Undercover Latina by Aya de Leon

Undercover Latina by Aya De Leon (313 Pages)

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Andrea Hernandez-Baldoquin hails from a family of spies working for the factory, an international organization dedicated to protecting people of color. Andrea has dreamed about getting her first solo mission, but she never imagined that she would have to straighten her hair and go undercover as a white girl to befriend the estranged son of a dangerous white supremacist. In order to gain the boy's trust, Andrea finds herself doing a deep dive into the world of comic books and fantasy gaming, all while trying to keep her true identity a secret from her target's adorable Latino best friend. Can Andrea keep her head, her geek cred, and her code-switching on track to trap a terrorist?

Opinion: This is a children's mystery and adventure book that is a 2024-2025 Truman Award Nominee. Overall, I found this book to be a very fun read. Andrea is a relatable and likeable character that readers will root for as she is undercover. Additionally, Andrea's struggle with identity and color is written in a very approachable way for kids to understand. This book felt like a younger version of The Naturals and reminded me of the Netflix TV show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Would definitely recommend. 

Ode to a Nobody by Caroline Brooks DuBois

Ode to a Nobody by Caroline Brooks DuBois (304 Pages)

Summary: Before the storm, thirteen-year-old Quinn was happy flying under the radar. She was average. Unremarkable. Always looking for an escape from her house, where her bickering parents fawned over her genius big brother.

Inside our broken home / we didn’t know how broken / the world outside was.

But after the storm, Quinn can’t seem to go back to average. Her friends weren't affected by the tornado in the same way. To them, the storm left behind a playground of abandoned houses and distracted adults. As Quinn struggles to find stability in the tornado’s aftermath, she must choose: between homes, friendships, and versions of herself.

Nothing that was mine / yesterday is mine today.

Told in rich, spectacular verse, Caroline Brooks DuBois crafts a powerful story of redemption as Quinn makes her way from Before to After. There’s nothing average about the world Quinn wakes up to after the storm; maybe there’s nothing average about her, either. This emotional coming-of-age journey for middle grade readers proves that it’s never too late to be the person you want to be.

Opinion: This Truman award nominee is a realistic fiction kids book written in verse. I'm learning that I'm not a big fan of books written in verse. This story fell really flat for me. While at first you wanna just give the main character a hug, I felt her character development was really stale (as well as every other character) by the end of the book. Everything felt like a cliche. Overall, I wasn't a fan of this book. 

Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson

Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson (256 Pages)

Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Anna Ballinkay has never been normal. Her family uses their psychic abilities to help run the Ravenfall Inn, a magical B&B between the human world and the Otherworld. But it’s hard to contribute when your only power is foreseeing death. So when fourteen-year-old Colin Pierce arrives at Ravenfall searching for his missing older brother, Anna jumps at the chance to help. But the mysteries tied to Colin go much deeper than either of them expects. Now the supernatural creature straight out of Celtic mythology, one with eerie connections to Colin's family, is coming after them. If Anna and Colin can’t stop the creature, it would spell destruction for Ravenfall and the world as they know it.

Opinion: This book is a 2024-2025 Truman Award Nominee. The setting and characters make the book like a paranormal version of the Disney movie Encanto. There's a large magical family with a large magical house and the main character struggles to accept her place within the family/magical world. Though this is more paranormal and mysterious, as the main characters are trying to solve a murder mystery within this kinda hidden magical world. I'd definitely recommend it, especially in the next few months as this is a great fall read. 

The Problem with Prophecies by Scott Reintgen

 The Problem with Prophecies by Scott Reintgen (338 pages)

Synopsis: Most people inherit eye colors or heirlooms, but for Celia Cleary, the gift of prophecy has been passed down in her family for generations. And on the 4,444th day of her life, Celia will have her first vision. But nothing could have prepared her for what she sees—the quiet boy down the street, Jeffrey Johnson, is about to die. Determined to save him despite her grandmother’s warnings against it, Celia alters events to stop her vision from playing out. But for each prophecy she avoids, another one takes its place, putting Jeffrey in constant danger. Fate has made its choice, and it’s not giving up the hunt. Focusing on homework or friends isn’t easy when you’re going head-to-head with death—and keeping Jeffrey Johnson alive is throwing Celia’s seventh grade year into chaos. It doesn’t help that she’s getting to know Jeffrey more and more with each new rescue attempt. It really doesn’t help when she realizes she kind of likes him.

Opinion: This is a Truman Award Nominee for the 2024-2025 school year. I fully enjoyed reading this book. It has a little bit of everything, some supernatural elements with the seer abilities, some cuteness, friendship drama, and action. The characters are all relatable and easy to like. Celia had me invested as I wanted to see whether she would be able to pull off her main goal of the book. I will say I did predict the ending of the book, but I was still satisfied by it.