I Kill the Mockingbird

I Kill the Mockingbird

by Paul Acampora

Me and Banksy

Me and Banksy

by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

I Speak Boy

I Speak Boy 

by Jessica Brody

After Emmy messes up a "meet cute" setup that she was making for her best friend and a boy at school, she ends up dunked in the dirty water of the "Enchanted Lagoon" at their school's first-ever carnival. Desperate to keep her phone from becoming permanently drowned, she drops it into a bag of expired rice. 

While waiting for her phone to recover, Emmy thinks over the disastrous night and wishes that she could understand the alien language of boys. 

Wish granted.

Once the phone is up an running, Emmy's translator app on her phone suddenly is no longer just "iSpeak" but "iSpeak Boy". Now everything that males of the species say, write, and draw can be translated in this handy little app, making Emmy the "Love Coordinator" of her middle school. She's helping girls figure out the boys they like and she's getting popular as she does it.

But not everyone likes what Emmy is doing and not everyone who likes what she is doing can be trusted.

Final thoughts: Modern day middle school retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. This is written for upper elementary and middle school students so that should be considered, but it really is cute and fun. 

Rating: 4/5

My Life Uploaded

My Life Uploaded

by Rae Earl

Seventh grader Millie Porter is just trying to survive as any preteen can in this day and age. She doesn't want to be at the bottom of the popularity food chain. She doesn't want to have to deal with her mother's boyfriend's cleaning obsession. She doesn't want to miss out on the chance to date the hot Canadian immigrant. And she doesn't want to get on the queen bee's social hit list.

What the most sensible seventh grader wants is to be seen and heard (but not laughed at) so she starts Hashtag Help with her BFF, her crazy family, a guy who geeks out over elevators, and a female cat named Dave. 

Now that she's got a vlog, can she balance her sensible real life world and her online experiences while avoiding the harsh realities of having her life up for everyone to see?

Final thoughts: I think I would have liked this more if the comments that Millie read and reacted to were visible in this ARC. Unfortunately, they weren't. So I'd be reading about one of her posts and then she'd talk about a troll's comments, but I never got to see it so I never could figure out her reactions. I'm also not a big middle-grade reader so Millie's voice didn't always fit right in my head as I read her. However, there were sparks of greatness and some truly honest moments throughout, so I think I am a fan. I would definitely watch a few of her vlogs if nothing else.

Rating: 3/5

ARC from NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group