The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase by Wendy Mass, 2016

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It has been a few months since the Harmonicandy was chosen as the winner of the nationwide candymaking contest. Forever changed by the experience, Logan, Miles, Philip, and Daisy have returned to their regular lives. But when presented with the chance to go on tour to promote the new candy, they each have very different reasons for hitting the road.
The stakes are a lot higher than they thought, however, and a decades-old secret is revealed. In this action-packed adventure, the four friends embark on a journey full of hidden treasures, imaginary worlds, rivers of light, a map of awe, a sky of many colors, and one very small cat who thinks he's a dog.
And candy.
LOTS and LOTS of candy.
They've already learned to trust one another. Now they'll have to trust themselves in order to face what lies ahead and save what really matters.

(544 pages)

When I asked my ten-year-old brother if he liked The Great Chocolate Chase, he said "Yes, but it was kind of annoying how people kept getting important information and then keeping it secret for like forever." When I pressed him and asked how he thought it compared to the first book - which is one of his all-time favorite novels, one of a very elite group of books he's re-read - he surprised me by saying that he thought this book was every bit as good as its predecessor. I know he definitely chewed it over even when he wasn't reading: he kept wandering up to meat random times and asking me whether I'd seen such-and-such coming or if I knew how this-or-that tied in with the first book. It was very cute (and slightly annoying), and definitely heartening to see how perfectly Candymakers 2 captured and held my brother's attention.

As for me, I definitely enjoyed it. There are few things I love to do more than curl up with a big fat new book by one of my favorite authors, and so I really loved the opportunity to do that with Candymakers 2. I totally agree with my brother, though, that it was pretty frustrating when the characters teased huge reveals and then waited entire chapters to reveal what they knew. The worst of these was when Daisy did a DNA test in the RV, and then announced that it would take like twenty hours and the data would only be processed while the vehicle was actively in motion. I mean, seriously?

But that's a minor quibble. I really did love reading this extension of one of my very favorite MG novels, and Mass did a wonderful job of instilling almost all of the same magic and excitement from the first book into the second; she has a skill few other authors do, of being able to write sequels that don't feel watered-down. This one may feel a bit stretched, like she threw in some extra random plot points just for length, but that's entirely excusable because all of the side plots are really interesting. It's actually the main plot, one of the big reveals that comes toward the end, that had me scratching my head and struggling to keep suspending my disbelief. I can't talk much about it, though, so suffice it to say there's some very fantasy-esque sci-fi.

If you're reading this review, you've either never read the first Candymakers or you have read it and are deciding whether to read this book. If you're the former, just go read The Candymakers. Like, right now. You can thank me later. If you're the latter, be assured that you can safely read and enjoy The Great Chocolate Chase; it adds to, rather than takes away from, the charm of the first book. And, as an added bonus, it has cameos with characters from three other Wendy Mass books. I only caught two of them, both of which were incorporated in natural (but also really fun) ways. If you read the book, try to catch all three so you can tell me which one I missed!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

How to Fight a Dragon's Fury by Cressida Cowell, 2015

Warning: lots of spoilers ahead! This is a review of the twelfth book in a series, so please don't read it unless you're ready to ruin the first eleven books for yourself.

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Book 12 is the epic finale to the New York Times bestselling How to Train Your Dragon series! The Doomsday of Yule has arrived, and the future of dragonkind lies in the hands of one boy with nothing to show, but everything to fight for. Hiccup's quest is clear... But can he end the rebellion? Can he prove himself to be king? Can he save the dragons? The stakes have never been higher, as the very fate of the Viking world hangs in the balance!

