Side note: I only watched the first ten minutes or so of the Netflix version of My Plain Jane, but that's all it took to show me that the television show is much raunchier than the book, which is PG-rated (at least as far as I remember).

2. Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity by Elizabeth C. Bunce—This installment is the latest in another of my favorite children's series. It stars Myrtle Hardcastle, a brilliant young woman in Victorian England who has an "unnatural" obsession with murder and forensics. She solves crimes with the help of her governess and assorted others. This particular book is set on a Scottish island, where Myrtle's governess has just inherited a crumbling castle. It doesn't take long for our heroine to find herself on the hunt for a missing brooch and a murderer.

3. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson—Even though I like Sanderson, I likely wouldn't have read this YA fantasy if it hadn't been for book club. That would have been a shame, too, because this novel is a gem. It's an action/adventure/pirate story about a young woman who sets sail in search of her missing best friend and finds herself along the way.

4. The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly—This YA novel stars Michael, a 12-year-old boy with severe anxiety, especially with the threat of Y2K looming before him. When he meets Ridge, a confident teen who seems to have no worries at all, Michael is fascinated—and that's before Ridge announces that he's the world's first time traveler. Ridge even has a special book all about the future, a book that could assuage all of Michael's worries, if only he could get his hands on it. 

The plot sounds kind of weird, I know, but this book features some warm, wonderful characters and imparts important lessons about being present in the now instead of obsessing over what the future might bring.

5. Artifice by Sharon Cameron—Isa de Smit was raised in her father's Amsterdam art gallery, a home filled with life, color, and vibrancy. Now that the Nazis have taken over the city, everything has changed. Isa's struggling to hold on to her beloved gallery while her best friend is risking his life by working with the Dutch resistance to smuggle Jewish babies out of the city. He needs money for his important work and Isa has a way to get it. By selling the Nazis the forgeries her father made of famous paintings, she can help the resistance and save her gallery. If she gets caught? She will lose everything, including her life. 

If you like historical fiction, I also highly recommend Cameron's Bluebird. I liked it even better than Artifice.  

6. One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransome—This middle grade verse novel takes on a unique subject: the Black homesteader movement. It features three women pioneers headed for an unknown future in the Nebraska wilderness. The story is poignant and powerful. 

7. Dust by Dusti Bowling—Another MG read, this one is about a girl with severe asthma who becomes obsessed with the mysterious new boy at her school. Adam is sullen and angry, with no desire to interact with anyone. Considering that dust devils seem to swarm around the kid, Avalyn really should stay away from him. But she can't. She's determined to get to the bottom of Adam's heavy emotions, whether he likes it or not—and whether it's safe for her or not.

8. The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier—When I volunteered at my daughter's elementary school library a few years back, this graphic novel series was wildly popular. I finally picked up this series opener and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a quick read that's chock full of action, humor, and heart. I can't wait to read the sequels.

9. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett—I don't remember if I read this classic as a child or not, but I loved it as an adult. It's a sweet, wholesome riches-to-rags story about the importance of kindness, humility, and fortitude.

10. Morning Sun in Wuhan by Ying Chang Compestine—Even though it deals with the still-raw subject of COVID, I enjoyed this hopeful MG novel about working together to get through hard times. The author grew up in Wuhan, so the setting feels especially authentic. 

There you go, ten of my favorite children's books that I read in 2024. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What are you grateful for today? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!

I'd never heard of Bletchley Park until I saw that one of my favorite historical fiction writers, Ruta Sepetys, was coming out with a new novel entitled The Bletchley Riddle. A little Googling revealed that Bletchley Park is a country house in Buckinghamshire, England, that was purchased by a British government agent for use as a code-breaking center during World War II. The work that was done there was top secret, accomplished by mostly young people, and has been credited with shortening the war by 2-4 years. So, what specifically went on there?

