Today's read... Unstuck by Barbara Dee

Today's read circles around a girl, who dreams of becoming a writer. So, yes, it caught my interest just b because of that. Plus, there's something about the cover, which has me looking back it again and again. Maybe the little dragon? Or maybe the flowers. I do enjoy yellow flowers. Anyway, I'm expecting themes surrounding friendship and other common, middle school issues. Knowing this author, it will be well done, too.

So, off we go and see if it grabs or not!

UNSTUCK

by Barbara Dee

Aladdin

Middle Grade Contemporary

320 pages

ages 8 to 12

COMING...

FEBRUARY 27th!!!

From critically acclaimed author Barbara Dee comes a middle grade novel about a girl whose struggles with writer’s block set off unexpected twists and turns, both on and off the page.

Lyla is thrilled when her seventh-grade English language arts class begins a daily creative writing project. For the past year, she’s been writing a brilliant fantasy novel in her head, and here’s her chance to get it on paper! The plot to Lyla’s novel is super complicated, with battle scenes and witches and a mysterious one-toed-beast, but at its core, it’s about an overlooked girl who has to rescue her beautiful, highly accomplished older sister.

But writing a fantasy novel turns out to be harder than simply imagining one, and pretty soon Lyla finds herself stuck, experiencing a panic she realizes is writer’s block. Part of the problem is that she’s trying to impress certain people—like Rania, her best friend who’s pulling away, and Ms. Bowman, the coolest teacher at school. Plus, there’s the pressure of meeting the deadline for the town writing contest. A few years ago, Lyla’s superstar teen sister Dahlia came in second, and this time, Lyla is determined to win first prize.

Finally, Lyla confides about her writing problems to Dahlia, who is dealing with her own academic stress as she applies to college. That’s when she learns Dahlia’s secret, which is causing a very different type of writer’s block. Can Lyla rescue a surprisingly vulnerable big sister, both on the page and in real life?

GOODREADS   /    PUBLISHER

MY TIDBITS

Life is anything but calm as a girl chases her writing dreams, while reality plays its own complicated twists and turns around her.

Lyla's entire life is off-balance with her best friend in a different school and her parents stressing out over her older sister's college preparations. At least, Lyla has the English writing assignment under control. After all, the most awesome story idea is waiting in her head to turn into written words. Except that getting the right words down is harder than she thought. Writer's block hits hard after the first sentence, not that she'll admit it...that's if she had someone to admit it to. While her best friend is finding new friends, which have nothing in common with Lyla, Lyla only seems to be somewhat-ish connecting with a girl, who has more animals than a zoo. All Lyla wants is someone to share her writing highs and lows with, but nobody seems to care. Not that it matters. If things continue, she won't have any friends left, anyway.

Lyla is a very, normal seventh grader, who is easy to connect with. The writing comes across naturally, as if Lyla were someone right in the room. It's written from her point of view, and during the first pages, she addresses the reader as if they were her friends. After this, it switches gears smoothly, and she dives into the story.  

Many readers will find something in Lyla they can see in their own lives. She has a loving family but not a perfect one, especially since her older sister and parents can't seem to agree. Then, there's the entire friend drama, which is a very real problem for this age group as friendships change as fast as the kids do themselves. The insecurities are understandable and easy to relate to. especially since no one seems to 'get' Lyla. This is, again, something many readers of the age group will have no problem seeing in their own lives and be curious to see how Lyla deals with it.

It's a quick, easy read thanks to the lighter writing style. Lyla comes across open and honest. Sometimes, she gets a bit off track, while others, she lets her drama-side flow. It adds the right amount of humor (along with Journey's animals) to add smiles and keep the story light. The messages are wholesome and surround family and friendship. Plus, there's an awesome teacher involved, too.

While readers, who dream of becoming writers, will see quite a bit of themselves in Lyla (and catch a few writing hints along the way), fans of friendship problems will also enjoy this one quite a bit.

And here she is...

Barbara Dee is the author of fourteen middle grade novels including Unstuck, Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet, Violets Are Blue, My Life in the Fish Tank, Maybe He Just Likes You, Everything I Know About You, Halfway Normal, and Star-Crossed. Her books have earned several starred reviews and have been named to many best-of lists, including The Washington Post’s Best Children’s Books, the ALA Notable Children’s Books, the ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, the NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, and the ALA Rainbow List Top Ten. Barbara lives with her family, including a naughty cat named Luna and a sweet rescue hound named Ripley, in Westchester County, New York.

