SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Escape from Stalingrad
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://andy-marino.com/
CITY: Queens
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 386
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1980, in NY; married.
EDUCATION:New York University, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, and musician. Guitarist in bands, Sayonara and SleepCrime.
AVOCATIONS:Distance running, playing music, reading.
WRITINGS
Author of 2013 novella The Oregon Trail Diary of Willa Porter.
SIDELIGHTS
Raised in upstate New York, Andy Marino spent his childhood immersed in imaginative games that honed an early appreciation for story and character. After earning a degree in English from New York University, Marino turned his attention to writing fiction in earnest. His young-adult novels include Unison Spark, Uncrashable Dakota, The Door, and Autonomous. He is also the author of the “Plot to Kill Hitler” middle-grade historical fiction trilogy. Marino has also written stand-alone novels for middle graders as well as novels for adults.
In an online Nerd Daily interview with Elise Dumpleton, Marino commented that he first discovered his love for writing in elementary school. As he further noted: “I started writing an epic fantasy novel when I was eleven. I loved the idea of building an endless world with MAPS GALORE. … [T]he book was called The Runes of Illiarm, and it remains mercifully unfinished.”
Unison Spark was inspired by Marino’s reflections on the growth of online social networks in modern society. In a near-future world, society has fractured, with the wealthy living a leisurely life in the upper regions of Eastern Seaboard City, while the less-fortunate scramble to survive in the dreadful slums of the city’s lower canopy. In rarified areas of the city’s topside, the privileged stay connected via Unison, the largest social network in the world and one that proclaims it knows its users better than they know themselves. Fifteen-year-old Mistletoe, an orphaned dweller in the lower-level slums, wants to become a resident of the upper city and acquire enough money to make the coveted connection with Unison. Her life changes dramatically when she meets Ambrose Truax, the son of the tycoon who owns the giant networking company. Together, the teens uncover a dastardly plot to “upgrade” Unison, an upgrade that will have potentially calamitous effects on both their worlds.
Marino captures reader interest through his use of realistic characters, interesting settings, “a lightning-fast pace, and a firm footing in teens’ fascination with social networks,” wrote Debbie Carton in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly critic called Unison Spark “well written, energetic, and inventive” and a novel that “should appeal to fans of the current crop of dystopian fiction,” while in School Library Journal, Suanne Roush predicted that “readers who are obsessed with social networking sites, or are fans of films such as The Matrix, Tron, and Inception,” will embrace Marino’s fiction debut.
Tapping the parameters of the steampunk genre, which melds past and future in a technologically advanced society bound by the social conventions of early Victorian England, Uncrashable Dakota draws readers into a society where giant airships have replaced oceangoing vessels by the start of the twentieth century; the story echoes the fate of the RMS Titanic, the real-world transatlantic behemoth whose 1912 maiden voyage was doomed. Marino’s hero-protagonist is Hollis Dakota, a thirteen-year-old whose family company, Dakota Aeronautics, began when his grandfather made a discovery that not only shortened the U.S. Civil War but enabled air travel and the creation of enormous floating cities in the sky. Hollis is wary of claims that the company’s flagship craft is fail-safe; his father died in a related tragedy only a few years ago. Teaming up with his stepbrother and with Delia Cosgrove, a young woman who tends to the insects that power the ship, Hollis confronts an entire airship crew when they mutiny and take his widowed mother hostage.
“Friendships are tested throughout this sometimes dark and serious tale,” declared Ava Ehde in a review of Uncrashable Dakota in Voice of Youth Advocates, the critic predicting that “historical fiction, steampunk, and Titanic fans will enjoy this engaging and imaginative work.” A Publishers Weekly critic enjoyed Marino’s presentation of the newly merged Dakota and Castor clans, remarking that the bond forged by the two teen stepbrothers “as they negotiate friendship, brotherhood, and a vicious family feud is soundly drawn.”
Marino’s Autonomous, revolves around a road trip to Arizona’s Moonshadow festival in a prototype driverless, intelligent car named Otto. William manages to win the car and an all-expenses-paid trip for himself and three friends before heading off to college. He takes his tech-savvy neighbor, Christina; his athletic best friend, Daniel; and Daniel’s beautiful and ambitious girlfriend, Melissa, but the trip proves unpredictable as Otto draws on the teens’ electronic footprints, including their use of social media, to determine where to take them next. Revelations of secrets, drinking games, romance, laser tag, car chases, and more make for a rip-roaring journey.
