Ruby Lost and Found by Christina Li

When we did come across May’s, we’d do the exact same thing. We’d stop and exchange a look. Ye-Ye would raise an eyebrow. “Egg tarts or coconut bread?” 
And every time, I said, “Both?”

“I’m going to help save the bakery.” “What?” “The bakery,” I said, my voice steadying. “It can’t go. I’m going to figure out a way to help May Wong save it.” There. I said it. Now there was no going back.

It might be good to grab a map of San Francisco or look for some photographs of the city - especially if, like me, you don't live in the US or you are unfamiliar with this city.

I did read this book quite quickly. There were many plot points that felt familiar or similar to other books so while I did enjoy some parts of this story it didn't completely grab me. I have put some similar books at the end of this post.

Plot points:

• A young girl (Ruby Chu) is sent to spend the summer with her grandmother - Nai-Nai. This is partly a punishment because Ruby has been caught leaving her school at lunch time
• Ruby is carrying the burdens of grief and guilt. She is sure it is her fault that her grandfather Ye-Ye died about a year ago.
• Ruby was once best friends with her sister Viv but now that her sister is older and about to head away to college their connection seems to be gone. 
• Adding to this Ruby's best friend Mia has moved across the country and Naomi, her other friend, seems to have moved on to a different group. Ruby feels isolated and alone.
• Mum and Dad are absent from Monday to Friday because they are frantically busy with their work commitments and Ruby cannot talk to them over dinner at the weekend because they are always rushing to answer important phone calls.
• Ruby spends her weekdays with Nai-Nai and each day they go to the Seniors Centre. Ruby does make a friend but at first, she is sure she does not like Liam at all. Over time she finds out he has had some deep sadness in his life and with teamwork they bond over their shared goal of saving the bakery.

Maybe it was because after Liam and I had talked, things had changed. We now worked on stuff together and told each other all kinds of things about our families. I would never ignore him in a hallway again or tease him in my mind.

• Ruby knows she is 'grounded' but she breaks this rule by going a sleepover with Naomi. If she talks to her parents about her grandmother, they will discover this and the sleepover is a disaster.

I needed to tell Dad about Nai-Nai getting lost. And Mom. When would I mention it? I would bring it up at dinner, maybe, tonight when Dad picked me up and drove me home. But then I tried to imagine how the conversation would go. They would ask me what had happened. I would have to tell them about Naomi’s sleepover. They would get mad, I realized. My heart sank. Of course they would. They’d get angry at me and at Nai-Nai for letting me go. I didn’t know what would happen next. Would they yell at Nai-Nai? It wasn’t her fault. But would they stop letting me stay at Nai-Nai’s place? Would that leave Nai-Nai by herself again? I couldn’t leave her alone. If she was left alone maybe she’d forget more things and no one would be around to help her remember. Maybe I wouldn’t tell them, for now. I would tell them eventually. For now, I’d just keep watching Nai-Nai.

• Her grandmother is showing early signs of memory loss and later Ruby learns the words dementia and Alzheimer's.
• Mum and Dad decide Nai-Nai needs to go to an aged care facility and when Nai-Nai runs away but Ruby is able to 'rescue' her and things in her family are finally out in the open and able to be resolved.
• So by now you probably agree with me that the title is perfect - Ruby is lost and then she is found or she discovers things about herself and begins to accept the changes in her life.

Listen to an audio sample here.

Publisher blurb: Thanks to her Ye-Ye’s epic scavenger hunts, thirteen-year-old Ruby Chu knows San Francisco like the back of her hand. But after his death, she feels lost, and it seems like everyone—from her best friends to her older sister—is abandoning her. After Ruby gets in major trouble at school, her parents decide she has to spend the summer at a local senior center with her grandmother, Nai-Nai, and Nai-Nai’s friends for company. When a new boy from Ruby’s grade, Liam Yeung, starts showing up too, Ruby’s humiliation is complete. But Nai-Nai, her friends, and Liam all surprise Ruby. She finds herself working with Liam, who might not be as annoying as he seems, to help save a historic Chinatown bakery that’s being priced out of the neighborhood. And alongside Nai-Nai, who is keeping a secret that threatens to change everything, Ruby retraces Ye-Ye’s scavenger hunt maps in an attempt to find a way out of her grief—and maybe even find herself. 

Big feelings are uncomfortable but to be expected in this story of finding joy and community amid change and loss. Kirkus Star review

(While) this is not an exciting, page-turner; it's a self-contained family drama that's essentially about a grieving girl getting to know her grandmother better. It's definitely worth a read though -- Ruby's family and struggles feel real, the exploration of grief and intergenerational family relationships is touching, and the San Francisco setting sparkles. Common Sense Media

Read this detailed review from Ms Yingling and one from Horn Book Magazine.

