Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: REVENGE OF THE SNOB SQUAD

REVENGE OF THE SNOB SQUAD (Julie Anne Peters; Little Brown 1998)

What it's about (from Goodreads blurb):

Jenny is a candy addict. Lydia is a complete klutz, and a "know-it-all" shrink's daughter. Prairie has an artificial leg. And Max -- well, Max is in a class by herself. The four of them are forced into becoming a relay race team in gym, and call themselves the "Snob Squad" as a joke. Soon, to their surprise, they find they've become friends -- and band together against principal's daughter Ashley Krupps, who has been making their lives miserable since the beginning of the school year. Their hilarious revenge tactics -- and the story's underlying poignancy -- will have readers cheering for more.

Why I liked it: 

I picked this up because of research for a novel idea, and immediately enjoyed the writer's voice and humor. The MC, Jenny Solano, has an engaging way with words and is a totally believable teen. Here's the beginning:

"If they gave out a World's Worst Whiner Award, Lydia Beals would get it. She was already an official member of the Mickey Mouth Club. Totally obnoxious. And a brown-noser to boot. Nobody at Montrose Middle School could stand Lydia Beals. Including me."

The "Snob Squad" starts out as a band of misfits who are wary of one another, but end up by having the "most improved time" in the relays. As Jenny says, they're no longer as "slow as Saskatchewan." 

This is a quick and enjoyable read for ages 9 and up. There are two other titles in the series, which I would plan to read.

More About the Author: 

Julie Anne Peters sounds as funny on her website as she does in her books. I also enjoyed this interview with her by Cynthia Leitich Smith.

Julie Anne Peters

We're back!!

Yes, it's mid-January--a time when Mafioso of every stripe arise from hibernation. The Don's leaf "clean-up" operation is going great guns (pardon the pun!) blowing leaves into the gutters of harried homeowners, and then charging a hefty fee for their removal. ("Hey, a man's gotta put food on his table, Michele.") As for my immediate family, my wife Marie has recovered almost completely from her surgery in December and returns to work full-time on Monday. Thanks to all of you who sent well-wishes her way.

Middle Grade Mafioso has quite a busy schedule planned for the early part of the year. We're chomping at the bit to review the Cybils' middle grade titles we've been reading, as well as a couple of other books which have come our way. However, the code of silence (which, of course the Don loves) means that the Cybils have to be kept under wraps until the winner is announced sometime in February.

To keep you busy till then, keep abreast of the goings on over at Project Mayhem, the wonderful group blog of which I'm honored to be a member. We've added FOUR new writers to the team--Dianne Salerni, Chris Eboch, James Mihaley, and Lee Wardlaw--after receiving a bunch of amazing applicants. There is so much talent out there!!

But for right now, scoot on over to my review today of THE SECRET ROOM by German writer Antonio Michaelis, and please leave a comment. Also, on Monday, Marvelous Mike Winchell will be unveiling a middle grade contest in which the winner's manuscript will be sent on to his agent, Alyssa Eisner Henkin. The Don's offered to throw in his yard-cleaning crew as a prize, but I've persuaded him that an ice chest of gelato might be more welcome instead. Of course, if the other famiglia hear about these goings on, all bets are off.

Till then, Happy New Year to you all. Let's hope it's a superspecial one.

The Mystery of the Missing Mafioso...

Hi All,

I don't usually post in a serious and personal manner, but I would like you to know why I've been so low-profile lately. (Those of you who have befriended me on Facebook may already know all of this stuff, in which case you can traipse off to read other blogs!)

In the summer, my wife Marie, after suffering hearing loss in her left ear, was diagnosed with having a cholesteatoma. My best description of this little bugger is that it's a non-malignant but bone-eating ear tumor. In Marie's case, surgery to remove it in August showed that it had wreaked havoc, destroying her hearing bones. Worse still, it had eaten into the dura mater, which is the lining that surrounds and shields the brain. The surgeon saw brain tissue leaking into the ear cavity. The upshot was that she needed reconstructive brain surgery--and that took place this past Wednesday, the 12th.