Review: Violets are Blue by Barbara Dee

Yay, it's Friday! This week just flew right on by, and I'm not sure where it went. But there was no way I'd skip out on reading today's book. This one caught my interest due to an original twist—makeup artistry. The main character loves make-up, not the usual 'girly' kind, but rather, she loves to learn all the techniques to allow a person to let their personalities shine as they become mermaids, zombies or anything else. Pack in several difficult themes, and this one was on my 'have to read list'.

Let's see if it was as good as I hoped, shall we?

VIOLETS ARE BLUE

by Barbara Dee

Aladdin

Middle Grade Contemporary

304 pages

ages 8 to 12

COMING...

OCTOBER 12th!!!

From the author of the acclaimed My Life in the Fish Tank and Maybe He Just Likes You comes a moving and relatable middle grade novel about secrets, family, and the power of forgiveness.

Twelve-year-old Wren loves makeup—special effect makeup, to be exact. When she is experimenting with new looks, Wren can create a different version of herself. A girl who isn’t in a sort-of-best friendship with someone who seems like she hates her. A girl whose parents aren’t divorced and doesn’t have to learn to like her new stepmom.

So, when Wren and her mom move to a new town for a fresh start, she is cautiously optimistic. And things seem to fall into place when Wren meets potential friends and gets selected as the makeup artist for her school’s upcoming production of Wicked.

Only, Wren’s mom isn’t doing so well. She’s taking a lot of naps, starts snapping at Wren for no reason, and always seems to be sick. And what’s worse, Wren keeps getting hints that things aren’t going well at her new job at the hospital, where her mom is a nurse. And after an opening night disaster leads to a heartbreaking discovery, Wren realizes that her mother has a serious problem—a problem that can’t be wiped away or covered up.

After all the progress she’s made, can Wren start over again with her devastating new normal? And will she ever be able to heal the broken trust with her mom?

GOODREADS   /   AMAZON   /   B&N    /    BOOK DEPOSITORY

MY TIDBITS

Difficult issues mix with make-up for a touching story about family, friends, and finding ones self.

Wren loves make-up and devours any video about the artistry where she can. Although she doesn't admit it, she's quite talented, too. But all of that takes a backseat as her parents divorce, her mother battles with tough working hours, and a move, which is supposed to make everything better. When Wren gets a chance to let her make-up talents shine, she's not so sure she wants to do it or not, especially when the tough secrets her mother has been hiding start coming to light.

The idea of weaving a girl's interest into make-up artistry into a tale already gives this one a unique and fun twist. The author starts each chapter with tips from Wren's videos and, mixed in these, are wise words, which glide right along with the plot and deeper problems. This aspect was refreshing and well done, already adding a lot to the read. But then, the entire thing is well written.

Many difficult themes are packed into these pages as Wren first experiences the divorce of her parents, meeting a new step-mother, having new step-siblings, losing best friends, moving to a new place, first crushes, and, finally, parents and drug abuse. And there are even more snuck in. Still, the author does a great job at sliding this into a seamless story, which flows as smooth as make-up. It's kept age appropriate and demonstrates how some problems aren't immediately visible.

While this is a deeper read on some ends, it's actually an easy read. The dialogue and characters stay natural, and the plot keeps a steady pace, letting one scene sit, and then going right into the next. It's never boring nor does it waste time on descriptions or an overflow of feelings and thoughts. And this is where I missed a little more on the character depth and felt like everything sometimes superficially flowed by without any real emotional connections. But this did improve as the story went along.

This is definitely an enjoyable read and hits themes middle graders will recognize and sympathize with. It definitely gets a 'thumbs-up' from me.

And here she is...

Barbara Dee is the author of twelve middle grade novels published by Simon & Schuster, including Violets Are Blue, My Life in the Fish Tank, Maybe He Just Likes You, Everything I Know About You, Halfway Normal, and Star-Crossed. Her books have earned several starred reviews and have been named to many best-of lists, including the The Washington Post’s Best Children’s Books, the ALA Notable Children’s Books, the ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, the NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, and the ALA Rainbow List Top Ten. Barbara lives with her family, including a naughty cat named Luna and a sweet rescue hound named Ripley, in Westchester County, New York

Review: Everything I Know About You by Barbara Dee

EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT YOU

by Barbara Dee

Aladdin

June 12, 2018

Middle Grade Contemporary

ages 9 to 12

320 pages

Misfit Tally is forced to room with queen bee Ava on the seventh grade field trip to Washington, DC, and discovers several surprising things about her roommate—including the possibility of an eating disorder—in this timely new novel from the author of Star-Crossed and Halfway Normal.