I did enjoy the descriptions of Chinatown and also the relationships between the older ladies at the senior centre where Ruby goes each day with her grandmother. This book also explores the complexities of junior high friendships and peer group relationships. Here are some text quotes to give you a flavour of this story by Christina Li.

I took a bite and savored the sweet, creamy egg custard, pressing down the inkling of worry in my chest. The crust was soft and flaky and melted on my tongue. “Thank you,” I said, muffled, my mouth half-full. It was just like how I remembered it in May’s Bakery on a busy Saturday morning or on a quiet Sunday afternoon, leaning over the counter to peer at the egg tarts and sponge cakes through the glass. I took a sip of the tea and leaned back and felt warm and full.

They passed out bingo cards and chips. And right before it started, Auntie Lin leaned back to speak to May Wong. She kept her voice low, but I was just close enough to hear her say, in Mandarin, “Another kid to babysit? What are we, a day care?" ... Also: another kid? Some other grandchild was being brought here against their will? Five hours to go. The clock was literally slowing before my eyes.

Nai-Nai also didn’t do much after the days at the senior center. She used to always go on small trips and errands. Back when she was really into making clothes, she’d take me with her to the fabric store. We’d hang out for hours while she draped lengths of fabric over herself, so it looked like she had a rainbow cape. Or during her paint phase, she’d grab watercolors and have Ye-Ye and me paint with her. But now, like clockwork, we headed straight back to the apartment in the late afternoon. She wore gray sweater-vests and different varieties of handmade baggy pants. And her only hobby these days seemed to be watching TV.

Ye-Ye made me a scavenger hunt every August, the weekend before school started. There were colored-pencil marks over all of this map, a different color for every year. Dark green was last year. Gold was the year before, then red. The last time that Viv joined us for the scavenger hunts was recorded in a beautiful sky blue, looping near the ocean. Viv always liked to charge ahead with each clue, as if it was a race to finish as fast as possible. I liked to wander. And then the next year she stopped coming.

The other day, she left the package of tofu out on the counter after cooking noodles. When Nai-Nai came for breakfast, she stared at the tofu package and asked me why I’d taken it out for breakfast. Nai-Nai was always a bit scatterbrained. She often left mail and receipts out on the coffee table and left books she was reading open and facedown. But she never really misplaced things in the kitchen.

You might want to grab a copy of this book after reading Ruby lost and found:

And you want to eat a custard tart or some coconut bread and visit a Japanese stationery store to buy some of those fun animal erasers (chapter 7).

Companion books:

Tree Table Book

Talking to the Moon

Maizy Chen's last chance

Just like Jackie

The Frindle Files by Andrew Clements illustrated by Brian Selznick

Josh is a student at Clara Vista Middle School. His English teacher (ELA) is Mr N. I love the way he teaches but for Jake it is all too old fashioned. Mr N sets assignments that need to be hand written (neatness counts) and he has no technology in his classroom - instead every student is expected to have, and use, a copy of an old grammar book called The Elements of Style, 4th ed., by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White (yes that is THE EB White author of Charlotte's Web).

Josh wasn’t sure if Mr. N even owned a computer. There was a rumor that once he’d had a big argument with Mr. Ortega about posting his homework assignments on the school website. Mr. N had told the principal that writing assignments on the board in his classroom was enough—and he didn’t mean one of the SMART Boards that every other teacher used. No, Mr. N had an actual chalkboard that he could move around the room on wheels. The whiteboard was there, but Mr. N kept it hidden behind a huge poster about the parts of speech.

Josh breezes through his other homework but for Mr N he now need paper and a pen. He has almost completed his work when the ink runs out so he picks out a pen from his mother's desk.

Back at the kitchen table, Josh was about to start writing again. Then he noticed something printed on the side of the pen—one word, in bold black letters: It was a word he’d never seen before, which made him curious. And Josh did what any other plugged-in kid would do: He searched the word on his browser—f-r-i-n-d-l-e. And then he hit return. Whoa, 270,000 results?!

What is going on? It's just a pen? Or is it?

“Hey, Mom, where did you get this pen?” She looked, and then smiled. “I’ve had that since sixth grade. Everyone at my school started calling pens frindles, and when those showed up in stores, I bought a couple—so did all my friends. It was kind of a big thing for a while.”

Josh digs deeper and find a photo of the school kid who invented the word 'Frindle' and this kid sure does look like ... Mr N!!

It is now page 9 of a 214 page book. Josh is a very curious boy. He now has a mystery to solve and because he knows Mr N loves words and writing there might be a way to make this interesting. AND Josh is a computer nerd so he can easily do tons of research about this and keep it organised into folders with evidence and photos and online newspaper clippings and so we now have the The Frindle Files. 

