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Final Round - 2025 Mock Newbery Award
By Kristen · 26 posts · 149 views
last updated Jan 20, 2025 07:44AM
Round 1 - 2025 Mock Newbery Award
By Kristen · 24 posts · 114 views
last updated Jan 12, 2025 10:17AM
What Members Thought
This illustrated middle grade book kinda reads like an updated version of The Mysterious Benedict Society, but with the addition of lots of spyware and super tech gadgets. It's nowhere near as good as The Mysterious Benedict Society. A lot of it doesn't make sense and the characters are very underdeveloped. Not what I would call Newbery worthy, but I think there are kids that would enjoy it.
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Mar 02, 2024
Barbara
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Shelves:
community,
read-aloud,
travel,
crime,
death,
journeys,
elderly-characters,
empowerment,
teachers,
humor
A solid reading choice for many middle graders, this opening book in a new series will entertain and empower anyone who's ever felt as though he/she/they didn't fit in. And at some point, isn't that all of us? The protagonist in this one is twelve-year-old Olive Cobin-Zang, who is so far beneath the radar that even her parents don't remember her last birthday. Since they are going to be out of town for a while, they enroll her a reforming arts school called RASCH across the San Francisco Bay. On
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Olive doesn't fit in and feels invisible. When her parents move her to a new school that is a former prison turned school, she discovers that blending into the background maybe isn't a bad thing. She discovers that the school is an undercover headquarters to learn to become a crime-fighter. Olive starts to make friends with other students, who like her, are misfits. They have to learn to work as a team to uncover a jewel thief and save the school from being shut own.
I know I will find students ...more
I know I will find students ...more
I wouldn’t recommend reading this right after (or at the same time as) Adam Gidwitz’s latest WWII spy novel Max in the House of Spies. This one fills a totally different purpose, however. Pure fun. Wacky spy-training. Friendship. Baffling jewelry heist. Lots of cats. Love Dan Santat’s illustrations, too.
Richie’s Picks: THE MISFITS: A ROYAL CONUNDRUM by Lisa Yee and Dan Santat, ill., Random House, 288p., ISBN: 978-1-9848-3029-6
“I remember and I'll always treasure
Schooldays were the happiest days of your life
But we never appreciate the good times we have
Until it's too late
I miss all the acquaintances we made
And I'd go back if I could only find a way”
– The Kinks “Schooldays” (1975)
“‘So, I’m being shipped off to a boarding school?’ Olive could hear the distress in her own voice. Not that she was sa ...more
“I remember and I'll always treasure
Schooldays were the happiest days of your life
But we never appreciate the good times we have
Until it's too late
I miss all the acquaintances we made
And I'd go back if I could only find a way”
– The Kinks “Schooldays” (1975)
“‘So, I’m being shipped off to a boarding school?’ Olive could hear the distress in her own voice. Not that she was sa ...more
We've seen versions of this story before. Kid becomes a part of a group that has a very special skillset, adventures ensue. Even though this trope has been done a thousand times before, we have to remember that it's been done so much because that very premise is jus pure fun. I'm not sure that this book breaks any new ground, but it's still a great read that is sure to entertain.
I listened to the audio, which was fine. I did miss out the Dan Santat's illustrations, which was a real bummer becaus ...more
I listened to the audio, which was fine. I did miss out the Dan Santat's illustrations, which was a real bummer becaus ...more
Loved this story and can't wait for the next in the series.
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Mystery/Adventure - Imagine Alcatraz is turned into a reform school, but for artsy kids. That's RASCH, and that's where Olive is headed. She doesn't consider herself artsy, though she has acrobatic skills learned from her recently deceased grandma, Mimi, a circus performer.
At RASCH, Olive tests into the NOCK program along with Philomena, Theo, James, and Iggy. NOCK is basically Spy School, with the self-proclaimed Misfits learning martial arts, ballet, teamwork, and problem solving. They all ha ...more
At RASCH, Olive tests into the NOCK program along with Philomena, Theo, James, and Iggy. NOCK is basically Spy School, with the self-proclaimed Misfits learning martial arts, ballet, teamwork, and problem solving. They all ha ...more
A fun and exciting read. Olive is a great character who grows into her place at RASCH. I especially enjoyed the twists in the mystery.
52 Book Club Reading Challenge #33: An Abrupt Ending
Fans of spy school or other kinds of spy stories will enjoy this one. Not only will they learn that kids make good spies since no one suspects them, but they will also useful spy techniques - just start picking your nose for instance when someone looks at you - they will look away pretty quickly. Buckle up and enjoy figuring out the mastermind behind a jewelry heist.
I loved that this story was about a girl named Olive. (My Grandma's name was Olive). It was a decent adventure story.
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Feb 03, 2024
Kimberly
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