Talking with a Young Entertainment interviewer about whether or not Autonomous should be taken as either an endorsement of or a warning against the possibilities inherent in technology, Marino remarked: “I don’t set out to write cautionary tales, or presume to warn anybody about anything. Human beings are always going to innovate and push the envelope and create amazing things that outpace our ability to really understand what they’re going to change about the way we live. The last thing I want to do is write something preachy, because that’s boring. … I hope readers find the book funny and exciting enough to keep turning pages, and come across a few moments that make them think, or hit close to home.” A Kirkus Reviews writer summed Autonomous up as “a high-tech, twisted Breakfast Club for the social media age.” Rob Bittner, in Booklist, suggested that the novel “will appeal to a niche audience looking for escapism without the full emotional investment of similar danger-fueled, sci-fi adventures.” In School Library Journal, Gilly Yildiz suggested that with William going on “the thrill ride of his life,” the novel makes for “a unique addition to any science fiction collection.”
In 2020, Marino released The Conspiracy, the first volume in a historical fiction trilogy called “The Plot to Kill Hitler.” Marino introduces readers to protagonists Max and Gerta Hoffmann, twelve and thirteen years old, respectively. Max and Gerta are the children of a respected surgeon. Because of their family’s socioeconomic position and because they are not Jewish, they lead lives of privilege. However, Max and Gerta are disturbed as they observe Hitler’s regime persecuting Jewish people where they live in Berlin. When a dying man visits their home late one night, they learn that their parents are part of the resistance. Max and Gerta ask to join them in their efforts. The leader of their resistance cell, Frau Becker, sends them on missions to deliver items to Jews in hiding. The packages contain forged documents that will keep them safe. Max and Gerta find their lives in danger on more than one occasion, but they work together to survive.
A writer in Kirkus Reviews praised Marino’s character development, stating: “The fictional plotters … are portrayed with a genuine humor, giving them the space to feel alive even in such a slim volume.” Megan Honeycutt, contributor to School Library Journal, described the book as “a quick but intense read that is sure to leave patrons excited for the next installment.” Marino continues the series with the novels The Execution and The Escape.
In his 2021 middle-grade historical novel Escape from Chernobyl, Marino takes young readers into the horror of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, when a nuclear reactor in the then Soviet Union exploded, expelling radiation across the nearby town of Pripyat and ultimately over much of Europe. The novel focuses on two young siblings who live in Pripyat, Alina and Lev. Their cousin is a custodian in the nearby nuclear plant, and the father of Alina’s best friend, Sofiya, lives only doors away. When Reactor No. 4 explodes in the early hours of April 26, 1986, these two siblings quickly depart from the city along with their parents, who immediately understand the danger. Others in the town remain in place, deceived into believing that all is under control even as a plume of deadly radiation covers the town. But the two siblings and their parents are not safe, for the Communist government does not want news of the disaster to spread. Meanwhile, the friends and families of Lev and Alina have to deal with the disinformation that those in power spread about the disaster. A Publishers Weekly reviewer lauded Escape from Chernobyl, noting that Marino “paints a vivid, if not always fully contextualized, picture of the catastrophe, its dangers, and a government willing to cover it all up.” Similarly, a Kirkus Reviews critic dubbed the novel “[e]xciting, tragic, and gritty.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 15, 2011, Debbie Carton, review of Unison Spark, p. 59; November 15, 2013, Jeanne Fredriksen, review of Uncrashable Dakota, p. 48; October 15, 2017, Rob Bittner, review of Autonomous, p. 50.
Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2011, review of Unison Spark; October 1, 2013, review of Uncrashable Dakota; April 15, 2018, review of Autonomous; February 15, 2020, review of The Conspiracy; August 1, 2021, review of The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess; October 15, 2021, review of Escape from Chernobyl.
Publishers Weekly, September 26, 2011, review of Unison Spark, p. 75; October 14, 2013, review of Uncrashable Dakota, p. 63; January 29, 2018, review of Autonomous, p. 190; May 24, 2021, review of The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess, p. 57; November 1, 2021, review of Escape from Chernobyl, p. 86.
