Ancrum, K. The Wicker King.

Ancrum, K.  The Wicker King. Macmillan/Imprint  2017  305p.            $17.99  ISBN 978-1-250-10154-9  hs            Conflict        E           

Jack and August have been friends forever.  Despite their different social circles, they are both neglected and they depend upon each other for love, support, and guidance. Jack is a star athlete and pretty boy.  August is a drug-dealing pyromaniac.  When Jack starts to hallucinate and becomes increasingly drawn into a fantasy world in which he is the Wicker King, August joins in the fantasy, convinced he can control Jack’s descent into madness.  When the boys are arrested for arson, August convinces his attorney to claim insanity so that he can follow Jack to an asylum.  Through counseling and medical intervention, the boys are released and forge a new future together. 

The book itself mimics Jack’s increasing instability -- initially the story is printed on white paper, and then the pages proceed from gray through black before returning to white again.  The fantasy story within the story is jarring and frightening, but it helps to illuminate the emotional breakdown that Jack experiences.                           

Summary: A dark tale of mental illness and co-dependency between best friends Jack and August. 

Mental Illness-Fiction                                             --Lisa Teixeira

Burns, Catherine Lloyd. The Half-True Lies of Cricket Cohen.

Burns, Catherine Lloyd.  The Half-True Lies of Cricket Cohen.  MacMillan/Farrar Strauss  2017  246p.  $16.99  elem/ms  ISBN 978-0-374-30041-8  Conflict  VG-BN

This is a realistic picaresque of sorts, the story of an 11-year-old girl who has a big imagination and lives in New York City with her parents and grandmother. Cricket is an individual, always imagining scenarios and making up adventures, avoiding doing her school work, and out-of-sync with her demanding mother. One weekend she stays with her grandmother while her parents are off on an errand, and through a series of misadventures, she helps her family to face a fact they have been denying, namely, her grandmother's developing dementia. The book is well written and will hold the interest of readers who really like realistic fiction, fiction about family relationships, and great characters. It does get a little bit long in places, especially toward the beginning, before Cricket's big adventure with her grandmother. It could probably use a little more editing in this early section of the story, but by the end it is quite a satisfying read.

It will particularly resonate with kids who are familiar with New York City! Recommended for ages 8-13 or so.

Summary: This is the story of a quirky, imaginative 11-year-old girl living in New York City with her family, whose expectations she has a very hard time living up to. The character is compelling and will win fans.

Families-Fiction                                                                   --Carol Kennedy

Davis, Danielle. Zinnia and the Bees.

Davis, Danielle. Zinnia and the Bees. Capstone Publishers     2017   240p.   $19.99        ISBN 978-1-62370-867-2          elem/ms            Conflict        E-BN

Zinnia, an eighth grader, is a master knitter. She makes yarn bombs (think tea cozies) for any object. When she cloaks the school mascot, a rattlesnake sculpture, in a full-length yarn bomb as a last-day-of-school prank, her punishment makes her feel like her world is closing in. Her older brother, 18 years old, disappears the next day without notice. After eating an ice cream to console herself over the loss of her brother, she attracts a hive of honey bees that take up residence in her unruly, curly hair without causing her a single sting.  Her attempts to deal with this colony of bees who think her hair is their new hive, trying to find her brother, becoming friends with a boy visiting his uncle next door, and mending the fractured friendship with her girl friends keep this novel humming along. Lots of laughs, plenty of puns about flowers and birds, and even a first-person narrative by the scout of the bee colony all provide the reader with an enjoyable novel about friendship, family and growing up. A unique story featuring a girl whose character changes from being self-centered and angry at her brother and mother to one who is capable of understanding the fears, needs and wishes of others.                           

Summary: Zinnia, an 8th grader, loves to knit. She makes a yarn bomb (like a tea cozy) for the school mascot statue and gets into trouble. Her older brother goes missing, she attracts a hive of bees, and her summer is one she will never forget.  Gr. 4-8   

Friendship, Bees, Mystery                                                  --Lois McNicol

Korman, Gordon. Restart.

Korman, Gordon.  Restart.  Scholastic  2017  243p.  $16.99  ISBN 978-1-338-05377-7  ms/jr  Conflict  VG-BN

In this novel a young man named Chase, the biggest bully at school, has a concussion that gives him amnesia and changes his personality as well.  He cannot remember much about his life before the accident that caused the concussion, and has to rely on other people to tell him what was going on in his life back then.  Although the action of the novel seems to drag a bit in the middle chapters, it becomes very engaging toward the end when Chase is faced with making some decisions about his life and who he wants to be. A nice touch is that Korman is making the point that kids can be both athletes and intellectuals, and that being athletes does not have to mean they are bullies. An interesting take on bullying and victimization as well. If readers can get through the slow-paced middle they will be rewarded with some hilarious and exciting action at the end of the story.

Summary: When Chase wakes up from a coma, he discovers he has lost large parts of his memory, including the fact that he was the world’s biggest bully!

Bullying-Fiction, Humor-Fiction                                      --Carol Kennedy

Sonnenblick, Jordan. The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade.

Sonnenblick, Jordan.  The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade. 2017. 193p.  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-545-86320-9  elem/ms  Conflict  E-BN

This one is a definite winner, for upper elementary and middle-school ages. Maverick is short, unpopular, and poor, and he lives with an alcoholic mother who doesn't really take care of him very well. Still, he has a lot of spunk and drive, as well as integrity, as he tries to live up to the example set by his late father, whom he regards as a hero. The dream of being the kind of person his father would have been proud of keeps Mav going, as he faces bullying, being his mother's care-giver, and never having enough money to be one of the "cool" kids. How he navigates through these depressing circumstances and comes out smiling at the end of the story makes for a very humorous, interesting novel that will keep readers turning pages to see what happens next.  Highly recommended from the author of Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie.

Summary: With humor and pathos, Sonnenblick tells the story of Maverick, a scrawny, impoverished kid from the wrong side of the tracks who tries to get along with everybody, even the bullies, while also aspiring to live up to his father’s reputation as a hero.

School stories, Bullying-Fiction                           --Carol Kennedy