I continue to enjoy these adaptations and will definitely seek out – whether in the book room at school or a book store of some sort – the other adaptations thus far int he series. See my reviews for books 1 + 3 for more thoughts on the series.
After reading the first book, I did not make it a priority to seek out the subsequent books. However, the book room at my school had book two. Now I definitely plan to continue. In this installment, Sunny has returned back home after spending the summer with her grandpa in Florida while her parents try to get help for her older brother Dale. That help ends up taking the form of military school so Sunny now has to adjust to life without her
brother around along with school starting back up. I think that Holm did a really good job with this installment and I look forward to continuing the series.
When I first updated Storygraph prior to starting my read, the shockingly low rating surprised me. Shortly after starting to read, however, I understood. This book tries to walk the line of absurd comedy with some potentially unreal elements like the principal being dressed as a Sith Lord and somehow able to hover with real life middle school antics of a boy that everyone loves but no one really knows. The whole narrative was just
weird. Even though I have a physical copy from the book room at school, I will not add this one to my classroom shelves.
Oh my word. I loved this one. The main character’s family decides to help a single mom in their community by letting them stay in the small detached apartment on their property. The main character does not really want them to do this because her other friends think that the daughter, Moon, is odd and a bit intimidating. She has a reputation for being loud and for supposedly beating people up. When the main character starts to
get to know Moon, she quickly realizes that Moon’s reputation is all wrong and they start to become friends. The story gets really emotional when something happens to Moon, something based on the author’s own childhood experience, which forces the main character to do some deep reflection. This one will definitely go on my classroom shelves.
I plan to continue in this series even though it read rather average to me. The main character struggles with finding her role in the recently announced talent showcase after all of her friends find their own things to do with no one asking her to join. Somehow she’s casual friends with almost the whole school but has no close friendships. (This was the part that felt the least believable to me.) Since I already have a physical copy thanks to
the book room at school, I will add this to my classroom shelves.
I have read from Ben Hatke before, his retelling of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk, and have had his first series on my radar ever since then because the sequel to the Jack retelling is a crossover with Zita. I finally got around to it and loved it. This series leans towards the younger end of middle grade. In it, Zita and her friend Joseph find a strange device with a red button in the center after
something crash lands nearby where they played. Joseph tells Zita to not press the button but of course she does and then watches in horror as her friend gets sucked through a portal of some kind. Determined to get him back, Zita presses the button again and from there her adventures begin. I loved the entire trilogy although I will talk more about the second and third installments in the next episode.