After such surgeries, it is necessary for the patient to spend some time in the ICU, to monitor potential brain swelling. Marie was there for three days, during which time I named her the "perkiest ICU patient ever." She has since moved to a regular room in the hospital, with the hope that she will go home today.

I have been doing my best to support her, as well as ensure that the lives of my three sons remain as normal as possible. Hence my spotty internet presence. I know you'll tell me to chill, but I do feel bad that I haven't been replying to your comments--or worse, visiting your blogs these past few weeks. I so value the sense of community our Marvelous Middle Grade Monday has created!!

While Marie recovers at home, I've decided to put Middle Grade Mafioso on hold until the new year. (It's time for a holiday break, anyway.) I send you my best wishes for the holiday season and for 2013. Right now, the Don's carving slices of panettone, which we intend to eat in your honor. So to all of you: Buon Natale e felice anno nuevo! See you in 2013!!

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Out of my Mnd

Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper (Atheneum, March 2010)

Read with my 9-year-old as part of the Oregon Battle of the Books 2013 project.

There was a lot of word-of-mouth about this book, and my son was eager to read it. It didn't disappoint!

The story (via Goodreads):
Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers and doctors included—don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write. Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

Opening lines: Words. I'm surrounded by thousands of words. Maybe millions.

What I liked: Words are indeed the stuff of Melody's life. She is a genius trapped in a body that doesn't work because of cerebral palsy. I found her voice to be engaging, and her struggles and triumphs to be believable. She has loving parents, who nonetheless have issues trying to care for her and to understand her. 

The major plot point has to do with Melody qualifying for her school's trivia team, and the reactions which ensue. I appreciated that the whole thing didn't spiral down into a Hallmark moment, and that there was a setback and a near tragedy. I found the experience of reading it as being similar to WONDER--as in I should have shares in Kleenex! This is a five-hanky one!!

My son was eager to read this every night. He too found the character of Melody appealing, and enjoyed the humor. The mean girls also got a well-deserved raspberry from him. I'd recommend this for 4th grade and above.

If you want to know more about the author here's an interview with Sharon M. Draper at Goodreads.

Happy Marvelous Middle Grade Monday Everyone!!

The 13th Sign Contest: Prizes Galore (and a Chance to Donate)

Buongiorno a tutti! We're all excited here at Middle Grade Mafioso because it's the Don's birth week and on the 7th, he's hosting a massive party. I can't wait for the cannoli.

The charming and creative
Kristin O'Donnell Tubb

It's also our day to host Kristin O'Donnell Tubb's THE 13^TH SIGN Preorder Contest! This may in fact been one of the most fun blog tours ever. Because The 13th SIGN has astrology at its core, Kristin came up with a wonderful idea to both promote her forthcoming novel as well as raise money for the charity Reading Is Fundamental, a literacy program committed to placing books in the hands of kids who need them most.

About the book: 

What if there was a 13th zodiac sign? 


You’re no longer Sagittarius, but Ophiuchus, the healer, the 13th sign. 


Your personality has changed. So has your mom’s and your best friend’s. 


What about the rest of the world? 


What if you were the one who accidentally unlocked the 13th sign, causing this world-altering change, and infuriating the other 12 signs?  


Jalen did it, and now she must use every ounce of her strength and cunning to send the signs back where they belong. Lives, including her own, depend upon it.

(Doesn't that sound cool?! I've been glued to my horoscope all week. I've also badgered my pals at Project Mayhem to reveal their star signs. Would you believe that all the guys (Matt MacNish, Mike Winchell, and Paul Greci) are sensitive Pisceans? And that Shannon O' Donnell and Dawn Lairamore are enthusiastic Aries like me? Yahong Chi's a Taurus, Marissa Burt a Leo, Hilary Wagner a Scorpio, and Caroline Starr Rose a Sagittarius. I think you'll all agree that, mixed together, we are a true force for Mayhem.)

I tried hard to find a Capricorn, but they were shy.

Which makes sense. According to my astrology book, CAPRICORN characteristics include being ambitious, trustworthy, calm, a loner, pessimistic, and determined. Yup, the Capricorns on Twitter were in total loner mode. And Michelle Obama, Kate Middleton, and Orlando Bloom never got back to me.

