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You are here: Home / Archives for MG

The Natural Genius of Ants by Betty Culley

May 18, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

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“Humor, often stemming from Roger’s lively antics, is balanced with serious, thoughtful moments in this hopeful story that explores the reality of hardship and mistakes amid themes of forgiveness and resilience.” Publishers Weekly
“Quietly and emotionally intelligent.” KIRKUS

A summer ant farm grows into a learning experience for the entire family in this lyrical coming-of-age story.

Harvard is used to his father coming home from the hospital and telling him about all the babies he helped. But since he made a mistake at work, Dad has been quieter than usual. And now he is taking Harvard and his little brother, Roger, to Kettle Hole, Maine, for the summer. Harvard hopes this trip isn’t another mistake.
In the small town where he grew up, Dad seems more himself. Especially once the family decides to start an ant farm—just like Dad had when he was young. But when the mail-order ants are D.O.A. (dead on arrival), Harvard doesn’t want Dad to experience any more sadness. Luckily, his new friend Neveah has the brilliant idea to use the ants crawling around the kitchen instead. But these insects don’t come with directions. So the kids have a lot to learn—about the ants, each other, and how to forgive ourselves when things go wrong.

Betty Culley is an American author who  lives in central Maine, where rivers run through small towns such as the one featured in this novel.

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Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Fiction Tagged With: depression, MG, middle-grade

The Last Firefox by Lee Newbery ill. Laura Catalan

May 11, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month, March 2022

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BfK 5-star review

A heartwarming story about family, friendship and finding your inner fire.

Between bullies at school and changes at home, Charlie Challinor finds life a bit scary. And when he’s made guardian of a furry fox cub called Cadno, things get a whole lot scarier. Because Cadno isn’t just any fox: he’s a firefox – the only one of his kind – and a sinister hunter from another world is on his trail. Swept up into an unexpected adventure to protect his flammable friend, Charlie’s going to need to find the bravery he never thought he had, if he’s going to save the last firefox…

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: MG, middle-grade

Day of the Whale by Rachel Delahaye

April 29, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 29 Apr 2022

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Follow the big blue’. That was the last thing Cam’s father said to him. Cam follows Big Blue – everybody does on the island of Cetacea. Their lives take place within his rules, delivered to them by enigmatic whale-talker, Byron Vos. Byron was once a marine scientist but is now organizing an epic clean-up operation to revive the ocean after centuries of human greed and neglect. And yet Cam wonders if there is a more complex truth. A truth that may be connected to his father’s disappearance. Cam’s quest to understand Big Blue leads him to new friends and shared adventures – but the truth, when he finds it, is more dangerous than ever he could have imagined.

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Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Fiction Tagged With: MG, middle-grade

Ajay and the Mumbai Sun by Varsha Shah

April 20, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

Times Children’s Book of the Week 26 Mar 2022

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“It’s rather like Emil And The Detectives transposed from Berlin to Mumbai—you feel these children could and should rule the world…” The Times

A high-stakes adventure story full of heart from debut author Varsha Shah, who won the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction competition with a first draft of this story.

Abandoned on the Mumbai railways, Ajay has grown up with nothing but a burning wish to be a journalist. Finding an abandoned printing press, he and his friends Saif, Vinod, Yasmin and Jai create their own newspaper: The Mumbai Sun. As they hunt down stories for their paper, the children uncover corruption, fight for justice and battle to save their slum from bulldozers. But against some of the most powerful forces in the city, can Ajay and his friends really succeed in bringing the truth to light? Not to mention win the most important cricket match ever…

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: journalism, MG, middle-grade, newspaper

Yesterday Crumb and the Storm in a Teacup: Book 1 by Andy Sagar

April 20, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week 3 Apr 2022

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The first in a new fantasy series for readers aged 8-12, about a girl with fox ears who has never fitted in.

Yesterday Crumb is no ordinary girl. She was born with fox ears that have cursed her to a lonely life working in the circus and her origins are a complete mystery. But she is about to escape into the adventure of a lifetime when she learns that she’s a strangeling who’s lost her magic. Taken in by Miss Dumpling the flamboyant Tea Witch, Yesterday is introduced to a magical, walking teashop filled with fantastical customers, a flying teapot turtle called Pascal and powerful spells in every teacup! Yesterday starts to rediscover her magic and to feel a sense of belonging. But a mysterious figure of darkness is working hard to ensure her new life comes crashing down – and it all starts with a deadly shard of ice in Yesterday’s heart…

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: fantasy, MG, middle-grade

Another Kind by Trevor Bream ill. Cait May

April 18, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

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“Classic comic-style art is effectively deployed to show intense emotion and fast-paced action, and in addition to being nonhuman, the characters represent a diverse group of racial and gender identities that are generally background to the plot. A satisfying climax… makes this a fun choice ideal for a middle-grade audience with a taste for more relatable X-Men–style heroes.” KIRKUS

Six kids search for a new place to call home in this middle grade graphic novel debut by comic creators Cait May and Trevor Bream, for fans of Marvel’s Runaways and The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag. Another Kind is not your average monster story.

Tucked away in a government facility nicknamed the Playroom, six not-quite-human kids learn to control their strange and unpredictable abilities. Life is good-or safe, at least-hidden from the prying eyes of a judgmental world. That is, until a security breach forces them out of their home and into the path of the Collector, a mysterious being with leech-like powers. Can the group band together to thwart the Collector’s devious plan, or will they wind up the newest addition to his collection?