Now that the mysteries of Bletchley Park have been declassified, the public can read all about it. Even though I haven't been a child for *ahem* quite some time, I particularly enjoyed learning about the Park from two books written for middle grade readers that came out this year—The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II by Candace Fleming and the aforementioned The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. They make perfect companion reads. I read Fleming's non-fiction account first, which gave me a great basic understanding of the Park. Having that foundation enhanced my enjoyment of the novel, which tells an exciting fictional story about two siblings who work there.

The Enigma Girls provides a thorough, very readable account of what Bletchley Park was, the work that went on inside its walls, what that work entailed, who performed the jobs, how their work impacted the war, and, most fascinating to me, how it affected them on a personal level. I was especially amazed that so many of the Park's workers were young (most were under 21) and female. The fact that these young ladies answered the call of their government to leave their homes for an unknown period of time to live in an unknown place and to perform unknown "war work" duties that they were absolutely forbidden to talk about—even with other workers at the Park—is astounding, really. As the book's subtitle indicates, Fleming focuses on ten specific workers, which gives the text a close-up, intimate feel.

A lot of the code breaking that went on involved using complicated machinery and tedious deciphering methods. Fleming explains these in detail, which does get a little dull and overwhelming at points. Other than that, though, The Enigma Girls is an excellent read. It's interesting, conversational, and inspiring. I highly recommend it for anyone, middle grader or not, who's interested in learning more about this lesser known aspect of World War II.

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The Bletchley Riddle begins with a splash. Not literally, but it does involve a plucky 14-year-old giving her chaperone the slip and escaping the ship that is supposed to take her to safety in America. Lizzie Novis has no interest in leaving England, no matter how dangerous the war gets. She has too much to do. Her mother, an American who was working for the U.S. Embassy in London, disappeared 9 months ago while on a trip to Poland. Although she is presumed dead, Lizzie refuses to believe it. She has tried to enlist her brother's help in finding their only parent, but he has repeatedly told her to drop it. Just when he's decided to stop communicating with her, she finds an important clue that she hopes will entice him into helping her investigate. 

When Lizzie goes in search of her brother, she discovers even more secrets. A math student at Cambridge, 19-year-old Jakob is now doing a top secret war job in the countryside that he can't talk about. Since he can't leave his sister on her own, he has no choice but to take her with him to Bletchley Park, where she becomes a messenger at the mysterious facility. As Lizzie puzzles out what is going on at her hush-hush new workplace, she enlists the help of new friends to figure out what really happened to her mother. The more they dig, the more disturbing and risky their investigation becomes. What was Willa Novis really doing in Poland? Could rumors that she was a traitor to the Allies possibly be true? What is happening behind all the closed doors at Bletchley Park? Can the efforts of an ordinary teenage girl truly make a difference in such a vicious, overwhelming war? Lizzie is about to find out.

The Bletchley Riddle is fiction, written to entertain more than educate, so it's no surprise that it moves a lot faster than The Enigma Girls. With short, snappy chapters filled with action and intrigue, it tells a compelling and engrossing story. Although it goes over a lot of the technical details that were discussed in The Enigma Girls, Sepetys and Sheinkin explain them in a shorter, simpler way that never bogs down the plot. In fact, the tale focuses more on the mystery of Willa's disappearance than the goings-on at Bletchley Park, blending the most exciting aspects of both to keep the novel rocking along. 

I love the characters in this novel, especially feisty, outspoken Lizzie. Jakob, Colin, and Marion are perfect foils for her with their calmer, more grounded personalities. Combining their various talents, they make an appealing, well-balanced team.

Along with an interesting Bletchley Park backdrop; an intriguing, exciting plot; and warm, likeable characters; Sepetys and Sheinkin add in dashes of humor and romance along with a plot twist or two to round out this enjoyable novel. What results is a solid, satisfying read that educates and entertains at the same time. I loved it.

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If you enjoy learning about code-breaking and lesser-known aspects of World War II, you should dig both of these excellent reads. Each is worth the read on its own, but they complement each other so well that you really should try them both to get a complete picture of all the intrigue and intent focus that once defined Bletchley Park.