Using a fine-tipped Sharpie, he had written the word Frindle in bold black letters along the barrel of a plain white plastic pen. And now that word on that pen was right there on that desk, waiting for Mr. N to discover it. And when he did, Josh would be watching.

Mr N does react but not at all in the way Josh expects and now the battle is on - a battle of wits and words but can there really be a winner? And can this 'joke' go too far?

The Frindle Files publisher blurb: Josh Willet is a techie, a serious gamer. Which is why Josh and his friends can’t stand Mr. N’s ELA class; it’s a strict no-tech zone. Mr. N makes them write everything out by hand, he won’t use a Smartboard, and he’s obsessed with some hundred-year-old grammar book. Then Josh discovers a secret; turns out Mr. N's been keeping a lot more than technology from his students! Together with his best friend Vanessa, and using all the computer skills they’ve got, Josh is determined to solve the mystery of Mr. N’s past. And maybe get some screentime back, too?

You should also feel inspired to read or reread Charlotte's Web after you finish The Frindle Files. 

Frindle (1996) is a book that I read and loved when it was first published.  I mentioned I had read the 'sequel' to Rachel Robson at Gleebooks here in Sydney and she almost swooned - so strong was her own memory of loving Frindle. Sadly, Andrew Clements died late in 2019 so this is his final book which was published posthumously. I did smile when Josh's little sister Sophie asked to see Bluey.

Here's a recap/blurb for Frindle (The Frindle Files can stand alone BUT your reading experience will be so much richer if you have read this famous predecessor). 

Bookseller blurb: Is Nick Allen a troublemaker? He really just likes to liven things up at school -- and he's always had plenty of great ideas. When Nick learns some interesting information about how words are created, suddenly he's got the inspiration for his best plan ever...the frindle. Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle? Things begin innocently enough as Nick gets his friends to use the new word. Then other people in town start saying frindle. Soon the school is in an uproar, and Nick has become a local hero. His teacher wants Nick to put an end to all this nonsense, but the funny thing is frindle doesn't belong to Nick anymore. The new word is spreading across the country, and there's nothing Nick can do to stop it.

Or perhaps you could read my 2012 blog post.

The Frindle Files paperback edition has just arrived here in Australia (March 10th 2026) - rush to your favourite independent bookstore today to secure your copy. 

Now that you have your copies of Frindle and The Frindle Files head into your school or local library and borrow some more fantastic books by this master storyteller. My own favourites are:

Extra Credit

Ruby's Web by Ellen van Neerven

This is a heartfelt story which covers some very important and disturbing themes. The audience for this book is most certainly High School students although I do wonder if the cover will appeal to this audience.

At times, reading Ruby's Web I became a little overwhelmed by all the issues and extra plot details that the author included in a book of just 126 pages. The timing of this story is the 2023 Voice Referendum. Ruby lives with her mum. Her dad has sadly died. In Primary School Ruby had special friends including her confident and outspoken cousin Amber, but now, in Year Seven, Amber has told Ruby she no longer wants to 'hang out' with her.

There are other indigenous kids at this school but not many. For reasons that are not really explained one girl in Ruby's class - Zara - has decided to bully and ridicule Ruby and she does this via a school based social media platform called Quik. I sincerely hope this program does not really exist but of course there are plenty of other 'dangerous' forms of social media on the internet. You might ask why doesn't Ruby just decide not to interact with this platform but unfortunately (and for me slightly unbelievably) this is the place where students access their class assignments. Wait a minute doesn't the school have a duty of care and a social media policy? This book does paint a very bleak picture of the inaction of teachers and school authorities.

"When Ms Hall asked me if there was anything else she could help me out with, I thought about mentioning Zara and the others who were posting comments about me on Quik. How come Ms Hall hadn't mentioned their posts and online behaviour but she had bought me into her office to talk about the anonymous trolls, people I didn't know? Was it because Zara's comments weren't as bad? Or because Zara was a kid? Or she just hadn't seen them?"

Ruby decides to fight back with a social media post that identifies the web of bullies - think about the title. Meanwhile at home Nan is unwell and she has moved in with Ruby and her mother. Nan shares important cultural traditions and she helps Ruby understand the importance of the YES vote (the 2023 referendum sadly failed). 

By the end of this book Ruby does find her voice. A big piece of the puzzle in this story is a poem written by Ruby that has been entered into a competition. I really wanted to read this poem and expected to find it on the final pages of the book but alas no - we never get to read Ruby's winning poem. 

Here are some text quotes to give you a flavour of the writing in this book. It took me a while to settle into the style of the writing and in fact I ended up reading Ruby's Web twice (which is not something I usually do).

