Bookcase Bizarro: MG/YA Book Reviews, March 2025

MG/YA Book Reviews by a MG/YA Writer

Welcome to the March edition of Bookcase Bizarro!

I have some very exciting news to announce this month. Shadow Apprentice is a finalist in the 2024 Wishing Shelf’s Book Awards!

This is very meaningful to me, as children are the judges in this contest. I’ve had some great feedback from adult readers of the book, but this is the first time I’ve heard that Shadow Apprentice has resonated with kids.

In writing news, I’m still drafting, but I’ve got a good sense of the scope of the story now (including the ending). It’s exciting to see how the characters’ struggles and decisions are merging with key plot points. There’s still plenty of work to do, but most of the scaffolding is in place. (I think.)

I haven’t posted anything on Instagram this month, and I’m all the happier for it. I’ve really enjoyed immersing myself in my work, not being hyper-connected or hyper-social, going inward instead of out. It’s made me realize that some form of ‘going dark’ is probably part of my writing process. However, the shift goes much deeper. I feel healthier being off social media, and that’s something I can’t ignore. I think I knew this even when I was posting more regularly, but writers are routinely told that social media a non-negotiable. If you want to get known, you’ve got to be on at least one platform.

But is that true anymore?

For awhile now, I’ve noticed that the number of views on each new post radically drops off whenever I provide less than three new pieces of content in a week. More concerning, I’m not seeing the people I follow in my feed anymore. I have to assume they’re not seeing me, either. I want to connect with the audience that’s chosen to follow me, and the people I’ve chosen to follow. If Instagram’s algorithm makes it impossible for us to connect, then how do I become ‘known’ using the platform? It’s making me re-consider whether being active on Instagram is worth the ever-increasing investment of time, effort and content the platform demands from me (even though I’m not their employee). I’m also seriously not thrilled with how Meta has used bogus ‘free speech’ arguments to abdicate its responsibility for monitoring misinformation and hate speech, a genuine concern for me as an LGBTQ+ writer.

I don’t think trying another social media site is the answer, although Bluesky certainly looks intriguing. What’s to stop it from deteriorating into the same mess as Instagram?

I’m going to keep my Instagram account, but I’m going to think more about how to use it going forward. I’ll try putting up mini-book reviews to announce a new Bookcase Bizarro post, but otherwise I’m giving myself a social media break. In the meantime, I’m also going to cross-post my book reviews to other places where readers gather. Thanks to the helpful advice many of you gave to me last month about following more children’s/YA book blogs. I plan to hang out more in the community that congregates around Greg Pattridge’s Marvelous Middle Great Mondays, and Unleashing Readers/Teach Mentor Text’s #IMWAYR (It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?), as well as a few others. Most of all, I’m going to write books.

I won’t lie to you—I’m a little scared. But I’m also tired of feeling so controlled by bait-and-switch platforms that constantly change the terms of engagement. I don’t think I’m alone in that.

Life in Toronto was all about shoveling snow last week. This week’s motto is ‘blame it on the rain.’ Rain or snow, it’s always about the books at Bookcase Bizarro. So don your rubber boots as we wade into the slushy, emotional intricacies of grieving, chosen family… and mermaids. How does a kid heal from a loss that she thinks is her fault, when she fears that her mother might also blame her? Answer: mermaids may have something to do with it.

A quick note to new readers: books that are available from the Toronto Public Library will be marked #TPL, because books don’t have to be new or owned in order to be loved.

MG Novel

‘Deep in the ocean

where the current slips free,

there lives the Rose Maid,

our Rosemary Lee.’

So begins the poem that ushers Hazel Bly into a new life in Rose Harbor, Maine. Rosemary Lee was a Rose Harbor girl who walked into the sea one day after losing her family. After this new tragedy, reports soon surfaced of a blond-haired mermaid swimming about in the harbor, wearing the same tattered blue dress as Rosemary Lee. And so, the legend of the Rose Maid was born.

Once, this legend would have enchanted ocean-loving Hazel, but ever since the kayaking accident that killed Mum, she can’t bring herself to go anywhere near the water. She watches over her 5-year-old sister, Peach, desperate to keep her safe. And she can’t let herself fall in love with a new town—one of many that Mama, her other mother, has dragged them to over the past two years. What’s the point of getting attached when Mama’s only going to move them again?

Hazel hopes that she’ll be able to convince Mama to return to their beloved yellow house in Berkeley, California after their stint in Rose Habor. When Mama runs into a childhood friend, Claire, leaving Rose Harbor is no longer a given, and Hazel’s desire for the safety of her old home grows more urgent. Claire seems to invade their lives, bringing with her a daughter, Lemon, who is Hazel’s age. Hazel is determined not to become friends with Lemon, but it’s difficult to ignore her when Peach adopts her as a second sister.

