middle grade Archives - Page 228 of 374

Spies, Lies, and Disguise: The Daring Tricks and Deeds that Won World War II
by Jennifer Swanson (Author) amd Kevin O’Malley (Illustrator)

Booktalk: In the late 1930s, times were desperate. The world found itself at war again, less than twenty years after the first World War had ended. No one could quite believe it. And no one wanted it. The leaders of every country involved were left with no choice. They had to try to end the war as fast as possible, using whatever means they could.
That meant coming up with secret operations meant to deceive, deflect, and confuse their enemies. Poison the cattle that the Germans eat? Deliberately float a corpse dressed up as a spy across the water to have it wash up on Germany’s shore? Create a unit of top secret commandos with a license to kill? These were all real tactics attempted with the ultimate goal of defeating Hitler. In this off-center look at history, readers will be captivated by the classified and covert efforts made by each side as they tried to gain the upper hand and win the war. Restricted access is lifted to give the reader a peek into the top secret operations of the daring men and women who fought the war under a cloak of secrecy.

Snippet:
PRIVATE PENS
Roald Dahl, British spy? Yep? That is correct. Before Dahl became the award-winning children’s author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, he was a British secret agent. His mission? To hobnob with the American president, vice president, and other American dignitaries to get them to commit to entering the war.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Emmy in the Key of Code
by Aimee Lucido (Author)

Booktalk: In a new city, at a new school, twelve-year-old Emmy has never felt more out of tune. Things start to look up when she takes her first coding class, unexpectedly connecting with the material–and Abigail, a new friend–through a shared language: music. But when Emmy gets bad news about their computer teacher, and finds out Abigail isn’t being entirely honest about their friendship, she feels like her new life is screeching to a halt. Despite these obstacles, Emmy is determined to prove one thing: that, for the first time ever, she isn’t a wrong note, but a musician in the world’s most beautiful symphony.

Snippet:
Blending In

Instead of staring
the girl in braids
wears a smile so sure
that I know
she doesn’t think I stand out
like an ugly yellow piano
at all.

In fact
it seems that
the only thing she thinks I look like
is myself.

A 2019 Cybils Poetry nominee