"The school became a Monopoly board at lunch. Where you could and couldn't sit was was revealed. The spaces were divided up and ranked. The popular group had access to the nice clean spaces, like the new wooden benches in the friendship garden. The cool sporty kids got access to the oval and the area around the basketball courts. The mid-tier kids sat on the benches outside the auditorium. And then there were kids like me."

Zara "was constantly posting stuff about me on Quik and controlling who could see the comments. She would write comments to my classmates about how messy my hair was and how many pimples I had. She took secret photos of my torn second-hand clothing and posted them ... "

"I knew what Zara had posted was about me being Indigenous and it wasn't right or funny. It wasn't fair, no matter if it was me or someone else who was the target."

"I had seen the comments last night. I was old enough to understand that they were attacking my identity. They used words I know were deeply offensive about Indigenous people, like 'Abo', and they even said they would 'kill me'."

Thanks to Magabala for my review copy. Here is the book blurb from their web page: And here are some very detailed teachers notes. My view is Ruby's Web is for readers aged 13+. There is a reference suicidal thoughts and actions by one boy, Jimmy, in Ruby's class although this is not mentioned in the teachers notes. Nan helps to find Jimmy and then she tells Ruby and her cousin Amber:

"No one is more or less Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. It's not a competition. We don't make someone feel bad for who they are or whether they have light or dark skin. That's what the colonisers did to us."

Blurb: Starting high school has been anything but smooth for Ruby. Not only has she become a social outcast for no apparent reason, but her cousin Amber has started pretending not to know her and she has no idea why. When Ruby becomes the subject of vicious racism and bullying on the school’s online platform, she longs more than ever to be invisible and left alone. But as events spiral out of control, online and off, she finds herself more and more in the spotlight…  'Ruby’s Web' is a powerful story about finding your voice, seeking help, and addressing cyberbullying and victimisation.

Ruby's English teacher gives her some interesting books to read: Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding 
Sweetgrass and in class they are reading books by Seamus Healey, Annie Dillard, Kirli Saunders and Ali Cobby Eckermann. 

If you share this book in a High School class you should talk about 14-year-old Dolly Everett.

I have a good friend who works for Djirra which was founded in 2002. "Djirra is a place where culture is shared and celebrated, and where practical support is available to all Aboriginal women and particularly to Aboriginal people who are currently experiencing family violence or have in the past."  I have a plan to send Ruby's Web to my friend because I would love to hear her thoughts about this Young Adult novel. I am also keen to share this book with the Teacher-Librarian at one of my local High Schools which hosts Indigenous students from remote regional areas in NSW. The students live in a nearby hostel. I wonder how they might react to this book - Ruby's Web.

Ellen van Neerven (they/them) is an author, editor and educator of Mununjali and Dutch heritage. Ellen‘s first book, Heat and Light (UQP, 2014, was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize. Their first poetry collection Comfort Food (UQP, 2016) won the Tina Kane Emergent Award and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize. Throat (UQP, 2020) was the recipient of Book of the Year, the Kenneth Slessor Prize and the Multicultural Award at 2021 NSW Literary Awards and the inaugural Quentin Bryce Award. Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity (UQP, 2023), a book that weaves history, memoir, journalism and poetry, received the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non Fiction and was released in North America in 2024 through Two Dollar Radio. They are the editor of three collections, including Flock: First Nations Storytelling Then and Now, Homeland Calling: Words from a New Generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voices and Unlimited Futures with Rafeif Ismail.

The Boy and the Dog Tree by Fiona Wood illustrated by Judy Watson

"You desire to know why I have come to you. It is simply this: when called upon by a child in need I emerge from the tree ... Your sadness and fears called me. .... You await the return of your parents and fear for their safety. You are tormented daily by your enemy."

Begin with the title. The boy - his name is Mitch. The Dog Tree. There is a tree in the bushland behind gran's house that looks, well a little, like a dog. Mitch loves dogs. He has wanted one his whole life. He also loves this tree. Climbing the tree after he and his sister move in with Gran, he makes a wish that will change his life and help him adjust to the complex challenges and changes in his life.

Characters:

Mitch is unhappy about moving to a new city - Sydney to Melbourne. He is worried about fitting in at a new school. He desperately misses his parents who are overseas shooting a movie. And all he has ever wanted is a dog - a dog of his own. 

Mitch has a fantastic younger sister named Regi. I love the way her personality is totally the opposite of Mitch and yet he has no resentment about this. 

Gran is also wonderful. She is a scientist but I was entirely wrong about her reaction to Mitch's story about the arrival of his dog and I cheered over the scene where she meets Argos. Gran is also, and I love this discovery, a fantastic cook. 

Dido is a great friend. She understands the dynamics of the peer group and is also brave enough to help Mitch (spoiler alert) when he needs help to rescue Argos.

