Middle Grade Monday is a feature started right here at Reading Nook. It's a way to share news or reviews of middle grade novels on a blog that doesn't exclusively post middle grade content. Feel free to join any time and link up.
Rating: 2.5 stars
Cover Rating: 3 stars (They look like
Powerpuff Girls, complete with no real feet. Except Scarlet.)
Powerpuff Girls, complete with no real feet. Except Scarlet.)
Genre: Middle Grade
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Razorbill
Page Count: 290 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon
Add it: Goodreads
Four young girls were best friends and their moms all worked as scientists. At a sleepover one night, their babysitter accidentally spilled a substance all over them. The friends had to move away and lost touch. Then one day Iris's hair turned purple, for no known reason. Then the girls end up moving back to attend the same school. After another sleepover, they realize that they are all a bit different. They can now do things that they couldn't before. They need to figure out how to use their powers for good and keep them a secret. Maybe they'll even find out why it happened.
This was a cute novel, but there were just too many things that I didn't like about it. There were way too many puns. There were some puns that were subtle and clever, but then there were some that were just obnoxious. Some of the puns seemed like they would go way over the head of middle school students. Kids just wouldn't get some of the references. For me there were just entirely too many puns and such. They even changed the name of Truth or Dare while referencing Truth or Dare.
The other thing I didn't like was how the mutants were treated in this novel. The girls called the ugly and disliked them and attacked them with little or no provocation from the mutants. I don't think that we should encourage tweens to be judgmental based on how someone looks. Granted these are very crazy mutations, animal/human mixes, but still. I just didn't think this sent the best message. I never really felt like their was a reason for them to be the bad guys, because they never really attacked.
I liked how each of the characters were different, but they were still all friends. They weren't all that nice to Opal though. I think each character gives girls a different person to relate to. It was a cute story, a bit like the Powerpuff Girls. A teeny-booper kind of read. I think middle grade kids will probably enjoy it more than grumpy old me.
First Line:
"It was a dark and stormy morning."
Favorite Line:
"...avoiding Candace's begoggled glare and scanning the digital matrix for sock distress signals instead."
This is a Middle Grade Monday Post feel free to link your middle grade reviews/news below :)
(doesn't have to be posted on a Monday)
Aw, it's a shame that a book for kids would have such a mean message about judging people!
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