I love it when a book surpasses my expectations! And this book just kept getting better and better as I read through it. Set in the 1950s in a Texas town, the story starts when the military invades the town of Soledad. No one knows why, but us readers see the events unfold from the POV of Pineda, a Cuban American boy, who discovers someone (or something) in his barn.

There were so many layers to this story! It was action packed but I also loved the themes of friendship, acceptance, identity, courage that really came together beautifully ... which I wasn't expecting from an adventure book about aliens.

I want to comment on something else that may set this book apart. This book had "Moon Over Manifest" vibes. I love these types of books. Where you have an entire town coming together and putting aside their differences for a greater shared cause. And you get to love all the side characters as they show their own perspectives and experiences. This one was extra special as there POV chapters from each of the side characters towards the end of the book.

I expect to see it on my favorites when I do year end wrap ups and I consider this a strong Newbery contender!

Recommended for ages 9+. 

A bit slow to start, but I ended up enjoying this one! Loved the Finnigan family, loved Jane when she was her funny, non-polished self, and while the Dan type of character usually is not my favorite, I was a fan of his by the end.

A quick contemporary romance that is a great summer read.

What an incredible book about the pressures and expectations we put on ourselves, and how kids, especially young athletes, have so much pressure to be the best.

Vale has always been the best fencer at her club. She's ranked nationally and was on track to excel at the highest level. She's competitive to a fault, a perfectionist, and laser focused. 

But all that's changed, and everything she identifies with as a champion fencer is at stake, following an accident that injured her leg. Sometimes she has good days. But often times she feels shooting pain and knows that things are different now.

Things get even more confusing when a new girl joins the fencing team, and starts winning. Not just her bouts, but also the admiration of all of her peers. Vale is jealous and confused and mad at the circumstances that have changed. 

This is a story about growth. About perseverance. Resilience. About knowing one thing so clearly and then having that one thing change. And what that does to a young person's confidence. Their mental health. Their emotions.

Great therapy rep, very supportive older brother, and a little bit of romance makes this a very layered read for middle grade readers. Highly recommend!

The perfect ending to a delightful trilogy! I cannot express how much I love these books, these characters, this zany world. And I really adored Rosie and Adam. And Zeddie and Duckers. What a way to end it!
 
 Since the other 2 books in this trilogy are loosely based on Meg Ryan rom coms, I spent the entire book trying to figure out what this one was based on. And I think the answer is that it's not! But I still had so much fun with it.
 
 Read it for the vibes and worldbuilding. Read it for the slow burn romance and the opposites attract pairing. Read it for the side characters stealing the show and the fabulous glitter breathing dragons.
 
 Underneath all the zaniness is a complex and thoughtful theme about mortality. Brilliantly executed.
 
 I'll miss Tanria and these characters, but feel completely satisfied with how this series closed out!

Adored this YA rom-com! A lovely mix of humor and swooniness, with some heartfelt moments and family bonding thrown into the mix. Enjoyed the reverse parent trap storyline (or in this case, reverse sibling trap where Bibi and Sohel work together to break up their siblings engagement.) Great setting in Bangladesh with traditions and cultural expectations layered on.
 
 The romance was very cute, and I grinned like a fool during Bibi's shenanigans. 
 
 If I had to describe it, I would say it's the Bangladesh version of Crazy Rich Asians and Bridesmaids for teens.

My 10 year old loved this. We both cackled so hard in the car listening to the audiobook which is brilliantly narrated by Jerry Craft and Kwame Alexander. It's almost like listening to a behind the scenes documentary instead of an actual book. It cracked me up that their squabbles were part of the book too, which made for a very fun reading experience.

I recommend going in expecting humor, some of it over the top, and some of it very self-deprecating. It reminds me a bit of Pixar movies where there are jokes intended for the kids and then a few intended for adults sprinkled in too. The plotline was fun and believable and enjoyable throughout the entire book.

I switched over to the printed version so I could see some of the illustrations as well. A great collaboration between two Newbery winning authors that will no doubt have a lot of kids laughing and smiling when they read this. 

I enjoyed this atmospheric book that had a little bit of mystery and a lot of coming of age. 12 year old Lucretia Sanderson and her mother, leave their home in Vermont for the touristy but remote Candle Island, to retain some privacy after Lucretia's father dies. Why do they need privacy? Because Lucretia's mother is a famous painter, so famous that one of her paintings was bought by the first lady and hangs in the White House.

Their move to Candle Island is not without challenges, and many of those challenges kept me invested in the story. We have an Outsiders like town rift between townies and summer vacationers, especially those wealthy city folks who have vacation homes and come to the island every summer. (It's very Greasers vs. Socs.) We have a kid who used to live in Lucretia's house who comes off very hostile to her, and another kid who she ends up befriending. We have a lot of animals that Lucretia takes care of, including an injured osprey that she names Gullivan (it's very My Side of the Mountain). And there are clearly some secrets that are being hidden.

The only thing that bothered me during the read was that I could not place the time. Wolk never gives us a date or year! It's pretty clear that it's not in current times (a valuable painting that constitutes grand larceny is only $3000), but then there's mention of sports cars and some other touches that make it clear that it isn't that long ago either. (Afterwards I looked it up and in an interview Wolk says it's probably around 1967 which I wish I had known before the read.)

All in all, this was a unique but very distinct middle grade historical fiction with a little bit of everything.