Middle Grade

I read and loved Alex Sanchez’s work when we first came out with the Rainbow Boys series in the early 2000s so I was excited to learn that he was releasing a new middle-grade LGBTQ+ story.

The Greatest Superpower follows our main character, thirteen-year-old Jorge, along with his parents and his twin brother Cesar. One day, their parents unexpectedly announce that they’re getting a divorce. The reason: their father is transgender, and he will soon be transitioning to a woman called Norma. I loved the fact that though they were divorcing, their parents made it abundantly clear that they both really loved each other — they just can no longer live together as a couple.

The brothers are gobsmacked by the announcement, though Jorge adjusts to the news a lot quicker and easier than Cesar, who refuses to have anything to do with their dad. I thought the boys’ reactions to their father’s news was realistic and extremely well done by the author.

Though there were several heartbreaking scenes surrounding their dad’s news and his interactions with Cesar and people in their community, there were also plenty of positive experiences as well, and I thought the balance between them was handled very well. I felt that the author delineated both the positives and negatives of coming out in a heartfelt and realistic manner and showed how coming out can be both frightening and rewarding.

Now while Jorge certainly does struggle with this dad Norma’s newly revealed identity, he steps out of his comfort zone and sincerely makes an effort to understand his dad and what’s he’s going through. I enjoyed the fact that we got to see first hand the struggles that a transgender person endures before and during the coming out process. I also loved the process of Jorge slowly beginning to understand and empathize with his dad.

Jorge then meets a girl at school to whom he’s instantly attracted, but hesitates in telling her about his dad. He also neglects to inform his friends about what’s going on at home, all of which results in plenty of relationship and friendship drama down the road. But at the end of the day, Jorge ends up facing his fears head-on and comes out a more confident person at the other end.

Many hard-hitting themes in this story, such as transphobia, homophobia, racism, racial profiling, fear, acceptance, divorce, and transitioning, all of which the writer handles with finesse and tenderness. Additionally, I loved the diversity in this story as it touched on many different sexualities.

Books like this hit me right in the heart, and I did tear up a time or two due to the emotionally moving narrative. All in all, I thought this was a lovely, compassionate story with plenty of heart and would be well-received by any middle-grade kids going through a challenging or difficult change in their lives.

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A Boy and His Magic

Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows is a middle-grade fantasy that follows 13-year old Thomas Wildus whose father, shortly before disappearing when Thomas was 6, told Thomas:

Magic is real, Thomas. No matter what happens, always remember that magic is real.

So now, seven years later, Thomas has neither forgotten nor has outgrown his interest — nor his belief — in magic.

In the beginning pages, we see the kind of person Thomas is through his interactions with others: the affectionate teasing and joking with his mom (and her nickname for him of “sweet boy”), his stepping in to help when another kid is being bullied, his close friendship with Enrique and Enrique’s siblings, all of which leads us to the conclusion that Thomas is kind, helpful and empathetic towards others — he’s the kind of kid who steps in to do what is right.

A Curious Bookshop

Young Thomas’s life takes a dramatic turn one day when he sees a curious old bookshop that he’d never noticed before. Given that he’s always on the lookout for books about magic, he decides to go in and immediately gravitates to the magic section and goes through the shelves stocked with dusty old books. An odd little man approaches Thomas, the bookshop proprietor, and after Thomas asks for books on “real magic”, the man offers Thomas a tome called The Book of Sorrows. According to the man, the book is quite ancient and comes with a set of rigid instructions. The man will lend Thomas the book so as long Thomas promises to strictly adhere to the instructions, especially the stringent rule of secrecy. Thomas agrees and excitingly, takes the book home.

Strange Things Begin to Happen

Thomas dives in what turns out to be a rather disturbing story. What’s really interesting here, is that strange things begin to occur once he starts reading the book. For one thing, the cover of the book slowly begins to change and it becomes clear to Thomas pretty quickly that there is definitely a paranormal aspect to the book.