School Library Journal, March, 2012, Suanne Roush, review of Unison Spark, p. 166; January, 2014, Heather M. Campbell, review of Uncrashable Dakota, p. 86; November, 2017, Gilly Yildiz, review of Autonomous, p. 90; April, 2020, Megan Honeycutt, review of The Conspiracy, p. 131.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2011, Paula J. Gallagher, review of Unison Spark, p. 515; December, 2013, Ava Ehde, review of Uncrashable Dakota, p. 79; December, 2017, Walter Hogan, review of Autonomous, p. 58.
ONLINE
Adventures in YA Publishing, http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/ (April 5, 2018), author interview.
Andy Marino website, http://www.andy-marino.com (April 13, 2022).
Nerd Daily, https://thenerddaily.com/ (September 216, 2021), Elise Dumpleton, author interview.
Swoony Boys, http://www.swoonyboyspodcast.com/ (April 12, 2018), author interview.
Tales of the Ravenous Reader, http://www.talesoftheravenousreader.com/ (April 11, 2018), author interview.
YA Books Central, http://www.yabookscentral.com/ (April 2, 2018), Beth Edwards, author interview.
Young Entertainment, https://youngentertainmentmag.com/ (April 4, 2018), author interview.*
About
Andy Marino was born in upstate New York, spent half his life in New York City, and now lives in the Hudson Valley. He is the author of the horror novels THE SWARM, IT RIDES A PALE HORSE, and THE SEVEN VISITATION OF SYDNEY BURGESS.
He also writes historical fiction for young readers, most recently ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ.
Andy Marino
Andy Marino was born and raised in upstate New York. He spent his childhood orchestrating Lego pirate battles, drawing detailed maps of imaginary video games, and cheating death in Choose Your Own Adventure books. Profoundly influenced by the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and the movie Bloodsport, he started writing his first novel at the age of eleven. Tragically, THE RUNES OF ILLIARM was never completed.
In sixth grade, he won a spelling bee and qualified for regionals one step away from the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC. Thoughts of ESPN cameras and fawning groupies clouded his mind, and he misspelled the word malediction.
During his teen years, Andy designed sets for school plays and became an expert stockpiler of unfinished art projects. After graduating from NYU with a bachelors degree in English, he played guitar in the bands Sayonara and SleepCrime, and got serious about writing fiction.
Genres: Children's Fiction, Horror
New and upcoming books
November 2024
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The Swarm
September 2025
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Escape from the USS Indianapolis
(Escape From, book 5)
Series
Plot to Kill Hitler
1. The Conspiracy (2020)
2. The Execution (2020)
3. The Escape (2020)
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Escape From
1. Escape from Chernobyl (2021)
2. Escape from East Berlin (2022)
3. Escape from Stalingrad (2023)
4. Escape from Alcatraz (2024)
5. Escape from the USS Indianapolis (2025)
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no image available
Novels
Unison Spark (2011)
Uncrashable Dakota (2013)
The Door (2014)
Autonomous (2018)
The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess (2021)
It Rides a Pale Horse (2022)
The Swarm (2024)
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Series contributed to
Tor.Com Original
The Oregon Trail Diary of Willa Porter (2013)
Andy Marino: On the Horrors of Real Life
Author Andy Marino discusses how witnessing the cycle of addiction was woven into his horror novel, The Seven Visitations Of Sydney Burgess.
Robert Lee BrewerSep 30, 2021
Andy Marino was born in upstate New York, spent half his life in New York City, and now lives in the Hudson Valley. He works as a freelance writer.
Andy Marino: On the Horrors of Real Life
Andy Marino
Photo by Stan Horaczek
In this post, Andy discusses how witnessing the cycle of addiction was woven into his horror novel, The Seven Visitations Of Sydney Burgess, why was important to him to write with brutal honesty, and more!