Filed Under: Fiction, Illustrated Tagged With: graphic novel, MG, middle-grade

The Boy Who Hatched Monsters by T.C. Shelley

March 31, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

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The conclusion to a trilogy. See other books in the set here.

Sam’s life has always been strange. After all, his family have no idea that he’s half monster, half fairy. But now he’s keeping an even bigger secret. He alone has the power to bring monsters to life! (He’s even got a tiny gargoyle hatchling hidden in his sock drawer.) When Queen Maggie finds out, she’s delighted. She wants Sam to create her a whole new legion of vile ogres. When he refuses, she vows that she will destroy everything Sam holds dear. And so the stage is set for a final battle, one that will determine not just Sam’s future, but that of the whole of monsterkind.

Follow the author on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tcshelley1/

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: MG, middle-grade, trilogy

The Boy in the Post by Holly Rivers

March 28, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 28 Mar 2022

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Siblings Orinthia and Seafra Shalloo accept a summer job from eccentric Grandy, who has collected a menagerie of furry and feathered posties known as animails. The children are especially fond of Geronimo, a homing pelican. But when the big bird fails to return from a delivery, Taber, the youngest sibling, is devastated — so much so, he mails himself to New York, where Geronimo had been sent. Orinthia and Seafra follow suit, stealing a precious stamp and hopping in a freight crate.

A brillantly-imagined fantasy world with a classic children vs adults feel and a trio of characters you’ll long to be friends with.

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Demelza And The Spectre Detectors

 

 

Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Fiction Tagged With: adventure, MG, middle-grade

The Secret of Haven Point by Lisette Auton

February 3, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

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[cover illustration by https://www.instagram.com/gilliangambleartist/]

Washed up as a baby beside a remote lighthouse and raised by a mermaid, Alpha Lux was the first foundling at Haven Point. Now the lighthouse is a ramshackle home for any disabled person who needs somewhere to belong. Looting from passing ships to make a living, they call themselves the Wrecklings, and for the children of Haven Point life is spent adventuring on the wild shore (and getting into trouble with the grown-ups).But when Alpha spots a strange light up on the headland, she realizes that her beloved family are in danger of being discovered by Outsiders. With their home under threat, the Wrecklings must decide what kind of future they want… and what they’re willing to do to get it.

An impressive debut middle-grade adventure.

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Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: adventure, debut, MG, middle-grade

Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba ill. Miho Satake tr. Avery Fischer Udagawa

January 31, 2022 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 31 Jan 2022
2022 Batchelder Award Winner

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“This imaginative tale, enchantingly written and charmingly illustrated by veteran Japanese creators for young people, has a timeless feel. Its captivating blend of humor and mystery is undergirded with real substance that will provoke deeper contemplation. Udagawa’s translation naturally and seamlessly renders the text completely accessible to non-Japanese readers. An instant classic filled with supernatural intrigue and real-world friendship.” KIRKUS
“In recent years, children’s and young adult fiction have increasingly focused on bleak and dystopic futures, where characters often face nearly insurmountable hurdles and their hard-won victories often feel bittersweet. Temple Alley Summer is a refreshing break from all that, operating on the dreamy and poetic logic of magic realism. The lack of any pop culture references adds a semi-timeless quality to the tale, set in a world where adults can still learn from their mistakes, where kindness and compassion can work the strangest miracles, and where everyone gets a second chance if they believe in themselves.” Strange Horizons
“[The] story-within-a-story is really the key of Temple Alley Summer. It reads more like a Western fairytale than the story of a Japanese elementary schooler. The narrative voice is also completely different from Kazu’s, an impressive feat by Kashiwaba and translator Avery Fischer Udagawa.” Asian Review of Books

The Batchelder Award* is given to the most outstanding children’s book originating in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States. The novel was published in the UK last summer but it has taken this award to bring it to ACHUKA’s attention.

From the writer of The Mysterious Village Veiled in Mist, said to have influenced Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away, comes this fantastical and mysterious adventure filled with the living dead, a magical pearl, and a suspiciously nosy black cat named Kiriko.  The book is beautifully illustrated by Miho Satake.

Kazu knows something odd is going on when — while receiving himself out of an open window — he sees a girl in a white kimono sneak out of his house in the middle of the night. Was he dreaming? Did he see a ghost? Things get even stranger when he shows up to school the next day to see the very same figure sitting in his classroom. No one else thinks it’s weird, and, even though Kazu doesn’t remember ever seeing her before, they all seem convinced that the ghost-girl Akari has been their friend for years!

When Kazu’s summer project to learn about Kimyo Temple draws the meddling attention of his mysterious neighbor Ms. Minakami and his secretive new classmate Akari, Kazu soon learns that not everything is as it seems in his hometown. Kazu discovers that Kimyo Temple is linked to a long forgotten legend about bringing the dead to life, which could explain Akari’s sudden appearance―is she a zombie or a ghost? Kazu and Akari join forces to find and protect the source of the temple’s power. An unfinished story in a magazine from Akari’s youth might just hold the key to keeping Akari in the world of the living, and it’s up to them to find the story’s ending and solve the mystery as the adults around them conspire to stop them from finding the truth.

*Five Batchelder Honor Books also were selected: Coffee, Rabbit, Snowdrop, Lost ; In the Meadow of Fantasies; The Most Beautiful Story”; Sato the Rabbit; The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas.

 

Filed Under: BookOfTheDay, Fiction, In Translation Tagged With: Japanese, MG, middle-grade, translation

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