with Maddock who offers to act as her Jack, the consort to the Joan. But Ivy and the piskeys know that Betony will not stand to lose her people to Ivy and an attack is sure to come. Fortunately for Ivy, she can rely on the help of faeries Thorn and Broch, and especially Martin who comes to her aid time and time again. Unfortunately, Martin is a spriggan and hated by the piskeys for being so, and Ivy must hide her love for Martin from her people.

But Martin, who had always believed himself to be the last of the spriggans who'd been killed off in conflicts with the piskeys, discovers a barrow of chambers with spriggan treasure, arms and stores. Most surprising are the egg-like shells harbouring young spriggans. While Martin nurtures the awakened young spriggans, about thirty boys and girls, becoming a true leader to his people, Ivy is torn between being with Martin, doing what's right for her own people, and contending with their distrust of all spriggans and faeries. Though Ivy knows that Martin has had his own issues with her people, she has come to trust him and he repeatedly shows himself to be worthy of that trust. But can Ivy find a way to save the piskeys, from the poison in the Delve and the tyranny of Betony and her Jack Gossan, bring peace between those who distrust and discriminate, and still be with Martin?

 

R. J. Anderson may be writing about fantastical creatures like piskeys, spriggans and faeries but the hostility between these groups and Ivy's need to balance her own wishes with the obligations she feels to her people are as human as anything we might experience. Mica's infuriating knows-better attitude and Cicely's petulance when she doesn't get what she wants are all too human, as is Ivy's unhappiness with being pressured to do what everyone else decides is the right thing to do. When she leads with her heart, driven by her love for Martin and her people, she leads well as a true Joan would.

But Torch is also a book of fantasy, of incredible people who inhabit Cornwall and beyond. Some are tasked with digging while others protect treasure. They can shape-shift and cast glamours and spells and wards of protection.  The worlds of Torch, as in Swift and Nomad, are both imaginative and real, and R. J. Anderson has excelled at making the reader feel everything from the gentleness of love to the anger of frustration with her characters. Thankfully through all that emotion and otherworldliness, R. J. Anderson has resolved her tale of the Cornish piskeys and their neighbours with much heart, happiness and hope, demonstrating that it's possible to find the way through conflict and prejudice to understanding and love.

Nikki Tesla and the Traitors of the Lost Spark (Elements of Genius #3): Guest review

 This review was written by teacher Elizabeth Cook.

Written by Jess Keating

Illustrated by Lissy Marlin

Scholastic

978-1-338614763

288 pp.

Ages 8-12

July 2020

If I told you this book was about an elite team of individuals who travelled the world to defeat evil, you might imagine a team of expertly-trained adults with many weapons at their disposal. You would be wrong. This book is about a group of seven kids from the Genius Academy.  All seven students had been sent to the Genius Academy because of their unbridled talents and who, along with Nikki’s pet ferret Pickles, take on secret missions to save the world from relentless villains.

The protagonist and newest recruit is Nikki Tesla, a fabulous inventor with a scientific brain. She joined the other six academy students a year earlier after she blew up her bedroom with her death ray invention and chose the Genius Academy over prison.  The rest of the team includes: Bert Einstein, a visionary; Adam “Mo” Mozart, a musical prodigy; Mary Shelley who is the literary mind of the group; Charlie Darwin, a biologist specializing in animals; Grace O’Malley, the group's leader and a real people person; and Leo da Vinci, the multi-talented polymath and Nikki’s crush. 

From Nikki Tesla and the Traitors of the Lost Spark by Jess Keating, illus. by Lissy Marlin

At the beginning of this third book in the series, Nikki is enjoying her well-deserved vacation in Costa Rica. She has had a busy and adventure-filled first year at the Genius Academy: travelling the world, flying planes, and fighting evil masterminds. However, her break is short-lived with the arrival of her Genius Academy friends who whisk her off on their next mission: to stop a nasty virus (nicknamed SPARK) from being released and causing devastating consequences to mankind. (Pretty apropos, don’t you think?) Nikki and her Genius Academy friends travel to England to track down V, the villain responsible for SPARK. Nikki and the Genius Academy students must save the world from the SPARK virus while evading the diligent MI6 secret agents who think they are the culprits who have blown up the Tower of London...all in a day’s work for these child prodigies!

