Top Ten Tuesday: Back to School

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.

Every August I have to resist the urge to buy massive quantities of pencils, notebooks, and especially crayons. I was/am one of those nerdy types who is excited for school to start. Since I went to college, then grad school, then taught, my life revolved around a school year schedule for 25+ years, so it's weird now to know that September doesn't mean a new notebook and freshly sharpened pencils and cute erasers that I won't use because it will "ruin" them.

Here are my top ten favorite school stories, in approximate age-appropriateness order:

1. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. I love Chrysanthemum. I love her music teacher and her parents and this whole story. I make my storytime kids listen to it every year because it's such a sweet story. Henkes's other works are equally adorable and appropriate for this topic. 
2. Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard. I remember loving this story as a child, and as a former teacher I can somewhat relate to Miss Nelson's troubles and admire her solution.
3. Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. This book, amazingly, was popular when I was a child and remains popular today. 
4. Ungifted by Gordon Korman. This book; I love it. The story is funny and sweet and has plenty of lessons embedded in it without being preachy, and the main character is adorably hilarious. This one would make a great classroom read-aloud.
5. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. This is an excellent book for kids who have read everything or think they are super "advanced" for their age or just for kids who like clean reads. 
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. I still remember where I was sitting when I read the first book in this series. The magic of Hogwarts and the wizarding world still sucks me in every time. 
7. The Wednesday Wars by Garry Schmidt. I read this book out loud to my seventh grade students, and they loved the way the main character thinks and all the hijinks he gets up to. 
8. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This is a hard book to read, but it's important and it's good and necessary. I have needed this book, and I make sure to recommend it as appropriate.
9. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. This book is right up there with Harry Potter in my list of books that I love and often re-read. Just as many people imagine themselves being Harry, I think many people can imagine themselves as Ender, too.
10. The Magicians by Lev Grossman. This book is another one that I have savored, as it's magical like Harry but definitely darker than Harry and has many allusions to Narnia as well. 

What is your favorite school story? Do you have one you read every year?

The Evil Wizard Smallbone

Sherman, Delia. The Evil Wizard Smallbone. Candlewick, 2016.

Nick finally escapes his abusive uncle's home, only to find himself on the doorstep of an evil wizard who makes Nick his apprentice, which makes it impossible for Nick to leave his house. Smallbone has Nick cooking, cleaning, and caring for his animals; meanwhile the town around him is falling apart because they have not taken care of the magical protections the wizard had placed there. It takes the natural magical talents Nick has working together with Smallbone to save the town from someone even more evil than Smallbone himself.

This was an adorably magical middle grade story, and kids who enjoy fantasy worlds like Harry Potter would likely enjoy this one as well. The characterization and world-building are well done without completely hiding the plot, and the action scenes will keep readers turning pages to find out what happens next. This book would make an excellent classroom read-aloud as well. Recommended.

Recommended for: middle grade
Red Flags: fantasy violence; the wizard often threatens Nick and has in fact threatened his previous apprentices as well
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley for the purposes of review.

Learning to Swear in America

Kennedy, Katie. Learning to Swear in America. Bloomsbury, 2016.

Yuri is a genius. At 17, he already has a PhD and has unpublished work that will probably win him a Nobel prize. So when scientists discover that an asteroid is headed toward Earth, Yuri is high on their list of people they want on their team. He is flown in from Russia and placed in a group to solve the asteroid issue. Because of his age, few people will take him seriously. He doesn't fit in with the scientists, so he finds some teens and attempts to assimilate American culture through them, meanwhile continuing to try to convince adults that his idea is right.

This book was truly a good read. Yuri is a very sympathetic character, and I love that he simultaneously dresses in suits because he's around adults all day and also sneaks out of his hotel at night because he is a teenager. He is often frustrated by the adults around him who fail to take him seriously. Meanwhile, there is an asteroid heading toward Earth and that tension builds as the reader knows that, one way or the other, by the time the book is over they'll know whether the scientists' plan worked or not. This is a delightful story that would appeal to a wide range of readers.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: Yuri does eventually learn to swear in English (there is also a small amount of Russian profanity); he talks about having sex but never actually does, at one point while watching the asteroid, a scientist chooses to urinate in a cup so he doesn't have to leave the room
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

It Looks Like This

Mittlefehldt, Rafi. It Looks Like This. Candlewick, 2016.

Mike is the new kid in school. His family has relocated, and Mike's dad is trying his best to make sure Mike doesn't turn out "soft." Mike's friendship with Sean soon turns into something more than friends, though, and Mike's parents have to decide how they want to respond to the person their son is becoming.

After a very slow and stilted start, this book picks up and becomes interesting about halfway through. The characters are not very fleshed out, and the mention of church in the blurb is a bit of a misnomer, as church does not feature prominently in the first two-thirds of the story. The family could not accurately be described as evangelicals or religious or anything of that nature. I continued to read this book mainly out of obligation as I intended to write a review, but not because the pace or characters were interesting enough to keep me going. The story seemed to be told almost without emotion, and the flat, short sentences did not draw me into the story at all. As there are other books on this topic that are better written and more enticing to a reader, this one is not recommended to any but the largest libraries or those with extensive collections of LGBT literature.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: bullying, teen alcohol use, teen sexual experiences, drunk driving, a teen is sent to a conversion therapy-style camp, at said camp there is a creepy almost molest-y director, mild language
Overall Rating: 2/5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley for the purposes of review.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books Set in Space

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.

Space: the final frontier ... Here are the top ten books set in space:

1. Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card. The author's personal beliefs aside, I really liked this series.
2. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. This book is set on Earth, but a comet/planet/something from space - they call it Calamity - comes to Earth and sets the whole story in motion.
3. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman. This was an excellent book to listen to as an audio selection. I don't know that I would have enjoyed the print version as much as I enjoyed the audio, which was excellent.
4. Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay. Beauty and the Beast set in space on another planet. Shut up and take my money.
5. Cress by Marissa Meyer. This is book #3 in the Cinder series, and Cress is a Rapunzel-esque hacker trapped in orbit of earth. 
6. The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett. To be fair, I'm not a big fan of the rest of the series, but this first book in the Long Earth series is really good.
7. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Love this one. 
8. Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires. Binky doesn't technically go into space, but he does build himself a rocket ship and prepare to leave orbit. In the end, though, he doesn't want to leave his people behind.
9. The Martian by Andy Weir. I still love this book. I have read it maybe five times already and I haven't gotten bored yet.
10. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Again, the author's personal beliefs turn my stomach, but this is by far one of my favorite books ever. The movie was on the yucky side of "meh," but the book is excellent.

Have you missed one of these excellent titles? Then add it to your to-read list. Is there one I'm missing? Let me know in the comments.