Library Haul ACHIEVED!

I went to the library on Friday and checked out four middle grade novels.  Oh, no! I have to go back to the library and check some more because...I read them all.

Middle grade novels are short - ish.  200 pages or slightly more is a common size.  And the print is not big but it is not tiny either.  Still, I have been in a reading slump this summer.  It looks like I am back.

First book:
Song for a Whale by Lynn Kelly.  Iris is a spunky techie nerd who is Deaf. Her parents and older brother are Hearing.  Iris is the only Deaf person in her school and is having trouble because no one speaks her language.
When the science teacher shows a video about a whale whose song is higher than any other whale's song and who travels alone, Iris wants to fix things for the whale, (called Blue 55 in the book).  She comes up for a plan to "call" the solitary whale using her electronic knowledge and with help from the music teacher and her rebellious recently widowed grandmother.

The start of the book promises frustration and difficulty but things morph into a truly empowering - and fun - adventure.

Second Book:
Ra, the Mighty: Cat Detective by Amy Butler Greenfield.  Ra is the Pharaoh's cat, living the life of luxury.  His best friend, Khepri, a scarab beetle (dung beetle), convinces Ra to help a kitchen cat clear the name of a little girl servant.  This is light and fun.  Ra is not as inscrutable as he wants his friends to believe.  Egyptology fans and cat fans will enjoy this romp.  This is the first book in a series. The next book comes out in October.

Third Book:
The Missing Piece of Charlie O'Reilly by Rebecca Ansari.    No one remembers Charlie's brother, Liam.  There is no trace of Liam anywhere.  Even Charlie's best friend, Ana, who believes that Charlie had a younger brother, has no memory of the younger boy. His father travels a great deal for work, and Charlie's mother's depression grows worse daily. Charlie knows if he can find Liam he can slow his mother's illness down.  Then, someone messes with Charlie's comic books - just like Liam used to. And he finds a note telling him to talk to the assistant baseball coach, Jonathan.  The note looks like Liam's writing. What Jonathan tells Charlie and Ana leads everyone down a dangerous path.  I did NOT see the huge twist coming - not at all.
The past, regret, grief and forgiveness all play important parts in this novel that combines fantasy, time travel and horror in one. (Light horror but scary!)

Fourth Book:
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams.  Genesis comes home to find her family has been evicted - again.  Her unreliable Dad never paid the rent.  When he moves the family - Genesis, her mother and father, into an empty house in an upscale housing development on the outskirts of Detroit, Genesis has to start at a new school.
Genesis is convinced that her father hates her because, instead of being light-skinned and "pretty" like her mother, Genesis is dark black like he is. This preference for light skin seems to be a generations long attitude.  The only person who doesn't hold this opinion is Genesis' Mom.
Trying to find real friends, dealing with self-loathing, learning for the first time what she wants to do, all adds up to an obstacle filled adjustment in the new school. Then, there is the specter of another eviction.

Good reads and all different.  I hope you enjoy.