Do you ever play that game where you and your friends try to decide which super power would be the awesomest one to have? Would you want to fly through the atmosphere, control people’s minds, wield extreme strength? The possibilities are endless, and all delicious in their own way. (I’ve always been partial to invisibility, myself.)

Well, in Savvy by Ingrid Law, each member of the Beaumont family gets a super power when they turn 13. And sure that sounds really cool, but unfortunately, no one gets to choose their power — and guess what: it’s actually really hard to control your gift. So Grandpa ends up causing earthquakes when he’s upset, and the two oldest kids create hurricanes and electricity. Momma’s perfect, but that means she also makes perfect mistakes, never little oversights. And now… it’s Mibs’ turn.

But just before Mibs turns 13, her father is in a horrible car accident and lands in a coma. So when she wakes up on her birthday, Mibs is convinced that the universe intends for her to use her power to heal her dad. But that means traveling to the hospital in another town — so somehow Mibs ends up on a bus with a random crew of companions, including one who seems to hate her and one who’s a total stranger. Oh, and did I mention that the bus is headed in the wrong direction? Yeah…

With this set-up, you can see why I was totally captivated by this story. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen! And I loved Mibs as the narrator; even though there are obviously major fantastical elements to the book, I found Mibs to be totally real. I just hope that Mibs puts in an appearance in Scumble, Ingrid Laws’ companion book to Savvy, which just came out this month!

Well, I guess I’ll have to wait until I read Scumble to get an answer to my question. But you don’t have to wait to read Savvy, so go pick up a copy today! And if I still haven’t convinced you, then check out this AMAZING video created by an 11-year-old fan of Savvy named Sunny (with some help from her own family). It’s a stop-motion video of a scene from the book:

Pretty awesome, right? Dude, I think Nancy’s gonna be super jealous when she sees this…

— Karen
Karen once heard that only people with something to hide would rather be invisible than have the ability to fly. But Karen has nothing to hide from her Kidsmomo readers! OR DOES SHE?

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I’ve mentioned before that I’m a HUGE fan of Edward Eager, who wrote a bunch of sweet, playful books about kids who discover temporary access points to magical adventures in their everyday world. His books include Half Magic, Magic by the Lake, Magic Or Not?, and The Time Garden (which was my pick for our time travel theme). There are seven books in all, and I’ve read each one multiple times over the years. It’s always been one of my great disappointments that Edward Eager never wrote more.

But thanks to Laurel Snyder, I now have one more chance to feel the same delight that Eager’s books always brought me. Her book, Any Which Wall, is a wonderful tribute to Eager, who is also one of her favorite authors.

The story is about four kids who come across a mysterious wall in a field near their neighborhood. They quickly realize that the wall grants wishes, and so the adventures begin — with Henry, Emma, Roy, and Susan zipping through time and space to the destinations of their dreams.

We included Any Which Wall in our beach reads booklist, and it really is perfect for sunshiney summer reading. If you’re looking for deep magical mythology or dramatic and dangerous exploits, then this is not the book for you. But who needs all that stuff all the time? Not me!

A couple weeks ago, I took the book with me on an hour-long subway ride to go bike riding on a little island by NYC. Reading Any Which Wall on the way there was amazing, because it set just the right tone for my day of fun in the sun, and it also made the time go by super quickly. So thank you, Laurel Snyder! I guess you could say that the kids in Any Which Wall found magic through a wall, and I found magic through a book!

Have any of you guys read Any Which Wall or any of Edward Eager’s books? Leave a comment and let me know, or send in a review of your own!

— Karen

Karen hasn’t come across any magical walls yet, but she often wishes for a magical subway train to take her away on an adventure — particularly on Monday mornings when she’s on her way to the office…

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Reviewed by: Ayra, Age 10 from Ohio

Rating:

“Warriors” is a book series about cats that live in the wild. The first book, “Into the Wild”, features Rusty: A nice house-cat who lives with his humans. However, Rusty soon realizes there is a world beyong his yard. Rusty ventures into the wild and discovers a whole new community of wild cats. Rusty then abandons his easy life and goes to live with the wild cats. Will Rusty survive, or will the whole forest plunge into peril? This book is very interesting, and hooks you into the story as you go along. I would reccomend “Warriors” by Erin Hunter to you anyday! I hope you enjoy this book as much as I do!