But Aries is always game for new, fun things. In my astrology immersion, I also took THE 13^TH SIGN quiz, which taught me more about my 12-sign horoscope, my 13-sign horoscope, and which horoscope sign I ACT like? (Reveal: I'm an Aries who acts like a Virgo!! Egads!)

Anyway. (Another Aries trait is having a LOT to say...)

What is this contest all about?

If you preorder a copy of THE 13^TH SIGN by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb TODAY, you'll get the chance to win... (drum roll)  

-zodiac charm – sign of your choice

-signed THE 13^TH SIGN swag

-$10 itunes gift card

-signed paperback of AUTUMN WINIFRED OLIVER DOES THINGS DIFFERENT by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb

-a 13^th SIGN t-shirt

How do you enter?

Preorder THE 13^TH SIGN! You can preorder it through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, or through your local independent bookstore. Then email your receipt TO KRISTIN at ktubb@comcast.net. You will be entered into that day’s drawing, the grand prize drawing, and your purchase will be *matched* by a $1.00 donation to RIF!

Are there other ways to enter the contest?

Yep!  You can be entered into the daily prize drawings by doing one or more of the following:

-Each preorder of THE 13^TH SIGN = 10 entries into grand prize drawing and 10 entries into that day’s drawing

- Each person who blogs about the contest = 10 entries into that day’s drawing

-Each person who changes Twitter or Facebook avatar to cover = 5 entries into that day’s drawing (for each day it is present) [Get those avatars a-changing. I'm going to be The 13th Sign for the Day]

-Each Tweet or Facebook status mention of the book and contest = 2 entries for that day’s drawing (must include hashtag #the13thsign)

-Each RT of book and/or contest = 1 entry for that day’s drawing

BUT. You have to preorder THE 13^TH SIGN to enter to win the grand prize and to have your purchase matched with a RIF donation.

ALSO. To make sure you get the correct amount of entries, please let Kristin know if you’ve done any of the above! You can email her at ktubb@comcast.net with everything you’ve done to enter.

What is the grand prize? [Oh, mamma mia, this one I would love. Hope the Don's making a Christmas list...]

A Nexus 7 ereader! BOOM.  The grand prize winner will be announced on Kristin’s blog on Friday, December 7.

How long does the preorder contest last?

13 days total! You can visit these other blogs for each day’s prizes:

DAY ARIES: The Book Vortex

DAY TAURUS:  The Housework Can Wait

DAY GEMINI:  Magnet 4 Books

DAY CANCER:  Abby the Librarian

DAY LEO:  Mother Daughter Book Club

DAY VIRGO: S. R. Johannes/Market My Words

DAY LIBRA: Elizabeth O. Dulemba

DAY SCORPIO:  Citrus Reads

DAY OPHIUCHUS: Young Adult Books Central

DAY SAGITTARIUS: Bloggers [heart] Books

DAY CAPRICORN: - Middle Grade Mafioso

DAY AQUARIUS: Smack Dab in the Middle

DAY PISCES: From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors

Good luck! And don’t forget to take THE 13^TH SIGN quiz! J

A Day for YA: Devine Intervention

Okay youse all. I know we're all middle grade and mafioso on this blog, but the Don's grand kids are getting older and he's allowing me the latitude to at least mention YA. In his words, "If youse is gonna get all lovey-dovey and crazy wid da hormones, just make sure it ain't wid a vampire."

So, I'm happy to announce the inaugural "A Day for YA" on MGM. In keeping with the Don's Vampirophobia, I've chosen a novel which I think's got it all: a guardian angel-in-training with an arrow through his head, snappy writing with jokes zinging off the page, and a view of the afterlife that only someone seriously hilarious could dream up. That novel is Martha Brockenbrough's debut,  DEVINE INTERVENTION.

Opening Paragraph: "One Monday morning, a couple years before my cousin Mike shot me in the forehead with an arrow, my eighth-grade homeroom teacher brought two cartons of raw eggs to school.

Second paragraph: "Who can tell me what these are?" Mrs. Domino said. She was wearing her second-hottest skirt, the one with the cherries on it. Score."