During a class trip to DC, twelve-year-old Tally and her best friends, Sonnet and Caleb (a.k.a. Spider) are less than thrilled when they are assigned roommates and are paired with kids who are essentially their sworn enemies. For Tally, rooming with “clonegirl” Ava Seely feels like punishment, rather than potential for fun.

But the trip is full of surprises. Despite a pact to stick together as much as they can, Sonnet pulls away, and spider befriends Marco, the boy who tormented him last year. And Marco just might “like” Tally—what’s that about?

But the uneasy peace in Ava and Tally’s room is quickly upended when Tally begins to suspect something is off about Ava. She has a weird notebook full of random numbers, and doesn’t seem to eat anything during meals. When Tally confronts Ava, Ava threatens to share an embarrassing picture of Tally with the class if Tally says anything to anyone about her suspicions. But will Tally endanger more than her pride by keeping her secret?

This is one class trip full of lessons Tally will never forget: how to stay true to yourself, how to love yourself and embrace your flaws, and how being a good friend can actually mean telling a secret you promised to keep…

MY TIDBITS

With a little bit of humor, a spunky character and heaps of finesse, this book takes on a difficult topic not often mentioned in middle grade novels.

Tally's class trip is heading toward Washington D.C., something she's theoretically excited about...if it weren't for most of the people in her class. To make matters worse, the teacher has placed Tally and each of her two friends with their corresponding worst enemies ever. To help get through it, Tally starts a game. Her and her friends come up with tiny secrets for each one of their enemies and tell each other each day. While some personal secrets are silly and cute, Tally discovers something very confusing about her enemy—a notebook with numbers which don't appear to have any clear meaning. As she tries to uncover the secret of these numbers, she stumbles across something which changes everything she thought she knew about her worst enemy.

Eating disorders aren't one of the themes usually handled in middle grade books, but it's a topic which does, unfortunately, affect even some within this age group. While being a difficult problem to address, the author does a wonderful job in these pages and brings the message home without hammering it in or taking wrong turns along the way.

Tally is a bit of a strange character. She's a twelve-year-old who doesn't fit in, except with her two friends, but still packs a spunky punch. Her style is way out there, and even when she's unsure of her decisions, she holds to her individuality and faces the world. At the same time, she bites. The first chapters do not present a mild personality, but she attacks her enemies with snark and harshness. This gives her corners which aren't always likable but definitely realistic. Tally has things to learn.

Although this takes place during a class trip, this is a book about people and their relationships. Tally not only makes surprising discoveries about those who she considered enemies, but also about her own friends. The bounds of friendship and enemies bend and twist in this tale while staying down-to-earth and believable. Each character has something to offer, surprises of their own and brings fuel to the tale. This is a story about feelings, middle school drama, getting to really know people, and realizing that everyone has their own monsters to battle. In this sense, Tally's sharpness turns to careful fingers and kindness which offers inspiration and food for thought.

And here she is...

Barbara Dee is the author of The (Almost) Perfect Guide to Imperfect Boys, Trauma Queen, This Is Me Fro Now On, Solving Zoe (Bank Street Best Children's Books) and Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life (Publishers Weekly starred review) and Truth or Dare. Barbara is one of the  founders and directors of he Chappaqua Children's Book Festival. She lives in Westchester County, New York with her family, tow naughty cats, and a rescue hound dog named Ripley. Barbara blogs at www.Frothemixedupfiles.com.
Read more about Barbara at www.BarbaraDeeBooks.com.

Review: Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee

STAR-CROSSED

by Barbara Dee

Aladdin

Middle Grade Contemporary

288 pages

ages 9 to 13

Mattie is chosen to play Romeo opposite her crush in the eighth grade production of Shakespeare’s most beloved play in this Romeo and Juliet inspired novel from the author of Truth or Dare.

Mattie, a star student and passionate reader, is delighted when her English teacher announces the eighth grade will be staging Romeo and Juliet. And she is even more excited when, after a series of events, she finds herself playing Romeo, opposite Gemma Braithwaite’s Juliet. Gemma, the new girl at school, is brilliant, pretty, outgoing—and, if all that wasn’t enough: British.