What I love about the Elements of Genius series is that, outside of being quirky geniuses, the characters are so relatable. Every time Nikki acts on impulse or regrets what she just said, I can feel the red starting to rise in my own cheeks. She has flaws and is very real, still developing as a character which readers will have witnessed through the three books in the series. We learned a lot about her past in the earlier books, Nikki Tesla and the Ferret-Proof Death Ray (2019) and Nikki Tesla and the Fellowship of the Bling (2020) but this book allows us to get to know a bit more about some of the other Genius Academy students. We also get to meet another child genius, Arthur Conan Doyle, a master of deduction, who doesn’t attend the Academy despite being offered a spot many years ago. Learning more about these characters helps us better understand their motivations and behaviour. It is also interesting to see how the introduction of a new child genius works, or doesn’t work, with an established team who are trying to save the world. 

I am a big fan of Jess Keating’s work. In addition to the Elements of Genius series, she writes excellent nonfiction books about weird animals, inspiring picture books about women in science, YA novels, and graphic novels too. Each of her books is a fun and informative read. Despite my best attempts at internet sleuthing, I can’t determine if a fourth Elements of Genius is already in the works or not, though I sincerely hope it is. These Genius Academy students are excellent role models for our middle grade readers. Each student has their own unique talents in various fields of study. When they work together, they are able to overcome enormous hurdles and just happen to save the world in the process. With its promotion of STEM, problem solving with peers, and self-acceptance, this series has it all.

~ Reviewer Elizabeth Cook is a teacher in the Halton District School Board. She is an avid reader and fan of Canadian literature. 

Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing (A Shepherd & Wolfe Mystery, Book 3)

Written by Angie Counios and David Gane

Your Nickel's Worth Publishing

978-1-988783130

480 pp.

Ages 15+

2018

Regina authors Angie Counios and David Gane introduced their teen protagonists Tony Shepherd and Charlie Wolfe in Along Comes a Wolfe (Your Nickel's Worth, 2016) when Tony's girlfriend disappeared and the two went sleuthing. Now in their third book, Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing, a finalist for the John Spray Mystery Award of the Canadian Children's Book Centre's book awards, the two teens are in their senior year of high school and trying to respect Detective Gekas's request that they try to keep out of police business. But there's a serial killer on the loose and the two can't seem to stop themselves from investigating, especially after it becomes personal.

While Tony's family includes parents celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, supportive older siblings Heather and Jodi and countless family and close friends akin to family, Charlie's is more of a black hole. Though treated like a son by the Shepherds, Charlie tends to keep himself at a distance, that is until he is evicted and comes to live with them and attend school with Tony.

School becomes the focal point for the two boys and Charlie definitely seems to be fitting in. He comfortably hangs with Tony and his best friend Mike, makes new friends, and seems to catch the eye of several girls. When Tony is convinced that Detective Gekas wants their help in investigating the brutal murders of three seemingly-unrelated persons, the boys pursue leads left by a manipulative killer who feels compelled to retaliate against them when they get too close. But, as the title suggests, not all are as they seem and the deadliest character may be hiding in plain view.

Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing is a cat-and-mouse psychological thriller as Tony and Charlie attempt to uncover a serial killer. Even as author Angie Counios and David Gane alternate the story from the boys' perspective with that of the twisted killer, it was impossible to predict the criminal's identity. With a plethora of twists and turns and a multitude of characters, Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing is as involved a read as it is a thrilling plot. Still Angie Counios and David Gane tie things up effectively without being frivolous or simple–no one likes solving a mystery easily– even leaving readers hanging with a teaser about the elusive Charlie for their next Shepherd & Wolfe Mystery book.

The Almost Epic Squad: Super Sketchy

Written by Lesley Livingston

Illustrated by Britt Wilson

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-5785-8

181 pp.

Ages 8-13

July 2019

In this newest installment of The Almost Epic Squad, a series of multi-authored middle-grade novels that blend humour, mystery and fantasy, Lesley Livingston introduces Daisy Kildare, one of the four babies exposed to reidium at the Dimly, Manitoba hospital. Like her cohorts Jessica Flem and Gary Lundborg from Kevin Sylvester's Mucus Mayhem (2018) and Ted Staunton's What Blows Up (2019) respectively, Daisy is reaching puberty and unknowingly coming into her almost-epic superpowers. If only she knew how to control hers and stay safe from those who want to take advantage of them. 

Daisy has always tried to figure what she's good at and now that she has to choose a May long-weekend activity camp, she's decided that art will be her destiny. Her efforts are generally not very good until she grabs one of the old promotional pencils from the Dimly Bulb Company. Immediately she feels a tingle and a zap and her below-par art becomes extraordinary and is touted by Mrs. Winklehorn, the art teacher, as "an abstract-Impressionist-absurdist gem." (pg. 22) Kip Winklehorn, a parkour disaster, makes Daisy's acquaintance at camp and tells her that he's always heard that Dimly is well-known for its light bulbs, graphite and Splotnik, a liquor that originated in the Balkan country of Pianvia, and how all were revered by artists. Daisy could certainly use some help as her first drawing assignment at camp is a bust until she feels that familiar tingle and jolt and becomes the pineapple she is drawing.