Lemon loves all things mermaid and even believes in the Rose Maid, something that Hazel would secretly love to do. Only she knows too well the dangers of the ocean and the perils of belief. California is where she belongs. It’s where she feels safe. Her old life will be waiting for her when they get home, Hazel feels sure of it, but Mama shows signs she is becoming more than close friends with Claire, which poses a threat to all of Hazel’s plans. How will she convince her family to return to the place where she needs to be, with Claire and Lemon standing in the way?

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Ashley Herring Blake said that Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea was the hardest book she’d ever written. I can believe it.

She also said it’s the book she most needed to write. I can believe that too, because that’s exactly how it reads: a complex book full of an emotional nuance and depth that is unusual for a middle grade book.

Grief and loss are the themes of this book, but Herring Blake never allows the reader to get submerged along with Hazel. How does she accomplish this? By making the surroundings equally compelling. Rose Harbor and it’s Rose Maid myth, the sea, the wonderful mermaid cafe that Claire runs, imaginative Lemon and the irrepressible Peach all come alive for the reader even as Hazel remains trapped inside the nightmare of an accident she’s sure was her fault.

Still, circumstances are dire for Hazel. Her surviving mother, Mama, is out of commission. She won’t talk to Hazel. Mama can’t even hug her, which makes Hazel believe Mama blames her for the accident. Mama’s obliviousness and self-absorption in the face of Hazel’s suffering are pretty hard to take. Many times I wanted to yell at her to go get some damn therapy. Couldn’t she see that her kid was suffering from the effects of a severe trauma? That’s the point: she couldn’t. Losing her partner has completely shattered Mama, robbing her of her ability to function as a parent and leaving Hazel to deal with the trauma on her own. As devastating as that is, I think the portrayal of a non-functioning adult is true to life, and is something that a lot of kids will be familiar with. Kudos to Herring Blake for exploring these deeply flawed family dynamics without demonizing her characters.

Grief and PTSD combine to create a terrible anxiety in Hazel that causes her to shut down and push people away. She’s unlikeable in a way that’s totally relatable. I cringed whenever she let fly at Lemon, who just wanted to be Hazel’s friend, not realizing that friendship wasn’t something that Hazel was capable of in her present state. Hazel’s pain and sense of guilt are as deep as the ocean, and just as crushing. Her misery is reinforced by being at the mercy of a meanness she can’t control. Herring Blake allows Lemon and her friends, Kiko and Jules, Peach, and even Claire their full agency, so that readers can cultivate a different awareness of Rose Harbor than Hazel. This prevents the novel from becoming claustrophobic. It’s also how Herring Blake shows Hazel’s growth. The inhabitants of Rose Harbor quietly sidle past Hazel’s self-protective guard until she can see she’s not as alone as she feels.

A lovely hint of mermaid magic provides some much-needed healing for Hazel and allows her to reach out to Mama in ways she never could have imagined. That said, the reconciliation between them happens too quickly, given all the damage that Mama’s neglect has caused. I wanted more of a slow burn resolution, an attempt at making amends while recognizing that forgiveness takes time, and work.

Many thanks to Kasey Giard of The Story Sanctuary for suggesting this title for our book club.

Realistic, gritty, and magical. Possibly one of the most accurate and sensitive portrayals of grief and trauma I have ever read. Recommended for readers aged 11 and up. (#TPL)

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Thirteen-year-old Ermin is a gifted mechanic and the worst student at St. Anselm’s Training School for Orphans. She’s just failed her exams for the third time—something nobody’s ever done. Worse, Ermin’s been running her own repair business for money—something that’s expressly forbidden. If the headmistress finds out, Ermin will go to prison. Her future will be over before it’s even begun.

But that’s not her only secret.

Her best friends, Colin and Georgie, are wizards in a world where magic is strictly controlled. Ermin worries that her friends will be captured, drained of their power, then banished. When Georgie’s caught aiding the Wizard’s Resistance, Ermin repairs a broken flying carpet so all three of them can escape.

Hesitant to join the Resistance because of her lack of magical power, Ermin steals an experimental device from a wizard hunter that could destroy every wizard in the Creek. She’s faced with a choice: either smash the device or convert it into a different kind of weapon—one that not only helps wizards but just might get her an apprenticeship at the prestigious Guild Academy.

Ermin’s got one chance to get it right. If she fails, she risks losing her two best friends… and her dreams.

Find Shadow Apprentice at your local library through Hoopla or buy from online retailers:

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Thanks for being a Bookcase Bizarro reader! I’ll be back next month with more author news, and more MG and YA book reviews. See you then!

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