All Aboard for Wild West Mysteries and Ghost Train Adventures

 

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 The Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling was the book pick for September for my Kidlit Reading Book Club. I'm so glad it was! This novel has a fun and engaging main character and is a cute contemporary mystery to boot.

Aven Green has always treated her disability as an opportunity to weave outlandish tales about how she lost her arms. In some she lost them in a wrestling match with an alligator, in others she lost them in a trapeze accident in the circus. But the truth is Aven was born without her arms. Instead, she has learned to do everything with her feet, an accepted fact for her classmates in Kansas since Aven has grown up with them. But then after her father loses his job and accepts a new one, Aven is faced with a new home, in a new town, in a new state. Granted her new home is a wild west theme park in Arizona, but starting school in the middle of her eighth grade year someplace where no one is familiar with her or her disability is still daunting and scary. 

I loved the way Aven faces her challenges in this novel. She doesn't sugarcoat them, and they certainly aren't easy at first. In fact, the way the author portrays Aven's fears is very realistic and relatable. It makes the reader want to keep turning the page to see how she will learn to adjust to her new school and home. At first, Aven copes by hiding away to eat her lunch. But eventually she finds her own way and a new set of friends both of whom face challenges of their own. Aven also stumbles across a mystery in the novel, one that involves the reclusive owner of Stagecoach Pass, the park where her parents work. 

Aven is able to make the true friends she does through her ability to look beyond a person's exterior to see who they truly are and she is able to ultimately solve the mystery of Stagecoach Pass with the help of those same individuals and the support of her parents. She does this using the determination being born without arms has given her because she's spent her whole life having to learn to do things most people take for granted a new way. It turns out that not having them has given her something unique in the face of adversity, resilience. 

This book was a true joy to read and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a middle grade reader (8-12 year-olds) who enjoys a good mystery and reading about characters that offer them a new perspective on life. Also, if they enjoy this book they will be pleased to learn that it is the first in a duology. 

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Meanwhile, on the supernatural track, bestselling author Kwame Mbalia has a new series coming out that starts with Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek. This novel is a non-stop action adventure, and the character of Jax leaps off the page from the very first chapter. Jax starts off telling us he has been sent away from home by his parents to go and live with his Gran and his Uncle Moe. Some unknown occurrence that Jax seems ashamed about has forced this move in the hopes it will give him a fresh start. But when he arrives in Chicago, his bags are lost, his uncle, who was supposed to meet him at Union Station, is not there, leaving Jax literally cold and alone in a train station late at night. His situation and the mystery of why he is there makes Jax an instantly relatable character. From there the fantasy world of learning about magic, connecting with his ancestors and learning the power of true friendship begins.

Jax encounters spirits both helpful and malevolent as he waits for his family to arrive and pick him up. He barely escapes one malevolent spirit who threatens to steal his skin. Later, in his new home, Freeman House, he encounters other strange occurrences, such as signage that changes in the messages and words of wisdom it imparts and rooms that appear where none were there before. At school, Jax thinks he is just another sixth grader until he reaches his enrichment class and learns that he's been placed in it because he is a summoner. Someone who can see spirits and utilize magic with the help of his ancestors.

Mbalia has created an imperfect character who admits he has done some stuff he wasn't proud of in the past and doesn't want to mess up again. But Jax is also brave and from personal experience has learned that you can't always take what you hear about others at face value. To atone for his past mistakes, Jax is determined to stand up to bullies, do his family name proud and prove that he isn't just another screw up. He also strives to bring about unity between the other summoner families. 

Mbalia has cleverly worked in a valuable message of looking below the surface to take time to truly get to know someone rather than allowing false information, rumor, or unconscious bias dictate impressions about people. A powerful and timely message for young people in today's society. He does this through his vivid character, Jax. I also enjoyed the bits of history of African Americans and other minorities that are sprinkled throughout the story as well. Those overlooked and underrepresented individuals and names woven into the narrative will hopefully give readers new insight into the history of America from a different perspective than they might be used to. All in all I would encourage anyone with younger readers in the middle grade reader age range to get this book when it comes out. It's a fun page-turner with a great message and it is the first in an exciting new series by Kwame Mbalia. I have to thank both NetGalley, Disney Hyperion and Freedom Fire for allowing me to read a free eARC in exchange for this honest review. Jax Freeman hits shelves on October 1, 2024.

