Chocolate-Covered Baloney: Confessions of April Grace by K.D. McCrite

April Grace and her sister Myra Sue do not get along. Especially now that April knows that Myra has a secret. Myra has been sneaking out to the mailbox, writing mysterious letters in her room(pretending to be doing homework), and being cranky with everyone around her. Her family all chalk it up to "just a stage she's going through," but April thinks there is something more to it.

When a long-lost relative shows up unannounced things go from bad to worse. Now April and Myra have to share a room again. The girls are fighting more than ever and things in their home are topsy-turvy. And what about the mysterious hang-up phone calls?

April is as feisty and curious as ever which makes for some entertaining episodes in the story. Honest to a fault she does manage to bite her tongue to keep from saying even more than she already does. When the pastor of their church delivers a sermon on "change is coming" April tunes out. She feels that their family has had enough change to last her a lifetime.

Chocolate-Covered Baloney was an entertaining read. Once again the antics of April Grace and the things that come out of her mouth crack me up. Even though she and her sister fight constantly you can tell that April still has a loyalty to family and love and concern for them. Returning characters included Isabel, Grandma(and her multiple boyfriends), April's parents and the Freebirds. And introduced a new unexpected, and unwanted family member. April's parents have never thrown anyone out of their house before, but this guest may exceed that generosity. A fun book and I look forward to the next installment of the April Grace confessions.

Here's my review of Cliques, Hicks and Ugly Sticks the second book in the series.

Thanks to BookSneeze for my copy of Chocolate-Covered Baloney for my honest review.

The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford

Minty and her best friend Paz are keeping themselves busy during summer vacation. Changes are about to occur. They will be entering middle school when summer is over. But even before that their friendship is tested by change.

Minty has always desired to be in the Roller Derby. She imagines her name to be Minty Fresh with Paz being named Pax A. Punch. But Paz begins hanging out with another group of girls and is no longer interested in Minty's Roller Derby dream.

Minty catches a strange boy hiding and taking pictures of the neighborhood. She soon becomes friends with Raymond. They find a tree in the woods that seems to call to them. The legend is that if you put your secrets in the hole of the tree they will disappear. Minty and Raymond decide to match the secrets with the neighbors around them.

Who's secret is "I put a curse on my enemy. And it's working" and who's secret is "I'm betraying my best friend in a terrible way." Minty and Raymond set out to spy on their neighbors to find out their secrets.

The Secret Tree is a sweet story that I enjoyed very much. I liked the way that Minty and Raymond didn't want to use the secrets to bribe people or hold against people, but actually wanted to help the people in the neighborhood. The secrets helped them to understand the behavior of the people around them. It was funny to read about Minty and Paz trying to bring their older sisters back together after they get in a fight over a boy. Minty and Paz decide to bring them together by being "pesky younger sisters" they figure that is the best way to get the sisters talking by being able to commiserate with each other about their pesky younger sisters. A cute-heart-warming read.

Code of Silence by Tim Shoemaker

Cooper and his friends Gordy and Hiro love hanging out at Frank-n-Stein's restaurant. Frank is like a grandfather figure to them. He helps them with their school work and he serves the most amazing chocolate monster shakes. They stay late one evening to play one last arcade game while Frank closes and cleans up when a robbery takes place. Cooper and his friends manage to hide but see everything that happens. The robbers are wearing masks so they cannot identify them. Frank is beat into a coma. While the thieves are upstairs breaking into the safe Cooper manages to grab the security hard drive and they all sneak out of the restaurant. Unfortunately Coop doesn't make it very far before one of the thieves catches him and manages to threaten him before a crowd shows up.

Having seen that two of the thieves seemed to be wearing policemen uniforms Cooper is afraid to go to the police with the information. He doesn't know who they can trust. He comes up with the idea of having a Code of Silence in order to keep them all safe from the thieves. Cooper finds that maintaining silence comes with a price. He finds himself having to lie to his parents, his teachers, his friends, himself and ultimately to God.

Hiro wants to be a police officer when she grows up. She encourages Cooper to tell their parents what they saw. Cooper insists that it would be too dangerous. Hiro finds she can no longer trust Coop because of his lies. Gordy tries to maintain the peace between his two friends. Will Coopers lies be the end of their friendship? And will  his keeping this secret from his parents put him in more danger than he originally thought?

I really thought this was a great suspense novel for middle grade readers. The suspense is spread throughout the story from the robbery, to the suspense of wondering if the police were going to catch up with them, to the grand finale. I liked also how the author showed that even though Cooper thought he was doing the best thing by keeping a code of silence from the adults around him, that once you lie you have to continue to lie to cover up the first lie. And that through those lies you lose friends and the trust that those friends have in you. I thought that was a great moral lesson in the story. I liked the fact that Hiro confronted Cooper about his lies. One thing that I found was a bit unrealistic was the fact that these kids were out running around the neighborhood late into the evenings on school nights and their parents didn't seem to have a problem with it. But over all this was a good read.