Things get even stranger when Thomas can’t shake the feeling that he’s being followed and then notices that he is in fact, being tailed and tracked by a menacing dark van. Then, an old professor friend of his father’s suddenly comes to visit offering to tutor Thomas in Physics and there are numerous strange people that Thomas keeps seeing around the bookstore, some of which have an unexplainably unsettling effect on him.

Thomas Has Magic

Thomas figures out that it is his possession of the book that has caused so much attention and without even realizing it, he’s soon drawn into a world of mystery and magic. I enjoyed the slow revelations here as Thomas delves deeper into the book’s disturbing story with the book guiding him into a strange new world. Through the story and his interactions with the shopkeeper, it is slowly was revealed to Thomas that he himself has magical abilities just waiting to be discovered. Moreover, he learns that there is also a secret, a somewhat dark family history and a destiny awaiting him.

That is, if he can stop a powerful and dangerous magical enemy from arising and destroying everything he holds dear.

A Couple of Niggles

Though the story is interesting and action-packed, it does get bogged down at times by an excessive amount of detail. A good portion of the narrative is spent eating, walking up, visiting with friends, reading, sitting on the bus, playing basketball, and the like. While I do recognize the importance of world-building, I felt there were too many details that didn’t relate to the plot or add to the story. So bearing this in mind, the story does take a bit to get going.

I also found the snippets from the Book of Sorrows difficult to read. I know the author was trying to convey the feeling of antiquity, but the “eth” and “est” suffixes rendered the text a tad challenging to comprehend. An example:

“Yet the tale endeth not, for in the eye of Isham’s mind, the beast emergeth, like unto life…”

This wasn’t that huge of an issue, however, because Thomas summarized each of the excerpts so the reader could bypass them if desired.

Verdict

This was a wickedly fun and richly imaginative middle-grade urban fantasy with a compelling plot and endearing characters, who had quite interesting backstories. From the moment Thomas enters the bookstore I was hooked and couldn’t wait to find out the mysterious book’s secrets. This little gem of a story has magic, action, mystery, intrigue and rollicking adventure, and held my interest until the wild ending.

Initially, I was fearful that the book was going to end on a cliffhanger given that I was nearing the end and there was no resolution in sight. Luckily, I was wrong, and the story ended with a satisfying — and heart-stopping — conclusion.

I understand that there are more adventures yet to come so I can’t wait to delve into the next book. Recommended!

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Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related, for better or worse … and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum. Hermes

This is the second book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and I enjoyed this book as much as the first.

The Sea of Monsters opens a few months after the events of the first novel with our favorite half-blood making an admirable attempt to fit in as school — or at least, not to destroy the school. He ends up befriending a massive, unpopular teenager named Tyson. He’s feeling pretty smug about making it almost through the entire school year without getting expelled when cannibalistic monsters attack Percy during gym class, and the whole school ends up pretty much destroyed.

Then Percy gets word that there’s big trouble at Camp Half-blood so against his mother’s wishes, he, along with Tyson, (who is actually a Cyclops as it turns out) and Annabeth, rush to the camp to help. There, Percy learns of a diabolical plan to destroy the camp. Someone has poisoned the pine tree which strengthens the magical boundary surrounding the camp and with the boundary weakened, monsters are at the borders attempting to break in. There is only one possible way to reverse the poisoning and restore the boundary, and that is to obtain the Golden Fleece.

After being encouraged by one of the gods (who has an ulterior motive), Percy among with Annabeth, the daughter of Athena and Tyson our friendly Cyclops, head off on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece from an evil creature named Polyphemus who, as it so happens, is also holding Grover (a satyr and Percy’s friend) hostage. It’s also worth mentioning that it’s very likely that Polyphemus will end up eating our poor Grover in the coming days.

Of course, there are those who don’t want them to succeed, so the trio has to overcome all sorts of obstacles before finding the fleece, including new enemies and an old arch nemesis.