From The Almost Epic Squad: Super Sketchy by Lesley Livingston, illus. by Britt Wilson

Fortunately, Kip, a kind-hearted boy–he has a three-legged, one-eyed rescue marmot named Percy–comes to her rescue.

...Daisy had somehow managed to turn herself into a tropical fruit. And Kip wasn't about to just leave her there to ripen. (pg. 58)

He discovers that if he erases Daisy's drawing, she will turn back to her human self. It would seem that Daisy's destiny was not art but rather transmogrification.

From The Almost Epic Squad: Super Sketchy by Lesley Livingston, illus. by Britt Wilson

Meanwhile, in a subterranean hideout in the Okanagan valley, Dr. Gavin Bafflegab is working in his Cryptolair to prove the existence of cryptids, creatures of folklore and legend.  He is working for the Boss, the elusive costume-wearing evil queenpin who has been tracking the four Dimly kids, and intends to raise an army of cryptids to secure control over the world. When his research associate a.k.a. lab rat Gerald recognizes Daisy from his time with Dr. Fassbinder, the doctor who'd been testing the Dimly babies from the time of their ir-redium-ation, he and Dr. Bafflegab kidnap Percy to entice Daisy to use her power for them.

In a silly amalgam of characters, plot and action, Lesley Livingston makes Super Sketchy into a caper of kids trying to figure out their skills, including superpowers, amidst the nefarious plans of evil researchers and masterminds and rats and a boisterous assortment of creatures such as Bigfoot, a yeti, Ogopogo, gremlins and goblins.

"...you never want to make a gremlin mad. But you NEVER want to make a goblin mad. Gremlins will just pinch you while you sleep. Goblins will delete your bank account." (pg. 152)

Kids will laugh themselves silly while understanding the need to find something that they're good at. They'll clap for a marmot's rescue, question a rat's motives, and they'll cheer for Bigfoot and his friends. And still Lesley Livingston will leave them wanting to know more about the Boss, a bizarre invitation to a potluck picnic and just what Bernard Cheeper, Department C Projects Coordination, wants from the Almost Epic Squad. With the final volume in The Almost Epic Squad series, Irresistible from Richard Scrimger, due out in October, it won't be long to wait.

 💭💭💭💭💭💭💭💭💭💭💭💭

For readers who will want to read the whole series, here is a list of all titles in The Almost Epic Squad:

Mucus Mayhem by Kevin Sylvester (Sept., 2018) Reviewed here

What Blows Up by Ted Staunton (Jan., 2019) Reviewed here

Super Sketchy by Lesley Livingston (July, 2019)

Irresistible by Richard Scrimger (Oct., 2019)

The New Football Coach

Written by Dominique Demers

Illustrated by Tony Ross

Translated by Sander Berg

Alma Junior (Alma Books)

978-1-84688-435-1

96 pp.

Ages 6-9

May 2019

Miss Charlotte is back! The astounding woman who touched young lives with her unorthodox ways in The New Teacher (2016) and The Mysterious Librarian (2017) has returned and this time she has been recruited to coach the Black Duck Brook Football Club whose headmistress Paulette Pesky in in competition with her twin Yvette, headmistress at Blueberry Bay. In a turn of events, always the norm with Miss Charlotte, the question of "Who will win?" becomes "Does it matter as long as we're having fun as a team?"

The narrator of The New Football Coach is Jeremy who is hopeless at football, or soccer for North American fans, but whose father, owner of a Sports Plus store, is determined that his son will play. When Miss Charlotte comes along and begins her lessons with how to lose and talks to her football, whom she calls Anatole, top scorer Fred Ferocio ridicules her approach but, for the first time, Jeremy is enjoying himself. After she invites new team members, including Jeremy's non-athletic friend Billy Bungalow and others whom Fred classifies as rubbish, to join, Miss Charlotte's coaching involves the kids getting to know their own footballs and developing their own strategies as well as offering them a special and delicious drink called smalalamiam. Will it be enough for them to win their match against Blueberry Bay?

Miss Charlotte has the right idea about playing team sports.  She recognizes that

the best team is not the one which scores the most goals. It is the team that has the most passion, the most enthusiasm, the most positive energy. (pg. 51)

Any team could benefit from this wisdom and the Black Duck Football Club does as well. The other team may be all about the drive to win, even deliberately injuring a competitor, but they have nothing on Jeremy's team of have fun pushing forward with song, gymnastics and secret codes.

