Restart

Restart by Gordon Korman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this funny tale of a bully who falls off a roof while doing something illicit, then wakes with near total amnesia and is pretty horrified to find out what a jerk he's been. I enjoyed reading from the other characters' points of view as well as from Chase's, and I loved watching him choose to be a better person the second time around. It was a little unbelievable that losing his memory would have instantly transformed him into a kinder, better person, but I'm in no way an expert on head trauma, so I will totally give Gordon Korman the benefit of the doubt on this one and hope he did his research.

The other thing that kept this book from being a 5-star middle grade story for me was Chase's dad's abrupt switch from being a grown-up bully into a supportive father at the very end. That didn't ring true. I would like to think he, too, could change! But probably not without a lot of therapy. Dude was a jerk for a very long time, and he didn't have the benefit of amnesia. Otherwise, though, I loved this book!

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Monsters and Mold

Monsters and Mold by Asia Citro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Zoey and her pet cat Sassafras are back with their second magical creature to help. This time they meet Gorp, a monster who wants to attend the upcoming Monster Ball but cannot bear to go with his fur all moldy. Zoey and Sassafras have less than a week to figure out how to stop the mold from growing, and it's going to take some scientific experimentation to find a solution.

The second book in the series delighted my kids just as much as the first. I really appreciated how Zoey didn't give up when her first (and second) theories didn't solve the problem. She kept using the scientific method to figure out what went wrong and why, giving her a new direction to try the next time.

One thing that bugged me and kept this book from a 5-star rating was that Zoey focused on treating the effect (the mold) and not the cause. Figuring out why something is occurring in the first place and preventing *that* is so often a much more valuable use of time. I mean, she did think to have Gorp make sure he didn't go to bed with wet fur, so that was good, but when that didn't stop the mold growth, she didn't revisit to see what other factors might be in play. And yes, I realize this is a very adult, nitpicky thing to pay attention to in a book aimed at young elementary school children. But it's my review, and this is a science-based book!

I have no idea whether Gorp will make a return appearance in any future books in the series, but if he does, I hope we find out more about why Sassafras is so drawn to Gorp. I kept expecting it to somehow relate to the mold problem--like maybe because Gorp's fur was, I don't know, covered in catnip or something. But alas, no clue!

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. This is a great STEM title for kids ages 4 to 9 or so. Human characters are drawn as African American. Lots of illustrations to go with the story, and the main character is a strong female who loves science.

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The Magical Yet

The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We borrowed this book from the library a few weeks ago because my daughter has been struggling with learning math, reading, and P.E., and getting very frustrated and upset because she unfortunately inherited my perfectionism without my facility for numbers and letters. We've been trying to communicate our faith in her ability to learn if she persists and doesn't give up, but nothing was really getting through until we read this book together. She LOVES it. So today I bought her her very own copy, and she squealed with wide-eyed delight.

The embodiment of the Yet as a magical creature who remains with you even into adulthood, helping you persevere, learn, and grow seems to have flipped a switch in my daughter's mind. This is not to say that she doesn't still get frustrated and try to procrastinate or stall...a LOT...but she now better comprehends that the struggle is part of the process of learning, and she's more willing to keep trying. When she gets upset because she can't do something the way she would like and howls, "I can't do it!" we can say, "You can't do it YET," and that usually helps her calm down a bit. Her reading level is improving daily, and I have hope that the math will eventually click into place in her brain. The P.E., well, we make sure she gets exercise. An Olympic athlete she is highly unlikely to be.

I really appreciate that the main character is a brown-skinned child, and other diverse characters are depicted throughout, too. I love the easy-to-read rhyme scheme that helps the story flow right along, and I love that learning is depicted as iterative, with plenty of mistakes and stumbles along the way.

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