Everybody Sees the Ants

Lucky isn't that Lucky. He is relentlessly bullied and his parents are powerless to intervene and advocate for him because they are paralyzed by their dysfunctional marriage. A social studies assignment to design a survey and chart the results goes horribly wrong when Lucky decides to poll students about which method of suicide they would choose. Not a good idea. After a particularly brutal attack, Lucky's mom takes him away to visit family in Arizona, and give them both a break from the pressures of home. Three weeks lead to a lot of self-discovery, and a highly satisfactory conclusion.
A.S. King, author of the Printz Honor Book Please Ignore Vera Dietz, took a lot of risks with this novel. The ants serve as a comic Greek chorus and work well in providing a counter-balance to the bleakness of Lucky's life. The dream sequences in which Lucky tries to free his long lost grandfather from a Vietnamese prison camp are also effective, if a bit of a stretch at times. However, Dietz pulls it off.
In reflecting upon Everybody Sees the Ants, Going Bovine by Libba Bray comes to mind. Bray took similar risks, trying new ideas and breaking down the barriers between the real and the fantastic. It is a joy to see authors testing their skills and pushing boundaries and concepts.
As a food experience I would rate this as Lucky's favorite dinner. Yogurt marinated chicken with tomato and pineapple skewers on a bed of rice. Flavorful, unusual, and for someone open to risk. Yogurt marinated chicken isn't necessarily for everyone, but if you are willing to bite, you will find it absolutely delicious!

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The Crazy Things Girls Do for Love

By: Dyan Sheldon Genre: YA fiction, School Lit Cody is perhaps the coolest, most gorgeous, charismatic and dynamic teen ever to walk through the pages of YA fiction. When he transfers into Clifton Springs High School hearts are set afire, and the Environmental Club will never be the same. Which girl will win his heart? There are three who are about to start an epic quest for love. This is one of the most delightful YA novels I have read in years. The clash of cliques is genuine and the pursuit of love single-minded and realistic. Even better was the deft weave of environmental education. Dyan Sheldon should be commended for not only telling a great story, but for effectively embedding the environmental message of "reduce, reuse, recycle." The gradual evolution of environmental awareness among the main characters, as well as the school and community, was authentic. Best of all was the highly satisfactory ending. The Crazy Things Girls do for Love should be part of every hig...

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This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (5/5/19)

Welcome to this week's round-up; please let me know if I missed your post! Here's why I do these round-ups-- --for selfish reasons I started because I wanted someone else to present me with all the mg sff reviews, but had to do it myself --for another reason I want to connect with all the other folks reviewing mg sff so that I can plug the Cybils Awards . I'm the Cybil's organizer for the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category, and in just a few months, the call for Cybils Awards panelists will be going out. I love all the panelists that have joined me in years past, but it would be great to have some fresh faces, and I would really love more diversity in my group of panelists. You don't have to have a blog, just an online platform you use to talk about books (goodreads, youtube, podcasting, Instagram, etc.) In the first round, which is most of the reading, we keep it to folks in North America, but international folks can be second round panelists ...

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Tim Defender of the Earth

By: Sam Enthoven Imagine a giant bowl of green Jello. You find it amusing for no other reason than the way it jiggles back and forth after just a slight tap. This is sort of how I feel about Tim Defender of the Earth . It was amusing but I not always because of the actual content of the book. Sometimes just the idea of what was happening was funny. Tim Defender of the Earth was a book about a giant dinosaur who British scientists created beneath London. He learns that he is and ho to be the Defender of the Earth from a giant 9 million year old kraken. This dinosaur's name is Tim, hence the name of the book. He defends the Earth from a swarm of nanobots that can genetically modify anything so that they can turn anything into anything else which includes into more nanobots. There are also two human characters, Chris and Anna. I just thought I should mention them because they are also sort of important. This book was very funny and the ...

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