(416 pages)

Oh, man. How can this series be over? When I started it, just a year or two ago, there seemed to be a million of these books. And even though they were geared at kids almost half my age, I still gobbled them up by the handful - they were fun and silly at first, full of naughty dragons and crazy escapades. Then somewhere along the line I realized that I actually did care about Hiccup and Toothless and Fishlegs and all the rest - not just because they provided an escape from my world, but because they were legitimately compelling characters. The next thing I knew things were escalating, falling into place and then back out as Hiccup discovered the random adventures he'd been on had all led him to the items he would need to claim a throne he'd never even realized he was the heir to. And then the villain snatched the items away, and a giant dragon with a bitter, burning desire for revenge against the humans enslaved everyone Hiccup knew, and Hiccup was left on the run. And now here he is one last time, starting in dead last one final time as he fights to gain the throne and negotiate a peace that would mean the survival of both the humans and the dragons, despite the terrible war raging between the two species. A seemingly impossible goal, true, but then Hiccup has been in many impossible places before.

I truly loved every minute of watching him navigate his way through this one. Through all twelve books, Cressida Cowell's writing has never once dropped in quality, and I believe (though I haven't read it in a while) that the first How to Train Your Dragon book was no huge leap greater than this twelfth installment. How does she do it? I have no idea - but I wish all authors could be as consistent as she is!

There isn't really anything for me to say, besides that the quality is as high as ever and it's a fulfilling (if rather tear-wrenching) ending to a wonderful series. If you have read the first eleven How to Train Your Dragon books, then you're really not going to wait for my encouragement to read the twelfth. And if you haven't read any of these books, then what on earth are you doing reading this review?! Leave this page right now and go check out the first book in the series, How to Train Your Dragon. I know you won't be disappointed.

Minna's Patchwork Coat by Lauren A. Mills, 2015

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Minna and her family don't have much in their small Appalachian cabin, but "people only need people," Papa always reminds her. Unable to afford a winter coat to wear to school, she's forced to use an old feed sack to keep her warm. Then Papa's terrible cough from working in the coal mines takes him away forever, and Minna has a hard time believing that anything will be right again...until her neighbors work tirelessly to create a coat for her out of old fabric scraps. Now Minna must show her teasing classmates that her coat is more than just rags--it's a collection of their own cherished memories, each with a story to share.

(288 pages)

First, let me just say that I debated about putting that teaser at the top of the page. The story isn't plotted out at all the way it suggests, and it isn't actually until the end of the book that Minna actually takes her patchwork coat to school.

Marketing quibbles aside, though, let's talk story. I thought this was a really cool one, because it took something I knew very little about (life in the Appalachians), and turned it into a fascinating background for the story. Minna's Patchwork Coat is full of poignant messages about family, friendship, and racism, and all the way those three subjects can be woven together. A boy, Lester, who's part African America, part white, and part Native American is despised by everyone but the Native American grandmother he lives with - until he and Minna become friends. His grandmother, Aunt Nora, is so smart and so good at healing and yet is left so entirely out of the community because of the color of her skin. And Minna, of course, is just as cut out of the community, but for a different reason: she's so poor she can't afford a coat.

This is a really good example of how middle grade novels can still dig into deep topics and come up with some serious themes, without ever straying onto edgy territory. Minna's Patchwork Coat is a wonderful book for kids of any age, full of no more violence than the (unseen) death of Minna's convalescent father. It is somehow a gentle book, even as it depicts grief and racism and bullying and everything else Minna struggles with throughout the book - gentle, because it's honest without ever once beginning to relish its harsher themes. It comes across as a very honest book, portraying the true emotions and experiences of a little girl growing up in the Appalachians - one whose father dies, whose best friend is shunned by the rest of her society, and whose family is so poor she literally can't go to school because she doesn't have a warm coat for walking to school in the winter.

I think kids will appreciate the straight-forward depiction of Minna's reality, while still being enchanted by the stories behind the patchwork coat. I know I certainly would have loved Minna's Patchwork Coat at a younger age, because I would enjoy the mix of historical fiction (I always loved books that made me feel smart by teaching me something) and optimism. For at its core, despite the hard themes that run through it, Minna's Patchwork Coat is a story about an extremely optimistic girl who learns some sad truths but still does her part to draw her community together through the patchwork coat made from their most beloved memories.

Do I recommend it? Yes. I'm not going to say I think everyone should run out and buy it this instant, but I do think it's a good book. It's worth a read it it's handy, and it's definitely worth looking into if you know a kid who's into historical fiction.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from KidLitCon.