Argos has lived many lives. He has a delightful formal and old-fashioned way of speaking. He uses words like 'tarry not'; 'twas upon a platter'; and 'thus do I know'. He is also very wise and of course a truly loyal friend. "Mitch could name a hundred dog breeds, but he'd never seen anything quite like this wild, majestic creature. ... It was a bit like a wolfhound, but more solid. Fur as black as liquorice, tanged and long. Up on its hind legs it would tower over the tallest of men." Argos also makes a couple of very astute comments about adults and their use of mobile phones! He also smells wonderful. 

Seb Anders is the class bully. If you have encountered bullies in other books be warned Seb is among the worst. He takes every opportunity to taunt and hurt Mitch. There is an early scene in the book where Seb takes Mitch's lunch box and he tips everything into the dirt and then stomps on the food. 

Ms Zwerger their teacher has decided the class will live 'unplugged'. Such a terrific idea. You will enjoy reading about the activities she sets her class. 

I feel so very lucky to have read this book a few weeks before it is due to be released (3rd March). Huge thanks to Gleebooks Kids for entrusting me with an advance reader copy of The Boy and the Dog Tree. I know it is early in 2026 but I am going to predict this book will be devoured by young readers aged 9+ and it surely will be selected as a 2027 CBCA Younger Readers Notable title - YES it is THAT GOOD.

Bookseller blurb: Magical. Whimsical. Wild. This exceptional middle-grade novel about the special bond between a boy and his dog will set your heart free.

'So, are you my dog?' Mitch asked, in a whisper.

'No,' said Argos. 'But you are my boy. For a time.'

Mitch's life has been uprooted. Instead of the whole family moving to a new city, Mitch and his sister are staying with their gran, while their parents have been delayed working on other side of the world. He's struggling to fit in at school, with the resident Grade Five bully picking on him. The one thing that would make his life better is a dog, if only he could persuade his parents. Then Mitch discovers an old oak tree that seems to ... growl. And one night, a huge, strange dog-like creature emerges from the trunk. His name is Argos. He has been bound in the tree by 'history, mystery, magic and chance', and he is here, for a time, to help Mitch find his way. But being different can be dangerous, especially for a wild and wilful beast like Argos ... While at first Mitch looks to Argos for friendship and protection, there comes a time he must stand up for this magical creature who has changed him forever. A heart-lifting tale of friendship, courage and belonging by three-time CBCA Award-winning author Fiona Wood.

It was wonderful read that Mitch is a boy who is 'allowed' to express his emotions:

"When he was as high up as he could go and settled in a comfortable crook (of the tree) he let himself cry. This was quite the year of crying. He had honestly expected to be crying less as he got older not more. These days he cried because of how he felt ... In the categories of crying, today was a simple hold-it-together-all-day-then-let-it-out cry. It didn't last long and he felt much better afterwards."

UQP have some excellent teacher notes and discussion questions to use with The Boy and the Dog Tree including suggesting students could research the names Argos; Calliope; and Ceberus. 

The teachers notes list all these themes for The Boy and the Dog Tree: 

• Friendship 

• Belonging 

• Confidence 

• Courage 

• Compassion 

• Integrity  

• Loyalty  

• Perspective 

• Prejudice 

• Bullying 

• Magic 

• Dogs

I am not usually a fan of endorsements but Peter Carnavas is SO right when he says: ‘A beautiful book, filled with courage, magic and a huge ancient dog to wrap your arms – and your heart – around.’

I was interested to read an interview sent to me by UQP with the author Fiona Wood (she previously has won the Older Readers category in CBCA Book of the Year Awards for Wildlife; Cloudwish; and Take Three Girls). She says her inspiration for her middle grade book came from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis; Five Children and It by E Nesbitt; and her first encounter with a magical tree was The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton. As I read The Boy and the Dog tree I also thought of another classic - Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. 

"The genesis of this story was an old oak tree whose trunk was gnarled into a shape that reminded me of a dog. Every time I walked past it, I wondered when, how and why a dog - or the spirit of a dog - might be trapped within the tree."

Companion books:

One Dog and His Boy

The eyes and the Impossible

Elf Dog and Owl Head

A Different Dog

Talking to Alaska

The Hounds of Penhallow Hall

The Dream Dog

The issue of bullies looms large in this book. I appreciated the way Fiona Wood gives her readers a small glimpse into why Seb might behave like this in the scene where we witness the actions of his mother the Mayor but she doesn't 'reform' or 'redeem' him. Please note some of these books below contain confronting scenes of bullying and are intended for an older audience:

Swashbuckler

The Night Bus hero

The Truth as told to Mason Buttle

Running my own race

Chapter 39 has a tender scene where Mitch thinks about the time his dad helped him overcome his fear of the dark. I know this is a picture book for younger children but I immediately thought of this favourite:

Martin Waddell

And the scene (sorry another spoiler) when the family go to the dog home or rescue centre is sure to remind you of this classic Australian picture book:

Let's get a Pup

Snoop by Gordon Korman

This story is a wild romp - yes, it is filled with improbabilities but I am sure readers aged 10+ will enjoy 'snooping' with Carter - watching all the improbable things that are happening in his small town you just have to be prepared to suspend your disbelief.

Carter has two broken legs thanks to an accident while skiing with his father and Martin his younger brother. Who caused the accident? Well Martin was just learning to ski but, yes, he did crash into Carter but why didn't Carter just step out of the way. Well Carter was watching a video his phone. 

Now Carter has two broken legs and is confined to a wheelchair. He can't even get back to his bedroom because it is up the stairs, so he has to 'live' in the guest bedroom which smell like onions because it is beside their kitchen.

At first Carter survives his enforced time at home by watching videos on his laptop and phone. Carter discovers he can watch more than silly dance routine videos - he can watch the live cameras from around his town. This is only the beginning of his snooping. He finds a way to access more private cameras inside shops. This is a small town, and Carter begins to notice the behaviour of various people. The pregnant lady with her mischievous toddler at the park, the two owners of rival cafes who seem to be determined to sabotage one another, and then he starts watching a man who seems suspicious and a red car that sits in the same spot with the driver inside. 

Now take a look at the cover - about a third of the way into the book I finally thought about the cover. That is a red panda - an endangered animal Why are endangered animals roaming around his town? Carter's tech is taken away by his photographer mother. Is there a way he can still spy on the town and on his classmates.

There is an appropriate layer in this story about the dangers of addiction to devices but, while this is an important message, it did not feel too didactic in this story and in fact it is good to view the way Carter is able to change is own relationship with his phone and laptop especially after he is forbidden from using them. Read more about this here. Gordon Korman is a Canadian author. He has written over one hundred books. 

Blurb from author page: If Carter hadn’t been checking his phone, he might have seen his brother coming down the ski slope. And if Carter had seen his brother in time and avoided the crash, he might not be stuck at home for weeks, with both legs in casts. He’s never been so bored. Just to connect himself to the world, he starts checking out the live feeds from cameras around town. Before he knows it, he’s hooked – watching his classmates when they don’t know he’s looking, spying on neighbors, and discovering some other highly unusual things – things that no one else is noticing. Things that just might be illegal. But the biggest problem is once you start snooping, the hardest thing is to look away.

Korman dishes up an expert mix of entertaining foolery, peer and family dynamics, and cautionary messages about both the ethical nuances of online snooping and the hazards of jumping to conclusions. Kirkus

Here are some other books I enjoyed by Gordon Korman:

The Unteachables

Masterminds

Criminal Destiny

Shipwreck; Survival; Escape 

There are three books in this series The Island Trilogy - perfect for reluctant boy readers

Look for the others too - The Titanic Trilogy, The Dive Trilogy, and The Everest Trilogy.

Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden

The chapters in this book alternate between four voices and cover the time from April 30th to May 21st. 

Who are these kids?

Libby lives in Vermont. She sees the world through colours and creates her own equilibrium through art and using coloured pencils. Her school does not appreciate her art especially when she paints a whole wall at her Middle School. Libby lives with her mother and angry father. Her mother has no understanding of Libby and in one dreadful scene she confiscates all of Libby's pencils and art supplies. 

Maybe things would be easier if I could do a better job of staying closed-up. Like if I didn’t wear my yellow polka-dot sweatshirt all the time. Maybe then Danielle wouldn’t have teased me, and I wouldn’t have lost my temper and punched her, and I’d still be on the softball team.

Vincent lives in Seattle with his mum. He is probably on the Autism spectrum. He loves quirky clothes, tucking in his shirt, triangles and puffins including a breakfast cereal called Puffins. Because he is different he is very badly bullied at school but the reasons or motivations for this are a deep puzzle for Vincent.

I take out the shirt and look at it closely. There’s a little embroidered emblem of a bird on the top right. It’s a puffin. Like the bird on the cereal box that my mom gets. And its beak has some fabulous triangle action going on. Katherine Johnson would approve. I pull on the shirt and button it up. I guess I’ve grown, because it’s super snug. But it feels good, ...

Jack also lives in Vermont. Spoiler alert - we don't know how but Jack's younger brother has died recently. Jack goes to a very small school which has just two teachers. A officious lade arrives at the school to inspect their compliance with rules such as bathroom facilities. Jack has been taught in this school to think and to act so he starts a petition to save his school and then he speaks at the local school board meeting. Unfortunately his message is interpreted completely wrongly and then social media takes over.

The school might have to close? It can’t. Next year is my eighth-grade year. How could I spend it somewhere else? And what would happen to all of us? Just farmed out to a bunch of different schools in the valley, where all the students think they’re better than hicks like us?

T is a homeless non binary youth living on the streets of Seattle with their dog. These chapters are brief and told in verse.

From these descriptions you can probably guess these kids need help and hope. Libby is given some small index cards. She writes "you are amazing" on the card with a picture of a dandelion. Decorating and writing on index cards is how it all starts. She hides her first card for a small boy who is crying outside the dentist. Then she makes more cards and even though she is grounded she sneaks out at night and puts her little cards in various places all over the town. 

I start to stick the index cards all over the place—in a window box outside the pharmacy; in the bike rack at the library; attached to an ATM; in the window of the art supply store; on the steps into the ice cream shops; on a bulletin board outside the senior center; and stuck into the hedge between the hardware store and the post office. Even if no one thinks to pick one up, at least they’re adding more flowers and sunshine to the world. That has to count for something.

Libby hears about a boy in Seattle who loves puffins but is having a hard time. She puts his address on the back of one of her index cards, adds a puffin stamp (I know this is a little contrived, but it made me smile) and she posts her card - it is going to Vincent. 

I talk (a lot) and think (a lot) about book covers. This book has a fabulous cover BUT it totally misled me. I assumed (wrongly) that this book would have a North American indigenous focus. I did not look closely enough - the wings of the puffin are filled with city buildings - US readers might recognise these places. You probably already know I am slightly obsessive about puffins so the title grabbed me right away. But this book is not really about puffins either although they are mentioned. 

You can hear the first chapters here. And you can read a chapter sample. You can see other books by Ann Braden here. If you need another viewpoint the Kirkus reviewer didn't like Flight of the Puffin. 

This is a story that is rich in truth, sadness, redemption, and possibilities. It is a wonderful book that I would recommend to teens, middle school and above, as it deals with bullying, gender issues, and family tragedy. Kathleen Palmieri

Vincent loves to eat this cereal - I wonder what it tastes like? The box has facts about puffins which Vincent reads over breakfast.

Flight of the Puffin is the March selection for an online Children's book group I follow on Facebook. I am fairly sure that without this group this book would have passed me by because I am not sure it ever arrived here in Australia and it was published in 2022 which means it will be hard to find. I read an ebook edition. I did find this copy from an Australian online bookseller. 

I love the idea of these index cards as a way to spread happiness. It made me think of Wishtree and also Stargirl.

Wishtree

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

She drops coins on the footpath (sidewalk) as a tiny way to give other kids moments of happiness

The Kindness Project

The Fire, the Water, and Maudie McGinn by Sally J. Pla

I thought my summer would be safe. 

That I’d left all my troubles behind in Texas. 

But maybe troubles trail along with me like sparks along a fuse. 

Maybe I’m the trouble. 

Bad luck all the way around. 

What if there is no safe place for me to be?

Maudie spends term time with her mum and dangerous step father and holidays with her dad in a different part of the US. Her time with her dad is joyous and calm but just as she arrives a wildfire breaks out, her dad's cabin is burnt to the ground and so Maudie and her dad are forced to move to a caravan part at the beach in California. The park is in the area where her dad grew up. Dad finds it hard to get work which means money and food are scarce but Maudie discovers she can surf. At the end of summer this town hosts a famous surfing competition and one category is beginner. The prize money would certainly help Maudie's dad - so now she has a goal - to win!

Maudie has a very dysfunctional mother (and as a said a dangerous and abusive step father). Her mother is all about fame and appearances. She tolerates her but it is so clear that she wishes Maudie could change into the perfect daughter she imagined. Her mother fancies herself as a star of social media. 

I remember once Mom told her viewers, “Imagine if your only child refuses to give you so much as a hug,” which was a lie. Mrs. Jills, my therapist, trained me up to hug. So I’ll do it. But Mom told the camera: “Having a child like Maudie? I confess, while I love her dearly, sometimes it feels like God is testing me.” Well, I sort of think maybe God is testing me, too. The year I was ten, Mom put lots of blush on my pale cheeks so I would look healthier and made me come on her show with her. She said to the camera, “Maudie’s growing up so much! We hardly ever have to deal with her meltdowns or tantrums anymore. She’s so much more under control!” Then she grabbed my hand and swung it up, as if we’d won a race. Which was weird.

Obeying Mom was my job. Obeying Mom. Obeying Mrs. Jills. And now, I guess, obeying Ron.

A perceptive, poignant tale of self-discovery. Kirkus

I like the use of the word perceptive in the Kirkus review final sentence. Maudie does have autism but she is also deeply self-aware and this helps the reader gain a deeper insight into her reactions to other people and to the changes in her life. One thing you will quickly notice is that the autism makes Maudie hyper aware of smells and sounds. 

The Australian distributor has the first five chapters of The Fire, the Water and Maudie McGinn on their webpage. One of the great features of this book for readers is that while there are 72 chapters each chapter is only a page or two. This book is also a hybrid with verse novel sections interspersed between the narrative pages.

Here are a few text quotes:

I hate it when Mom calls Dad a lump of clay. If that’s what he is, then Mom’s a beautiful shard of glass: so pretty, you forget about her sharp, jagged edges. I’d rather be clay, like Dad. If you’re clay, you can mold and adapt to the new. And that’s what I always do. Mold myself into this or that kind of kid. Adapt. For teachers, for Mom, for Mrs. Jills, for Ron, for the other kids at school . . . I try hard to be the right kind of Maudie for each situation, for each thing. I’ve always felt sort of ashamed of this, but maybe it’s also a skill. To remold, instead of shatter. So yeah, there may be different versions of me for different times and different people, but they’re all made from the same clay of me.

I remember Ron swearing and swooping me off the step. Don’t remember much of anything else. Just a sort of tornado of rage. His hands grabbing my arms. His blood-red face. And I remember feeling like I deserved it all. That I was a dirty, broken kid. Not a nice, capable, normal kid. That’s why my mom had to hide herself, close herself off from me. She was ashamed of me. She had given up on me. That’s why we needed Ron, I guess. Because I was too much trouble for Mom to handle alone. I was too big a disappointment.

About why Dad and I understand each other so well and have a special bond. He hyperfocuses on woodworking, I hyperfocus on reading or writing or surfing. Dad gets overwhelmed sometimes, and so do I. He has a scatter-brain about some things, and a hyperorderly brain about other things. So do I. And we both are deeply uncomfortable around new people and new situations. . . . My insides are all squiggly with strange new feelings. I’m a little irritated, to tell the truth. I wish Dad had talked more to me about this before now. It would have helped me to feel less alone.

If I still worked in my former school library I would be very keen to share this book with Grade Six students because that school was located beside the beach and many of the students were keen surfers. In The Fire, the water and Maudie McGinn, Maudie learns to surf, displays some talent, and she is mentored by a surfing champion. Every surfing scene felt so authentic.

Before I know it, I’ve paddled out past the break, my arms pumping like machines. It’s choppy out here, but I turn and watch the horizon, watch the sets, and I find my waves. I pounce on everything I can possibly ride. I feel supercharged, like I’m in some kind of high-energy trance. I fall a few times, but I definitely get in a few good runs, too.

Awards:

• American Library Association Schneider Family Book Award
• Children’s Literature Council of SoCal Juvenile Fiction Award
• Publishers Weekly Starred Review
• NY Public Library Best Book
• Bank Street Best Book (starred for outstanding merit)
• Cybils Awards Finalist
• Oklahoma Sequoyah Award Finalist
• Alabama Yellowhammer Award – Honor Book
• 2024 Dog-Eared Book Award Winner
• “Reading MG” Top 15 Books of the Year
• Imagination Soup Best Books of the Year
• Mr. Colby Sharp’s Best Books of the Year

Bookseller blurb: Maudie always looks forward to the summers she spends in California with her dad. But this year, she must keep a troubling secret about her home life—one that her mom warned her never to tell. Maudie wants to confide in her dad about her stepdad's anger, but she’s scared. When a wildfire strikes, Maudie and her dad are forced to evacuate to the beach town where he grew up. It’s another turbulent wave of change. But now, every morning, from their camper, Maudie can see surfers bobbing in the water. She desperately wants to learn, but could she ever be brave enough? As Maudie navigates unfamiliar waters, she makes friends—and her autism no longer feels like the big deal her mom makes it out to be. But her secret is still threatening to sink her. Will Maudie find the strength to reveal the awful truth—and maybe even find some way to stay with Dad—before summer is over?

Read this detailed review from Ms Yingling. And here is an audio interview with the author.

Here is a quote from the interview:

I wanted it to be a book of hope and overcoming and realizing how important it is to speak out. And I guess maybe that’s partly from my own. I got diagnosed on the autism spectrum as an adult, and it took me a while to be able to speak out about it myself. And once I was able to talk about all the failures and the struggles of my past and what brought me to this point and all that stuff, it’s just so healthy to be able to talk about that, just to be open.

Given the physical and verbal abuse Ron has apparently dished out regularly, being trashed by waves is kid’s play for Maudie. It sure feels like Maudie has found her passion, and it is easy to imagine her and Dad together full-time, living in this great coastside town. Could that ever really happen? You can’t help wondering and hoping for a big break for Maudie and Dad (and a few broken bones for Ron). A Book and a hug

I picked up The Fire, the Water and Maudie McGinn because I previously really enjoyed this book by Sally J Pla:

The Someday Birds