Okay, folks. Right there, in four sentences, you've got VOICE, BELIEVABLE TEENSPEAK, and ME, SERIOUSLY HOOKED. I mean, this character is a guy who can tell a story. Arrows; eggs; a teacher's second hottest skirt--there is just no way you are not going to read on. And when you do, you will find that this character--Jerome Hancock--is the voice in Heidi Devine's head. And just why is he in her head? Because he's taking part in SRPNT (Soul Rehabilitation for Nefarious Teens, Deceased), which means he's got a soul in his care, and how well he tends that soul will determine his fate.

Heidi Devine, for her part, is a high school junior who allows herself to be persuaded by her best friend Megan to take part in Talentpalooza!! "in a formfitting tuxedo made out of black-and-white spandex." Heidi's also a tall girl whose height gets her drafted on the basketball team even though her heart isn't in the game. It is after the dual humiliations of the talent show, followed by failing to score the game winning point on the basketball court, that Heidi takes a walk on a frozen pond and falls through the ice...

I won't tell you any more because, seriously, you need to read this book to find out what happens. The jacket flap says DEVINE INTERVENTION is "hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful, with a sense of humor that's wicked as hell, and writing that's heavenly." Too true. And if this is at all indicative of YA, then me and the Don are going to be reading way more of it. Heck, we may even have to rename this blog "The Devine (Pun Intended) Secrets of the YA-YA brotherhood." Corragio!

More about Martha Brockenbrough: WEBSITE
Twitter @mbrockenbrough

And this is officially my 100th post on Middle Grade Mafioso. I'm going to spend the afternoon listening to some accordion playing while watching my nemesis, Luca Brasi Jr., juggle flaming torches blindfold. Should be a good party.

THE DOWNSIDE OF BEING UP by Alan Lawrence Sitomer (Putnam, 2011)

Book Blurb, jacket copy: Thirteen-year-old Bobby Connor is a normal adolescent boy - at least he hopes he is - just trying to survive middle school. But it seems he's being foiled at every turn, and even his own body is conspiring against him. And when his math teacher is seriously injured from the shock and fright of witnessing just how out of control Bobby's changing adolescent body is getting, he starts to worry he's anything but normal. Faced with expulsion from school for violating the student handbook code, Bobby opts for therapy - Correctional Erectional Therapy. It's official: Bobby Connor is not normal. But in this uproarious and heartfelt novel, he's going to do his darndest to make it seem that he is . . . or maybe just try to make it through middle school, puberty and a perpetually growing problem in his pants.

Caveat: If you're troubled by out-of-control testosterone, this is not the book for you. A quick scan of Goodread reviews shows a huge gender gap. By and large, women reviewers claimed that they found the the penis jokes tiresome; male reviewers were delighted. And the target audience in my household LOVED it (when he read it last year at 14). I was amazed to find him--a guy who is usually found staring at a screen--with his head stuck in an actual book all day long, and had to see for myself what was so entrancing.

So what is so entrancing? Sitomer's verbal dexterity reigns supreme. The VOICE just grabs you and won't let you go. You will never, I'm sure, find so many slang phrases for the male member. Yes, there are a whole bunch of unlikely (and often unlikable characters), and the thought that a middle schooler would be sent to "correctional erectional therapy" is absurd, but that is just part of the farcical fun. As Paul W. Hankins, a high school English teacher I follow on Twitter writes: "With NERD GIRLS and now THE DOWNSIDE OF BEING UP, Alan Sitomer is securing his place as a middle grade humor writer which will no doubt put him in a well-deserved place with authors like Lubar, Paulsen, and Sachar. Alan writes this one pretty true to the pre-adolescent/adolescent experience, complete with the anxiety that comes from within and the humor without."

About Alan Sitomer: "Alan Lawrence Sitomer is a nationally renowned speaker and was California’s Teacher of the Year in 2007. He is also the author of multiple works for young readers, including Nerd Girls, the Hoopster trilogy, The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez, Cinder-Smella, and The Alan Sitomer BookJam.  He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughters." (Bianca Schulze, The Children's Book Review.)

Website: http://www.alanlawrencesitomer.com/
Twitter: @alansitomer
Agent: Al Zuckerman at Writer's House

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY THANKSGIVING. A presto!