Erratum by Walter Sorrells

Erratum=an error in writing or printing.

Jessica has always felt like she doesn't belong. Her family feel the same way about her, but they accept her because they love her. Dale is her best friend because he too is  a misfit. He lives in a very poor part of town. He has 8 brothers and sisters and his parents have been beaten down by life. His father lost his hand at the sausage making plant in town and has been sitting in front of the TV doing nothing but drinking for years. His mom is bitter and old-looking. Dale doesn't spend much time at home. He has dreams of what he would love for his family to be like. His father throwing the football out  in the yard with him, and his mother baking cookies in the kitchen and caring for the family. Dreams that seem almost like reality.

When Jessica stops into an old bookstore that she has never seen before things are about to change. She finds a book in the store that has her name on it. The title is "Her Lif". As she starts to read she realizes that the book is the story of her life. When she reads that the owner of the store is about to kill her she barely manages to escape before it actually happens. From there things start getting weird. Her and Dale go to the local library where they manage to lose the book. While trying to find it they meet different people along the way and find that there are alternate universes and that it is up to Jessica to save this universe. The question is what reality is the "real" one?

Things start changing as a black hole opens up and starts deleting the town. It is imperative that Jessica find the book and set things right before the universe they know is obsolete. Dale is helping her until he finds his perfect family. Then he doesn't want things to change. It is just like he always dreamed. His father smiling and playing with him in the yard. His mother making fresh cookies in the kitchen and caring for her family. He starts to forget what his "old" life was and fits right in with his new. In the meantime Jessica finds that her family is not the same either. What she finds she does not like.

Once Jessica finds the book she has a decision to make. Will she keep what she knows is not real with a chance that the universe could be gone in an hour or a thousand years, or will she choose the reality that she does not like in order to preserve the universe the way that it should be?

I liked this story, but had a hard time following some of the science stuff in it. It was humorous and pretty fast-paced.

Access Denied by Denise Vega

Hoping to not repeat the Year of Humiliating Events(YOHE) that was Erin P. Swifts 7th grade year she embarks on her 8th grade year with high hopes.

She meets her new locker partner Reede. Reede offers to "make-over" Erin's looks. Erin can't deny that she admires Reede for her seeming maturity and makeup savvy but at the same time she worries that Reede's skills in the computer lab may usurp her own.

Mark is Erin's best friend. They play basketball together, they tease each other. Erin had a crush on him the year before but now Mark has a girlfriend and Erin has a new boyfriend. Some of her other friends swear that they will turn out to be a Harry Met Sally couple.

Erin can't seem to talk to her mother anymore. Her mother doesn't seem to understand her. Erin seems to only be able to talk to her friend Mr. F the school custodian whom she shares many secrets with and gets good advice from.

When her brother brings over a total HOTTIE friend Erin thinks that she is in love. He makes her feel older than she really is. He is 3 years older than her and she is willing to risk friendships and parental disappointment to prove to him how grown up she is.

When tragedy strikes Erin finds out what truly matters in her world.

I really enjoyed this story. Working with Middle Schoolers I totally see all of the boyfriend/girlfriend events going on. Denise Vega really captured the essence of the Middle School community.

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod-Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer

Vlad is in the eighth grade. Vlad is fodder for the bullies. Vlad is half human and half vampire. His mother was human and his father was a vampire.

Vlad's parents have both died. He lives with "Aunt Nelly" who isn't his real Aunt, but was his mother's best friend. Nelly is trying to give Vlad a "normal" life. She is a nurse so she is able to bring him blood from work. She hides the blood in different forms so that Vlad can live like other teenagers. She will place it in a cup and call it "tea". She puts capsules of blood in his sandwiches so that he can remain nourished throughout the day. Vlad has never tasted blood straight from the source...well with one exception. When he was 8 he bit his best friend Henry. Henry is the only human besides Nelly that knows that Vlad is a vampire.

When one of the teachers at school is missing and feared dead scary things start to happen for Vlad. First is their new substitute teacher. One of the first things he wants the class to do is write a presentation on a mythical figure. Vlad picks Werewolf out of the hat, but right before his eyes the words transform into the word "VAMPIRE". Other things happen that make Vlad fear that this new substitute may be onto his secret and may even be the reason that the teacher is missing and also may be responsible for the death of his parents.

Through reading his father's old journal Vlad discovers that there is a whole vampire world that he never knew existed. Can he discover who killed his parents and why?

Eighth Grade Bites was entertaining. And I look forward to seeing how Vlad developes as we go with him through the twelfth grade.