Book Review: History Smashers: Ancient Egypt

 

History Smashers: Ancient Egypt
by Kate Messner
Pub Date: Oct 07 2025
Read courtesy of https://www.netgalley.com/

Book 11 of the "History Smashers" series

With its illustrated sections within chapters and comic book-style storytelling mixed with text,
I really liked the formatting of the book. However...

I felt like there were missed opportunities to define some key words for 8-12 year olds (grades 3-7). For example, early in the book the word 'dynasties' is used. Children might know that word if they are familiar with anime or manga, but even then they might have a skewed meaning of the word. Another example is the use of 'BCE,' which is also never defined nor written out the first time as Before Common Era. Other words in the book, like 'mastabas' and 'bas-relief', should have been described or defined.

I also felt misled that the book was to be about Ancient Egypt, but it was heavily focused on kings, gods, and pharaohs. Even the first chapter was called "People of the Nile," but was only about kings, gods, and pharaohs. Short of a discussion of hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone, I found very little through the book about other topics such as daily life or science and medicine. For example, at one point the book randomly mentioned some diseases present in Ancient Egypt, but it didn't relate them to any of the kings being discussed. And why would they tell that people ate desiccated mummy but not tell if people got sick from eating desiccated mummy?

At one point I was confused that the book abruptly switched from telling a story in comic form to text, even though it was a continuation of that story. I also felt the book could have benefitted from offering the readers URLs or some key search words to search rather than a static bibliography.

I wanted to like this much more than I did. History isn't one of my stronger subjects, so I was really hoping I'd learn something more about Ancient Egypt than its kings, gods, and pharaohs.

⭐⭐ 2 stars

Book Review: The Experiment

Book Review: The Experiment
by Rebecca Stead
Pub Date: Sep 16 2025  
Read courtesy of netgalley.com

I'm pleasantly surprised by this story - I like sci-fi, and this one doesn't dummy-down (i.e., over-explain) the plot to death. It was a smooth, fun, suspenseful alien abduction story. And I wouldn't say it's fantasy; it's definitely more sci-fi.

I enjoyed the inane, unexpected, but humorous connections to Calvin & Hobbes throughout the story. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/trpnblies7/5289019576

The characters had well-developed personalities and delivered believable emotions and dialogue. The story flowed well. The settings were described well enough to follow what the characters were experiencing and doing. 

I've given it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐5 stars and am looking forward to getting it for my school library.

Book Review: The Better to Eat You With

 

The Better to Eat You With

by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Pub Date: Sep 23 2025  

read courtesy of netgalley.com

I might have liked this more if the author didn't make the 'monster' as vague and disconnected as it was. The narration relied heavily on the reader trying to figure out, along with the main character, if the monster was real. What didn't help was that the adults saw the scars and the effects of the monster's great claws, but when the monster was finally described, it was a hybrid monster made of many different animals. I then lost my ability to suspend disbelief because the 'monster' the adults were looking for couldn't be found even though there was physical evidence of its existence. 

Otherwise... the book sent a positive and realistically described message about eating disorders, their possible origin, the havoc they wreak, and possible ways to get help from others. The characters were well developed, and the story - with the exception of the monster - felt realistic for their ages. However, if the monster had been something that could be experienced by both the adults and the younger characters, I might have bought into the story better.

⭐⭐

Book Review: A Glimmer of Change

 A Glimmer of Change

by Elle McNicoll

Pub Date: Oct 14 2025

Read courtesy of netgalley.com

First, I'm really attracted to McNicoll's adroit use of metaphors throughout the book. They allow the reader to get more sophisticated in their depth or understanding of a feeling or event without the author being too wordy. Though some of them may challenge the readers, like one metaphor about being a "cartographer of your own heart," but they don't overwhelm the text.

Initially, I didn't know if the main character was male or female (SPOILER ALERT: she's female), which ends up being somewhat important to the story because of how females historically are portrayed when they are being bossy vs emphatic, snobby vs reserved, and relevant to this story, aggressive vs assertive. 