Name: Andy Marino
Literary agent: Cameron McClure
Book title: The Seven Visitations Of Sydney Burgess
Publisher: Redhook/Orbit
Release date: September 28, 2021
Genre/category: Horror
Previous titles: The Plot to Kill Hitler trilogy (for middle-grade readers)
Elevator pitch for the book: Sydney Burgess got clean to make a better life for her son. In the aftermath of a violent home invasion, with the intruder lying dead at her hand, her old urges resurface to take on a terrifying new form.
Andy Marino: On the Horrors of Real Life
IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]
What prompted you to write this book?
Witnessing a loved one trapped in the cycle of addiction and relapse sparked some intense ruminations on the existential horror of it all. It was important to me to write with brutal honesty and compassion about the nature of addiction, to defy the notion that it might signify a weakness in character. I wove that concept into my love for body horror and weird fiction, and hung the whole thing from the bones of a thriller.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
About four years from the time I wrote the first line of the first draft to publication day. The core idea didn’t change, but the structure evolved and clicked into place over several drafts and lots of feedback. I tend to initially build stories through a steady accumulation of mood and atmosphere, so hammering out the plot involves more flailing around.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I learned from my editor’s insightful work on the final draft that digging deeper into my characters’ formative experiences helped amplify the mounting horror of the story. Overcoming the urge to strip things to the bone to keep readers turning pages—learning to lay back and relax, even in the context of a propulsive narrative—was a valuable lesson and one that I’ll continue to draw from.
Andy Marino: On the Horrors of Real Life
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I learned from the copyeditor that the plural of LEGO is LEGO.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
One: the feeling that they’ve just discovered a fresh, intriguing take on possession that keeps them up late turning pages. Two: a multifaceted and naturalistic perspective on the nature of addiction. Three: scared.
If you could share one piece of advice with other authors, what would it be?
Treat writing more like a job than a precious creative process. It’s something you wake up and do every day until a novel accumulates. (At least, that’s the approach that works for me.)
&A: Andy Marino, Author of ‘The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess’
Elise Dumpleton·Writers Corner·September 26, 2021·3 min read
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From a thrilling new voice in horror, Andy Marino, comes a haunting tale of a woman whose life begins to unravel after a home invasion. She’s told she killed the intruder. But she can’t remember, and no one believes her…
We chat with author Andy Marino about his new novel The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess, along with book recommendations, writing, and more!
Hi, Andy! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! Thanks for having me. I’m a native (upstate) New Yorker. I lived half my life in NYC and recently moved back up to the Hudson Valley, mainly for easy access to haunted places, apple orchards, and Stewart’s. I’m a fairly serious distance runner, daily frisbee-thrower for an Australian Cattle Dog, erstwhile musician, and reader of anything I can get my hands on.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
Elementary school. In an anecdote I added to my first-ever bio, which now lives forever in various online places, I started writing an epic fantasy novel when I was eleven. I loved the idea of building an endless world with MAPS GALORE. I imagined a comprehensive a map inside the front cover, an auxiliary map that zoomed in on the relevant areas, and a map of the main city that got super granular, with streets and prominent architecture all nicely labelled. Anyway, the book was called The Runes of Illiarm, and it remains mercifully unfinished.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first book I remember being obsessed with was a children’s book called Bizzy Bones and Uncle Ezra. It’s about a mouse who’s scared of the wind, so his incredibly kind and emotionally intelligent uncle (also a mouse) works on a secret project to help him overcome this fear. Highly recommended. The Lord of the Rings made me daydream about becoming an author (see epic fantasy/map lust story above). I would say I think about China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station once a day, or at least every time I see a moth.
Your new novel, The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess, is out September 28th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Unsettling, propulsive, queasy, sharp, surprising.
What can readers expect?
What appears, on the surface, to be a thriller that hinges on a home invasion spirals into a nightmare odyssey of addiction, body horror, betrayal, and…love?
Where did the inspiration for The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess come from?
A desire to write honestly and compassionately about addiction. At the same time, I’ve always felt connected (on both a personal and creative level) to the existential horror of the cycle of addiction and relapse. So, when I started the first draft, I paired these themes with an almost uncomfortably close first-person POV and hung it all on the bones of a thriller. It immediately felt like the book I’ve always wanted to write, and the story evolved from there.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
I’ve never really been a clockwork-type plotter, where everything falls into place thanks to a meticulous outline. I’ve always preferred to let the story unfold as the writing progresses. However, this novel adheres to some pretty twisty thriller mechanics, so I had to find new ways to hammer it into place. What helped was creating a rigorous framework, dividing the novel into seven visitation sections which are in turn divided into six chapters each.