What I Liked

I loved Percy Jackson’s character, and I enjoy how he grows and matures in each book. He’s now much more confident than he was in the first book though his insecurities do come through occasionally. But in spite of his uncertainties, I find him delightfully sarcastic, witty and humorous, all of which comes through in his narrative. He’s also a flawed character who does his fair share of screwing-up during the story. He’s often gullible and seems to fall for almost every trap placed in front of him, but somehow, he always manages to redeem himself at the end. In this book, we see an internal struggle as Percy reconciles his reputation and his need to be respected by his peers against his need for family, specifically his unpopular newly-found sibling.

I also loved Tyson, the newest character in the series. He comes across as being utterly innocent and sweet, yet also resourceful. By the end of the novel, I couldn’t help but love this sympathetic character. His character also helped deliver one of the more powerful messages of the book: how it’s important to accept other people no matter who or what they are, and how we cannot always judge by appearances alone.

Like the first novel, this book consisted of non-stop action which I loved! Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson, our resilient trio, ended up in one challenging situation after another, each time using their wits and talents to overcome and get back on track.

I also enjoy meeting all the new gods and creatures that are presented in each book. In this book, for instance, we get introduced to a new mythological creature, the adorable hippocampi who has the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a dolphin, the deadly Sirens, the three taxi-driving eyeball-sharing Fates, and the witch, Circe who has an unusual penchant for guinea pigs. Of course, old enemies appear as well. Reading these novels is an excellent way to learn about mythology. I also felt that this novel added a lot more depth to the characters to whom we were introduced in the first book.

What I Didn’t Like

One thing I can think of that wasn’t quite up to par in this book was Luke’s character. He could have been built up a little more, given a little more depth perhaps. I’m also not entirely sure that I’m buying into his motivations which do seem a tad on the weak side. That being said, I look forward to seeing more of Luke’s puppet master in upcoming books — the big bad Chronos.

Another thing that I noticed while reading this book was that Annabeth’s character reminds me way too much of Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. It seems she has that same “little-miss-know-it-all” attitude which I find a touch annoying. I think I might have enjoyed a little more depth to and a little different spin on her character.

Mostly, however, there was not a lot that I disliked about this novel.

Verdict

Like the first book, The Sea of Monsters was a fun, exhilarating, fast-paced story with witty dialog and non-stop action, and I love the world that Rick Riordan has created here. The action is unrelenting, and the characters never lose their endearing humanity. There was a strong theme of friendship and family that ran throughout the novel which really resonated with me. All in all, this was a playful and rollicking book populated with lovable, memorable characters that kept me turning the page until the stunning ending. I can’t wait to read the third book!

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I read the first couple of books in this series years ago when they first came out, but I don’t remember too much about them. So I wanted to reread this series, especially since I want to read a couple of the other series by Rick Riordan and figured I probably should read Percy first.

For those of you who haven’t read it, it follows 12 year old Percy Jackson, who, after one of his teachers transforms into a terrible monster and tries to kill him, learns that he is a half-blood meaning that he’s half human, half god and that his father is one of the Olympian Gods though we don’t learn until later which one. He also learns that his best friend in school, Grover, is a Satyr – half human and half goat.

When Percy’s mom finds out what happened to him at school with the evil teacher creature, she and Percy hop in the card, and she takes him to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods – the 1/2 children of gods. Oh, and along the way, there’s a fierce battle with a minotaur.

While he’s at camp, there’s an unthinkable crime: Someone has stolen Zeus’ lightning bolt, and unless the true thief is found, the Gods will engage in a catastrophic war amongst themselves, resulting in the potential destruction of earth.

So now, along with the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena, Percy must journey across the United States to find the thief. Along the way, he faces a host of mythological monsters and old gods determined to stop him.

So I ended up loving this book, as I did the first time I read it. The Lightning Thief is everything that I love in a story: great characters, great villains, and plenty of non-stop action. I can’t wait to get to the next one in the series.

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