In this story aggressive vs assertive is emphasized on the themes of bullying, being an upstander, and friendship. There are some really good discussion prompts in the book, too, based on these themes. For example, "It'll be bad for a really quick minute. But the good will last forever." Another place for a good discussion are some passages in chapter 14. One is the connection between kindness and integrity. Another is "Distraction is the enemy of anxiety."

There might be a few places where the Britishisms may affect a teen outside of Scotland to stumble. One example is the use of "Bully for him," especially because a theme of the story is bullying.

I believe McNicoll did a great job of helping non-autistic readers understand what their autistic peers might be experiencing. Even concepts like "masking" are well explained within the context of the story, so the terms and concepts aren't preachy and teachy but instead flow naturally from the characters' thoughts and actions.

I'm looking forward to getting this book for my middle school library.

Book Review: Stella: Ranch Patrol

Stella: Ranch Patrol

by W. Bruce Cameron

Pub Date: Aug 26 2025   | 

Read through the courtesy of netgalley.com.

My students eat this series up (4th-8th grade intermediate school); but, this was my first time reading one of the Dogs with a Purpose series by W. Bruce Cameron. I enjoyed the range of emotions through the book - joy through fear - being accessible through Stella (a dog's) perspective. I thought it allowed the reader to think on many levels - a human perspective, an animal's perspective, a *talking* and *thinking* animal's perspective.  I did wonder why Stella was the only 'sentient' beast who could talk (or did talk) for the other animals, so to speak. There was a lot of humor, sometimes subtle, which also provide opportunities for readers of many levels to take what they could from the story. Cameron created plot tension, anticipation, and suspense while cleanly and not artificially coming to satisfying conclusions. Lessons and morals were hinted at in realistic ways without being preachy. Now I know why my students adore these books. :o)

Book Review: The Ink Witch

The Ink Witch
by Steph Cherrywell
Pub Date: Sep 16 2025

Read courtesy of netgalley.com

The transgender aspect of the main character was used to move the plot ahead without being preachy. For this reason, I enjoyed the rest of the book much more than I thought I would since at first I thought that the topic of gender was subterfuge a preachy story rather than ending up as a plot method. That being said, I also enjoyed that the book didn't start out as a witchy fantasy and allowed the reader to take the main character's journey with her. The storytelling was smooth and interesting, and I liked that I wasn't inundated with too many characters (i.e., names) to remember. The storytelling descriptions were enough to keep the twisting characters from getting muddy. Unique method of witchcraft (ink spells) was also a good way to keep the story interesting. Probably will get this for my middle school library collection. 

Yes, It's been a while... Book Review: The Unraveling

The Unraveling

by Keith Ward; Karl Buechner; Jeremy Mueller

Pub Date: 20 May 2025

read courtesy of http://www.netgalley.com

     Full disclosure: fantasy stories aren't my favorite, and it took me a while to get into this one. But once I did, I enjoyed the story. - at least until it ended abruptly. I understood the anthropomorphizing of the characters, but not the likening it to 'Watership Down' and a slightly derivative feel at times to 'Star Wars.' 

     I also understand the series appeal for this age of reader, but to not end the story as even a possible stand-alone is torturous and manipulative. I'd be really curious what the reading level (A./R. or Lexile) is because the vocabulary was really elevated: melee, attrition, accelerants, haughty, beleaguered, dirge, petulant, hubris, usurp, abattoir, etc. 

     I did enjoy the bit of humor that was peppered into the story: a crow-coo clock, cricket poppers, a stuffed parrot named Admiral Feathers, and some others. However, I did feel a little like I was being indoctrinated into a "humans bad/animals good" ideology, and it wasn't until at least 2/3 into the book that any concessions were made that an individual doesn't define a species.

I rated it a 2-⭐⭐