Jan 09 2025
I usually read a Bad Machinery book each Christmas, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it this past year. Book 10 is the very last book of the series, and I was not in the correct frame of mind to face the end of the stories featuring my favorite teen mystery solvers, not …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/01/09/the-case-of-the-severed-alliance-bad-machinery-10-by-john-allison/
Nov 18 2024
I was so chuffed to receive a delightful box with the first two books in Svetlana Chmakova’s Weirn series just before Halloween! Deeply grateful to JY, an imprint of Yen Press, for sending not only the two volumes but also a cute selection of pens, bookmarks and posters, some of which found their ways into …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/11/18/the-weirn-books-vol-1-and-2-by-svetlana-chmakova/
Oct 25 2024
Coatlicue help me, I’m pretty sure my kids have infected me with their brainrot, because as soon as I realized that this story was set in Ohio, I began chortling to the tune of Swag In Ohio. But that Midwestern state (and Gen Alpha shorthand for weirdness) is honestly the perfect setting for this tale …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/25/monster-locker-vol-1-by-jorge-aguirre-andres-vera-martinez/
Oct 09 2024
When R. L. Stine started making headlines as a writer with the Fear Street novels, I was already aging out of his target audience. I know that that’s a weird thing to say given how I voraciously read books across all age ranges now, but having grown up on Nicholas Fisk and Scary Stories To …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/09/spinetinglers-3-by-r-l-stine/
Sep 27 2024
There isn’t anything super innovative about the plot of this terrific middle grade graphic novel, but the storytelling choices that the creative team have made give it a truly profound 21st century edge. Blue literally lives on the wrong side of the tracks. Their mom works multiple crappy jobs to make ends meet and they’re …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/09/27/heebie-jeebies-by-matthew-erman-shelby-criswell/
Sep 23 2024
This first book in The Web Of The Spider series for middle grade readers could not come at a more relevant time! Young Rolf von Heusen is eleven years old in the spring of 1929. His main interests are football and palling around with his friends Ansel and Joshua. He thinks that his hometown of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/09/23/rise-of-the-spider-by-michael-p-spradlin/
Sep 16 2024
Oh wow, getting into this hit hard. Like Ciera Burch, I never went to sleepaway camp, and wound up writing a book/game on the subject. I designed that roleplaying game on my former best friend, the same way choreographers create dances on certain performers. Unfortunately for me, that person I relied on and trusted more …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/09/16/camp-twisted-pine-by-ciera-burch/
Aug 30 2024
Does anyone write about smart, funny, quirky middle school kids as well as James Ponti does? I genuinely do not think so, especially when it comes to placing them in exciting, crime-solving adventures. Mr Ponti’s latest series centers on siblings Alex and Zoe Sherlock, who are inspired by their last name to start a detective …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/30/the-sherlock-society-by-james-ponti/
Aug 08 2024
The second book in the A Year Of Diana Wynne Jones challenge that I could join in on was this, Eight Days Of Luke. I’m honestly still torn over how I feel about the various covers: some seem a little spoiler-tastic, but if I’m being perfectly honest, I didn’t even look properly at the cover …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/08/eight-days-of-luke-by-diana-wynne-jones/
Aug 05 2024
Oh gosh, I really do hope this is the start of a series! It’s so cute, and the ending is the perfect setup for sequels galore! Eleven year-old Caleb isn’t super thrilled to have to leave California and all his memories of his late dad. But his mom enjoyed growing up in small town Wisconsin …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/05/a-bite-above-the-rest-by-christine-virnig/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire