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Geeks and the Holy Grail (Camelot Code #2), by Mari Mancusi, for Timeslip Tuesday

The first book in the Camelot Code series, The Once and Future Geek , mixed time travel between the medieval world of King Arthur and our own, and it is a very entertaining book.  The second book in the series, Geeks and Holy Grail (Hyperion, October 2019), is also entertaining (though not quite as funny; King Arthur as a modern day high school student is hard to beat....). When Morgana, sworn enemy of King Arthur, attacks the druids of Avalon, Nimue, the youngest of them, takes the Holy Grail and runs with it.  King Arthur is dying, and only the Grail can save him.  Desperate to keep it from falling into Morgana's hands, she stumbles into Merlin's Crystal Cave.  But instead of Merlin there to help her (he's on vacation in Los Vegas, in our time), there's only his very inexperienced apprentice, Emrys.  His attempt to hide the grail works, in a sense--as a small, flatulent dragon, it sure doesn't look much like a grail.  But it isn't much use to Arthur as a...
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The Secret

The Secret

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer, by Lamar Giles, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer, by Lamar Giles, is a fun  time-tangle of an adventure, that will delight kids who like their fantasy wild and whacky!

Cousins Otto and Sheed are legends in their most unusual county, a where reality is somewhat askew.  They've made a reputation for themselves saving their town from paranormal dangers, earning them two Keys to the City for their services.  Otto's the deductive reasoner of the pair, taking careful notes.  Sheed brings energy and determination to the mix.  The strengths of both boys are needed when, on the last day of summer, the mysterious Mr. Flux arrives, plunging them into a new adventure.

Mr. Flux has a  camera that freezes anyone he takes a photo of, and soon he's frozen the whole town, and time itself has stopped.  The boys are the only un-frozen folks left, so it's up to them to save the day!    The town is full of different time personages  (such as Bed Time, Business Time,  Crunch Time, AM and PM, and the mysterious Witching Hour), all at loose ends without the passage of time, and Mr. Flux is gathering them in, to use as an army to stop to boys' efforts to start time again..

A traveler from the future tilts the balance in boys' favor.  He's not able to tackle Mr. Flux directly, but who does help them figure out why he's appeared in their town, and how to foil him (this involves some detective work in to the town's past, and a bit of time travel back to the point where things first went awry).  And at last, with the help of two girls who are Sheed and Otto's rivals in saving the day, time starts up again....

There's more to the plot than this, of course (for instance, as shown on the cover, there's a robot).  The reader is plunged into adventure right at the beginning, chaos and uncertainty resulting, followed by a calmer stretch in which answers emerge, alongside some reflection by both the characters and story on friendship, jealousy, lost opportunities, and loyalty, followed by another burst of mayhem.  That middle bit is like the string of a balloon, letting the reader connect to, and enjoy, the fanciful elements.   But hroughout the book, the relationship between the two boys, who are great foils for each other and whose characters unfold very nicely during the course of the book, also adds relatable realism to the unreal adventure. 

This is Lamar Giles' first middle grade book, and it's a great one for younger middle grade readers (8-10 year olds) who like books that move like a fast dance from one sparkling thought to the next.  Sheed and Otto's adventure is a truly memorable one, with zaniness mixed with enough heart to hold it together.  

And with that I will stop mixing metaphors and thank the publisher for sending me a review copy!






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Dead Voices, by Katherine Arden

Dead Voices , by Katherine Arden (middle grade, G.P. Putnam's Sons, August 2019), is a delightfully spooky sequel to Small Spaces , perfect for a chilling read as winter draws closer! Ollie, Coco, and Brian became close friends under somewhat trying circumstances last fall--the evil Smiling Man trying to turn them into scarecrows--and now winter has come, they're on their way to a fun weekend at a new ski lodge with Ollie's dad and Coco's mom.  They almost don't make it through the intense snowstorm, and when they arrive, they find themselves the only visitors.  The snow keeps falling, trapping them inside, and the power goes out.  And there are ghosts. The day after they arrive another visiter makes it through the snow, a young reporter for a ghost hunting magazine.  The owners of the hotel aren't sure that publicity about the hotel's previous incarnation of an orphanage with a dark, sad, history is what they want, but the young man is keen to get ghost hun...
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Storm

By: D.J. MacHale This is the sequel to SYLO where a small island off the coast of Maine was invaded by the US Navy (the US navy is called SYLO).  The main characters, Tucker, Kent, Olivia, and Tori escaped from Pemberwick and got to Portland, Maine.  In Storm they pick up another character, Jon, a doctor from a Portland hospital.  As it turns out the US Navy is at war with the US Airforce.  Over three fourths of the worlds population is dead.  Tucker, Tori, Kent, Olivia, and, Jon are trying to get to Nevada where a radio signal they picked up said to come if they wanted to fight back.  There is a lot of action and the plot moves along at a good pace.  One thing that was different from the first book was how much you found out about their relationships.  Kent is with Olivia and Tucker is with Tori.  It sort of bothered me that they were so into who was with who when they were trying to figure out why most of the world's population was killed. ...
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