As the cast prepares for opening night, Mattie finds herself growing increasingly attracted to Gemma and confused, since, just days before, she had found herself crushing on a boy named Elijah. Is it possible to have a crush on both boys AND girls? If that wasn’t enough to deal with, things backstage at the production are starting to rival any Shakespearean drama! In this sweet and funny look at the complicated nature of middle school romance, Mattie learns how to be the lead player in her own life.

MY TIDBITS

With finesse, this book tackles a difficult topic while sticking to a realistic middle grader's life.

Mattie is a good student, loves books and has two very good friends. She also has a crush on a guy, which seems out of her reach. When she tries to figure out whether this guy is worth her time, she runs into Gemma and soon finds herself maybe crushing on her. . .maybe. When a theater production has her playing Romeo and Juliet with Gemma, things even get more complicated.

The one thing which impresses right away with this book is the fantastic middle grade voice. The girls are eighth graders (bordering between middle grade and YA), but they hold true to the eighth grade voice through and through. The concerns, thoughts and actions fit perfectly to the age group, and the characters could be friends in any kid's class. Drama ranks high as Mattie fights against peer pressure and deals with the opinions of those around her. Luckily, she has a good set of friends, who hold to her and treat her with gentle understanding. 

There's a lot of fun in these pages, and it mixes masterfully into the more serious topic. The read is light and engaging without ever weighing down. Although Gemma struggles to figure out her emotions and feelings for both a guy and a girl, the author never presses this theme too hard. It comes across as a natural predicament kids of this age group might face and doesn't go into what happens beyond. Mattie's feelings could be those of pure friendship or they might develop into something more. This innocence speaks volumes.

Much of the story rotates around Romeo and Juliet, and while this offers a lovely background to the plot, there were times that it went a bit to deep. Many middle graders are not that familiar with Shakespeare and some parts of this story might fly by readers of the intended age group.

Summed up, this is a lovely read for girls ages nine to thirteen which takes a modern day topic and handles it in a very, age appropriate manner.



And here she is. . .

arbara Dee is the author of seven middle grade novels, all published by Simon & Schuster--STAR-CROSSED, TRUTH OR DARE, THE (ALMOST) PERFECT GUIDE TO IMPERFECT BOYS, TRAUMA QUEEN, THIS IS ME FROM NOW ON, SOLVING ZOE and JUST ANOTHER DAY IN MY INSANELY REAL LIFE. Her eighth middle grade novel, HALFWAY NORMAL, will be published by Aladdin/S&S December 2017. She is one of the directors of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival. 

You can visit her on the web at www.BarbaraDeeBooks.com. Follow her on Twitter @Barbaradee2.

Review: Truth or Dare by Barbara Dee

TRUTH OR DARE

by Barbara Dee

Aladdin

Middle Grade Contemporary

ages 9+

256 pages

Just out on
September 20th!!!

A few white lies during a simple game of truth or dare spin out of control and make life very complicated for Lia in this brand-new novel from Barbara Dee.

When Lia returns after a summer with her eccentric aunt, it feels like everything has changed within her group of five friends. Everyone just seems more…dramatic. And after playing a game of Truth or Dare, Lia discovers how those divides are growing wider, and tells a few white lies about what really happened over the summer in order to “keep up.” But is “keeping up” with her BFFs really worth it? 

MY TIDBITS

Packed full of middle school drama, this story screams girly reality and the problems of growing up.

Lia is not a fan of summer camp and skips out by joining her quirky aunt for the summer instead. When she returns to school, she finds her friends wrapped up in a game of truth or dare--one which isn't always naive and harmless. 

The author does a tremendous job bringing the characters to life through snappy and very realistic dialogue in true to life situations. The intended audience will have no problem seeing some of their own lives mirrored in these pages and will easily sympathize with Lia and her friends. 

Much of this story concentrates on friendship and the age old but still very modern problem of fitting in. Lia faces the choice of doing what is right or giving in to what her friends want her to do. There's also a more than adequate amount of time spent on bras and periods, which is really too bad. Although these might be topics for this age group, the importance they have in this story is overly exaggerated. Still, there are tons of great messages in this book which make it a wonderful read and a inspiration which will aide girls as they run across some similar situations of their own--and they are sure to do just that.

Summed up, this book is a lovely dive into tween drama which, for the most part, fits well to girls ages 10 and up.



You can find out more about Barbara Dee and her books at:
http://barbaradeebooks.com/