"Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

This is an odd little book.  For years, I had it in a library for 6th to 12th graders, and just assumed from the cover and the little print that it was for High School.  It also showed up on the NY Times Bestseller list.  Not for kids.  But then, my Middle School students were checking it out ... a lot!  So, when I couldn't sleep one night recently, I finally started to read it.  On one hand, it's not nearly as creepy as I thought, on the other hand, it does have an element of freaky and a dash of horror, although I found the horror elements to be light (and I'm a total baby, so if I wasn't too scared, it can't be that bad).  It's kind of like "Harry Potter meets a teen version of a horror story".  Don't want to give too much of the plot away, but it is an interesting spin.  Ransom Riggs is a filmmaker, not necessarily a writer for youth.  He is fascinated with the visual image, and collected/found a large number of older photographs, many from the turn of the last century -- a time when photography was new and mysticism was extremely popular.  Mix a strong belief in the supernatural with the curiousity of budding photographers and you get a lot of pictures which are clearly manipulated, and only slightly odd.  Riggs took these photos and wove them into a narrative, doing some pretty impressive world-building along the way.  Yes, there are criticisms.  The lead character reads young.  Some of the editing is sloppy (at one point there are kids hiding under some stairs yet climbing that the same time) and an argument can be made that the narrative is stretched to wrap around the photos -- some of the photos he tries to pull together for a lead character don't actually look like the same person.  Overall, however, I was willing to forgive these minor transgressions for a tale which is whimsical, and, while drawing on some classic archetypes, is creative and fresh.  I couldn't predict where it was going to go, and I always like that.  Bottom line is that it was enjoyable, page-turning, and not what I expected.  Which is always a good thing.  (PS Coming to a Theatre Near You -- and likely to be much scarier in a darkened room)

"Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate

In most cases, this would echo those awful 1970s "problem novels" written for YOUNG PEOPLE and would be preachy and didactic.  Katherine Applegate avoids that by dealing with homelessness in a soft, gentle way, as voiced by our engaging protagonist, Jackson.  Ms. Applegate doesn't overstate things, or hammer them in, she simply lets the voice of Jackson speak, and his voice feels real and warm.  The choice to include a touch of magical realism here is also delightful.  It may be symbolism or metaphor, but whatever Crenshaw actually is, or isn't, doesn't really matter.  The point, which is subtle, is that we all struggle, and with that struggle comes some universality, namely that we all need help from time to time.  Did I wish, every now and then, that the prose was just a touch less sparse?  Well, yes, but this book, as it is, will be very accessible to anyone who might want to approach the subject of homelessness in a way that even younger children will understand well.  It's sweet without being saccarin, charming without being overt.  It's a fast read you can get through in one or two sittings and it is the kind of story kids may want to read more than once.  Brava.

"Keep Curious and Carry a Banana -- Wisdom From the World of Curious George" by Justin Martin and Liza Charlesworth

This little book joins a host of others in the market of "smile and move on."  Much like "The Blue Day Book" and the like, it uses illustrations to emphasize pithy aphorisms, the twist here being that they use images from the actual Curious George books to make their points.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it seems forced.  It did pull at my heartstrings, just a bit, given that Curious George harkens back to a special, gentle time in my life, a very long time ago.  For kids, an actual Curious George book might be better.  For adults, it's part of a novelty trend.  Not the best, not the worst of this kind.  Think "nifty gift" for someone having a significant birthday above the age of 45.

"Booked" by Kwame Alexander

The comparisons are inevitable.  When one writes a book as lauded as "Crossover" was, the follow-up will be compared, whether the author intended it to be, or not.  "Booked" is, and isn't, the same as "Crossover."  Both are verse novels with similar graphical layout provided by the publisher.  Both have Middle School boys who love sports and like girls.  Both have rivalry between the boys and their brother or friend, and both have boys who seem somewhat more mature than their Middle School ages.  After that, however, there are differences.  "Crossover" is about twin brothers who excel at Basketball, "Booked" is about a boy obsessed with Soccer.  Both are family tales, but very different families.  In "Crossover" it's an essentially strong family which is ripped apart, while in "Booked" it's a family with a lot of fault lines which are only temporarily repaired.  I saw the ending of "Crossover" coming, I was surprised by "Booked."  The nice rhythms and subtle humor are still there, but there are fewer concrete poems in "Booked."  That being said, "Booked" has some interesting and unique takes on how to create new literature from old -- blacking out words and phrases to create secret messages.  The whole book is very much a play on words, something that can bring readers back time and again and motivate them to create something themselves.  "Booked" didn't have the emotional impact of "Crossover" but then that first book by Mr. Alexander felt visceral and personal -- this one is mostly fun with a good dose of the reality of human complexities thrown in.  It's an engaging read, and should satisfy those who loved "Crossover."