Dominique Demers's Miss Charlotte books, originally written in French, are filled with silliness and wisdom, lessons and heart. They are ideal for early readers, blending fun storytelling with positive messages. For young children trying to learn right from wrong, Dominique Demers's Miss Charlotte provides the right kind of guidance. It may be somewhat unconventional, not unlike Mary Poppins, but Miss Charlotte demonstrates that doing things differently may actually be better and, with the hype and intensity shown by some players, parents and coaches when it comes to sports, she seems to get it right.

⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽

n.b. For French-language readers, there are several editions of this series available, including one from Québec Amérique with seven volumes.

Ghosts: Book launch (Winnipeg, MB)

The final book in David A. Robertson's 

The Reckoner Trilogy 

is set to be released!

•••••••••

First came

Strangers

  Written by David A. Robertson
HighWater Press
978-1-55379-676-3
216 pp.
Ages 14+2017

Reviewed here

then 

Monsters

 Written by David A. Robertson
HighWater Press
978-1-55379-748-7
246 pp.
Ages 14+

2018 

Reviewed here

and now

Ghosts

 The Reckoner Trilogy, Book 3

Written by David A. Robertson

HighWater Press

978-1-55379-762-3

241 pp.

Ages 14+

May 2019 

which launches

Thursday, May 30, 2019

at

7 p.m.

McNally Robinson Booksellers

Grant Park in the Atrium

Winnipeg, MB

Author David A. Robertson 

will be in attendance at this event

hosted by CBC's Shelagh Rogers

with

special guest writer Warren Cariou

The Divided Earth: The Nameless City, Book 3

Written and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks

Color by Jordie Bellaire

First Second

978-1-62672-161-6

269 pp.

Ages 8-13

September 2018

The Nameless City, Book 1 in Faith Erin Hicks's graphic novel series, introduced young readers to the Nameless City, a metropolis of Ancient China conquered repeatedly and changing names with each new occupation. Currently the Dao people, under the rule of the General of All Blades, are in power. Young Dao Kaidu arrives to take his warrior training at the palace and meets a roof-jumper Rat who lives at the Stone Heart monastery after her parents are killed. Learning of the divided nature of the people of the Nameless City–the conquered and the conquerors–Kai and Rat try to help make things right, especially after the General of All Blades is assassinated by his own son, Erzi, and a struggle begins to possess an ancient text in The Stone Heart, Book 2 of the series. The conclusion of that struggle for the power over the city and of that text is the story of The Divided Earth.

From The Divided Earth by Faith Erin Hicks

The ancient manual which harbours the secret of Napatha, the sacred fire which was used by the Northern People to tunnel through the mountain to create the Nameless City, is now in Erzi's possession. He has had the document translated and has his right-hand person, the formidable Mura, begin preparation of the formula. Meanwhile, outside the city, Kaidu's father, Andren, and monk Joah are attempting to enlist the help of the Yisun people, those who ruled the city before the Dao took it. With their help, Andren and his wife Kata, hope to compel the current General of All Blades to form an alliance amongst all peoples in a council of nations, a premise his father had supported before his murder. Kai and Rat are also at work, but within the city, determined to retrieve the book that Erzi stole from the Stone Heart monastery.

From The Divided Earth by Faith Erin Hicks

The Divided Earth is resolved via a series of altercations, including one in which Erzi surprises the Yisun army with weapons enhanced with Napatha, extraordinary chase scenes and some tricky negotiations, leaving the fates of the city and the ancient text settled fittingly.

From The Divided Earth by Faith Erin Hicks

I know The Divided Earth and all books in The Nameless City series are fiction but the history embedded within make it compelling text for teaching everything from ancient civilizations and the development of gunpowder to the nature of conquest and class structure and struggles. That's very impressive for a graphic novel. But that's me wearing my teacher hat. Young readers won't care about that.  They'll be too enthralled with Faith Erin Hicks's illustrations, coloured by Jordie Bellaire, that take them to an expansive city in a formidable mountain landscape where battles are for survival and land occupation, for power and for control, are the order of the day.

Though Faith Erin Hicks's The Divided Earth is a fast read, even as a graphic novel, its life lessons are long-lasting, impressing children with the need to get along and find room for all. There may be knife fights and arrows flying, all with the intention of subduing the enemy, but the message that we all deserve a place in the world is clear.

Please, stop the cycle of war and invasion. We can all live here side by side. (pg. 228)

No one needs to be nameless. We all belong.