Action, Adventure, Time Travel and Dystopian Alternate History for Middle Graders, Oh My!

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Westfallen by the brother and sister duo Ann and Ben Brashares is an edge-of-your seat adventure for readers ages 8-12 that includes time travel and alternate history elements that change the contemporary world into an eerie dystopian alternate reality. It blends elements of communicating through time reminiscent of the older movie Frequency with the dystopian, alternate history elements of The Man in the High Tower, only geared toward a Gen Z and Gen Alpha audience. It also includes a diverse cast of kids as the main characters and deals with themes of friendship, inclusivity and bigotry.

The story unfolds when three friends in the present, Henry, Frances and Lukas, come together after having drifted apart through middle school to bury a beloved pet they all shared. In the process, they uncover a mysterious radio that lets them talk to three other friends, Alice, Lawrence, and Artie, who live in the same town as them, but seventy-nine years in the past. What starts out as a fun and harmless comparison of life in 2023 to life in 1944 soon takes a dark turn. Somehow sharing information about the future with those in the past changes the outcome of WWII and causes the kids in 2023 to find themselves in an alternate United States controlled by the Nazis. Even worse, Henry, Lukas and Frances have no idea what they said that caused history to change or have any idea how they will be able to change it back. 

The pacing in this novel never lets up. As each event occurs, the tension builds and things go from bad to worse with each domino drop. The authors did an excellent job as well of making it a mystery how the six kids will fix the past to save the future after they decide using the radio to communicate is too dangerous. Unfortunately, this is proven true after they've decided to take steps not to talk to each other anymore, leaving the 2023 group stranded in an new dystopian reality. Of course, determination, friendship and more than a little ingenuity helps as they slowly figure out what happened to change the past and concoct a plan to stop it from happening. However, just when you think everything is back to normal and the world has been saved from Nazi rule, some clues foreshadow that maybe not all the problems for the characters have been solved after all. The cliffhanger ending also leaves things open for more adventures to come. 

I only wish that the release date for the sequel had been announced before I finished this first book. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves action and adventure with time travel, alternate history and dystopian elements, especially readers in the middle grade (8-12) age range. I thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exchange for this honest review. The release date for Westfallen is very soon on September 17th!

Stay tuned for my next reviews for two other middle grade novels in a couple of weeks, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling and Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek by Kwame Mbalia. Below are covers and blurbs for both books. The cover images were each copied from Goodreads along with the blurb for Insignificant Events. The blurb for Jax Freeman was copied from NetGalley. 

Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again.

Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

What do you get when you combine Kwame Mbalia's incredible imagination and world-building talent with trains, history, and ghosts? Nothing less than middle grade magic. 

On his twelfth birthday, Jackson "Jax" Freeman arrives at Chicago's Union Station alone, carrying nothing but the baggage of a scandal back in Raleigh. He's been sent away from home to live with relatives he barely knows. But even worse are the strangers who accost him at the train station, including a food vendor who throws dust in his face and a conductor who tries to steal his skin.

At his new school, Jax is assigned to a special class for "summoners," even though he has no idea what those are . . . until he accidentally unleashes an angry spirit on school grounds. Soon Jax is embroiled in all kinds of trouble, from the disappearance of a new friend to full-out war between summoning families.

When Jax learns that he isn't the first Freeman to be blamed for a tragedy he didn't create, he resolves to clear his own name and that of his great-grandfather, who was a porter back in the 1920's. By following clues, Jax and his schoolmates unlock the secrets of a powerful Praise House, evade vengeful ghosts, and discover that Jax may just be the most talented summoner of all.

A unique magic-school fantasy from the best-selling and award-winning author of the Tristan Strong trilogy has just pulled into the station.