Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: NESSIE QUEST by Melissa Savage

 

Nessie Quest by Melissa Savage (Penguin Random House, January 14, 2020)

What it’s about:
Ada Ru finally thought her parents were going to agree to a Fitzhugh family vacation in Disney World the summer before sixth grade, until her father announces he’s taking a teaching position in Scotland, and moving the family there for the entire summer.

Ada Ru is anything but happy. She doesn’t like their new home, she hates haggis, and she certainly doesn’t like the idea that she will be away from her best friend all summer. To top it all off, there is said to be a monster in the lake near their house!

That’s when she meets Hamish Bean Tibby, Hammy Bean for short, captain of the Nessie Quest Monster Chaser boat tour. He knows everything there is to know about the fabled Loch Ness Monster and Scotland. But as the two unlikely friends embark on an epic adventure to spot the lake monster, they end up discovering more than they ever could have imagined.


Opening Lines:

“Words may seem innocent enough, but I’m here to tell you that they’re a way bigger deal than most people know.
They are so powerful, in fact, that they can change you in a single, solitary second.”

The Mafioso’s Thoughts:

What a great idea for a middle grade novel! It’s a totally fish-out-of-water (pun intended) caper, set on the bonny bonny banks of Loch Ness in Scotland, with a delightful  cast of characters.

Adelaide Ru Fitzhugh (nicknames include Ada Ru, Ru, Denver etc.) is the character telling the story. She’s twelve, lives in Denver, and wants to spend the summer at Disney World. Instead, she gets to accompany her parents to her father’s ancestral Scotland, where they are spending the summer at a former monastery. Ada Ru is initially determined not to have a good time at all, but she soon gets herself involved with a couple of other kids, one of whom—Hamish Bean Tibby, aka Hammy Bean—has a mission to be part of the official race to find the whereabouts of the loch’s famous monster, Nessie.

Hammy Bean is eccentric and singularly focused on being taken seriously as a Nessie sleuth. He is also blind, which is a salient part of the story. (In the afterword, we learn that Melissa Savage’s mother is also blind, having developed retinitis pigmentosa as a young woman.) Hammy Bean often thinks himself invisible and feels he is friendless (there is also a subplot about his parents, about whom he feels he has to tell tall tales.) Ada Ru and another friend, a guitar-playing American named Dax (he of the seaweed green eyes and one-lipped smile, who is fast becoming Ada Ru’s crush) become a trio of fast friends, with very believable conflicts and adventures.

I raced through this novel, enjoying the characters and the Scottish setting. In keeping with my usual views of parents in middle grade, I was delighted that Ada Ru’s father and mother were together, and were nurturing without being overbearing. At times, the Scottish phrases were a bit much (does a ten-year-old Scottish boy really say “tatty bye”?) but Hammy Bean’s pluck won me over. I was as sad to see this story end as Ada Ru was to leave for home—and am hoping there may be a sequel. But, even if it is only to be a stand-alone novel, I highly recommend Melissa Savage’s writing. (Once you read this one, go back and read Lemons, which I reviewed in May 2017!) As Ada Ru would say, Melissa Savage's writing has “pop.”

About the Author:

Melissa D. Savage is the author of Lemons, The Truth About Martians, and Nessie Quest. She is currently working on her fourth middle grade book, Karma Moon Ghost Hunter, to be released Spring of 2021.

Melissa is both a writer and a child and family therapist. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona. You can follow her on Twitter at @melissadsavage. WEBSITE

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: LEMONS by Melissa Savage (Interview and Giveaway)

LEMONS by Melissa Savage (Crown Books for Young Readers, May 2nd, 2017)

The Don and I are thrilled to be part of Melissa Savage's book tour. Melissa also agreed to answer our patented Middle Grade Mafioso questions so, after you've read about Lemons, stick around to learn more about Melissa!

What It's About (from Goodreads):
The search for Bigfoot gets juicy in this funny and touching story that’s perfect for fans of Kate DiCamillo’s Flora & Ulysses and Katherine Applegate’s Crenshaw!

Lemonade Liberty Witt’s mama always told her: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But Lem can’t possibly make lemonade out of her new life in Willow Creek, California—the Bigfoot Capital of the World—where she’s forced to live with a grandfather she’s never met after her mother passes away.

Then she meets eleven-year-old Tobin Sky, the CEO of Bigfoot Detectives Inc., who is the sole Bigfoot investigator for their small town. After he invites Lem to be his assistant for the summer, they set out on an epic adventure to capture a shot of the elusive beast on film. But along the way, Lem and Tobin end up discovering more than they ever could have imagined. And Lem realizes that maybe she can make lemonade out of her new life after all

Opening Lines:

"Bigfoot.
It's the very first thing I see when we pull into town. A gargantuan wooden statue of the hairy beast, stuck right smack in the middle of the square, like he's the mayor or President Ford or someone real important like that."

Middle Grade Mafioso Questions for Melissa:

1) Who are your favorite (middle grade) writers?         

I love Kate DiCamillo, Gary Schmidt and Kelly Easton to name a few. I also grew up reading Judy Blume and Paula Danziger, two more favorites. One of my most beloved books growing up was Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice? by Paula Danziger.  It was not one of her best known YA’s, but I loved it! That one and her Pistachio Prescription were books I read and reread growing up. It’s a hard question to answer because I’m always finding new favorites. I love going to the book store and finding a gem I didn’t know about. I just did that with Jason Reynold’s, As Brave As You. It should have been on my radar, but it wasn’t and it was just a gem to find. Now I’m a huge fan!

2) What's on your nightstand now? 

I’m reading Rain Reign right now and I LOVE it! I know whether or not I’m going to like a book by reading the very first page. And this was one I knew I needed to keep reading.

 3) Pick a favorite scene from your novel, and say why you like it.

I especially love to write dialogue between Tobin and Lemonade because they are so different. I think it’s fun for them to debate their differences and then have to come to some kind of agreement or compromise. However, one of my favorite scenes is when Tobin and Lemonade come upon the nest out back of Mrs. Dickerson’s house and find Scotty living there. The scene in which Charlie, Debbie, Scotty, Tobin and Lemonade all come to grips with Scotty being alive is so full of all kinds of different feelings all at once. And it also really shows Lemonade’s growth and healing as she reaches for Charlie’s hand just in case he has his own sadness quicksand.

4) Fill in the blank: I'm really awesome at.... 

Still being a ten-year-old on the inside, useless Seinfeld Trivia and binge watching cryptozoological reality shows of any kind.

5) My breakfast of writing champions is...

Matcha tea. I start my day every day with a cup of Matcha in my Bigfoot “I believe” mug for cryptozoological inspiration.


6) If you could visit any place, where would it be? 

I just took a trip this year to Scotland, my first time overseas and I loved it! I would love to visit England, Australia and Norway. And maybe . . . Cleveland? Just because I’ve never been there.

Thanks so much, Melissa!
For more information about Melissa, visit her website. And if you want to be entered into a drawing for your very own copy of LEMONS, leave a comment to say 'hi.' Ciao!