Although I normally try to pick a theme or genre to guide my reviews for Middle School Book Stop, the books for this month’s reviews have little in common except for their intended audience. They were, however, all chosen for various reasons related to my own children and, thankfully, I found them all to be enjoyable. I hope you’ll find something here that piques your interest, too.

The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm

The Fourteenth Goldfish tells the story of eleven-year-old Ellie and her grandfather, Melvin, who discovers the secret to turning back time and shows up at her doorstep as a cranky teenager. This was the book selection for a mother-daughter book club ( my eighth grader, Maggie, and I are in. She was excited to read it because she liked Jennifer L. Holm’s book, Turtle in Paradise , but she was surprised by such a different style and theme. Neither one of us really connected with the science-fiction element of the story, but we both enjoyed Ellie and Melvin’s quirky personalities.

Peak (A Peak Marcello Adventure) by Roland Smith

After fourteen-year-old Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling a skyscraper in New York City, he goes to live with his estranged father who runs a climbing company in Thailand, and finds himself on a quest to become the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest. My son, Isaac, told me about this book (his teacher read it to his class this year) and I decided to pick up a copy so we could talk about it together. Although the plot was compelling, I thought the non-fiction elements of the story were the most interesting. I was amazed at the risks and sacrifices people will take in their quest to conquer Everest--I often felt the need to gasp for air and put on a few more layers as I was reading!

We were both unsatisfied with the ending and neither of us felt a strong desire to read the sequels, but I would still recommend it to any older middle grade reader who likes a good survival story.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

            My daughter, cast as an apple tree, and one of my sons, a munchkin, enjoyed taking part in their school production of a The Wizard of Oz. As they were preparing for the play, I checked out the original book. We all three flew through it, and my son went on to read several of the sequels (there are fourteen total). Both children enjoyed pointing out the many differences between the book (which they loved) and the movie (which they don’t care for). I found the book to be far more whimsical than the movie version, and I loved getting the backstories of the scarecrow, tin man, and lion.

Oliver Twist (Classics Starts Abridged Version) 

            My daughter was also in a production of Oliver Twist this spring. My husband decided to get the unabridged audio of the original and he is still making his way through all sixteen hours of it. I decided to pick up an abridged version, so I would at least know the basic plot. I know readers have strong opions about whether or not read abridged versions of classics and I can see both sides. On one hand, I cringe at the thought of the beautiful language of some of my most beloved books being altered, but on the other, I think there can be a benefit in introducing elementary and middle school readers to classic stories in ways that are less daunting and, hopefully, whet their appetite to go back and read them in their entirety later. I’ve been pleased with several of the classic starts series and I was glad to have had the overview before seeing the play.

I hope you have a wonderful summer reading. You can see all of the books I review (including adult and picture books) on my Goodreads page.

I'm linking this post up with Quick Lit at Modern Mrs. Darcy, a place where avid readers share what they have been reading.