Marino, Andy
Escape from Stalingrad
Scholastic, 2023, 183pp, [pounds sterling]7.99, 9780702331305
Historical Fiction. Russia. World War II
Another powerful volume in the series, inspired by true events. Artem and his mother live in Stalingrad, and his older brother Vasily has just joined the Red Army, and is ready to fight the Nazis. But when Stalingrad is attacked, Artem and his mother find themselves on the front lines. Artem struggles to keep them alive, which means doing a deal with the enemy... Can they survive against the odds? A gripping story about a young boy faced with impossible choices, that brings history vividly to life.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Sennitt, Jo. "Escape from Stalingrad." School Librarian, vol. 72, no. 2, summer 2024, p. 63. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A800697528/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e16cf84d. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.
Friday, September 08, 2023
Escape from Stalingrad
Marino, Andy. Escape from Stalingrad
September 5, 2023 by Scholastic Inc. (In paperback)
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Artem's family has had a difficult time. When he was very young, his father was sent away to Siberia, and his mother has had to raise him and his brother Visily by herself in Stalingrad. Artem is very interested in animals and birds, and hopes to one day be a vet. In 1942, things get worse. Vasily is called up to fight for the Red Army at the same time that the entire family recieves orders to work in construction, and the bureaucracy is not set up to take into account that the brother is in the army. They manage to escape punishment, but work is punishing enough. A young girl, Yuna, befriends Artem's mother, who tells her not to talk to Artem and to distract him, since he daydreams about animals he sees enough. It turns out that Yuna is not only an orphan, but she is Jewish as well. When the Germans attack Stalingrad, Artem's mother is badly injured. Holed up and trying to survive, Artem bargains with a sympathetic German officer for food and medical equipment. For a while, he and Yuna fill German canteens with water, but Yuna is captured by the Germans. Artem is offered even more perks if he will throw a grenade at a supply boat, but he doesn't want to. While Artem has been trying to take care of his mother, he feels that he can't leave Yuna as a prisoner. With the help of a local black marketeer who knew his father, Artem manages to bargain canned goods for her transport out of Stalingrad. He also manages to get into the German camp and escape with Yuna after setting a fire. As the battle rages on, Artem works protecting a factory by looking out for planes, but when an officer lets him know that he is worth more to the Russians dead than alive, he realizes that he and Yuna must also escape and try to find his mother. Will they be able to make it out of the devastation?
Strengths: Like this author's Escape from Chernobyl and The Plot to Kill Hitler, Escape from Stalingrad is a well-researched, swiftly moving snapshot of a particular and horrible moment in history. Artem's interest in animals gives a good grounding in life before the war, but a telling scene where he expxlains to an officer that his interest in animals is really for the good of the motherland shows clearly how internalized the oppression he lived under was. There's a good note by Marino about the source works he consulted in order to write this, and some of my really avid readers might hunt down those titles. Yuna's Jewish background is clearly an issue, but I enjoyed the fact that it didn't really matter to Artem or his mother, and that the three of them came together as a family once they escaped. Given the vast devastation of the war, I imagine that there were many, many makeshift families. The details about the housing and food situation will appeal to readers who like the survival aspect of war stories, but there are enough details of shelling and sniping to appeal to those who prefer combat scenes. What I liked best was the great description of a young person who ended up in an impossible situation and tried desperately to make the best of it. The really brilliant part is that neither the Russians nor the Germans came across as completely evil. There were characters from both backgrounds who were more or less evil depending on their circumstances, and this seems to me to be very true to life. Hand this to readers who have read all of Tarshis' I Survived books and are looking for something with a bit more depth.
Weaknesses: Scholastic has a bad habit of issuing all of the titles that I really like and would be wildly popular in my library in paperback. I get it. Publishing is about making money. But are there no lovers of sports books, war books, and romances that would buy these in hardcover? And do that many people buy hugely long fantasy series in that format? It seems like I am always needing new WWII books, but a prebind will hold up maybe ten years. Then, no matter what the binding is like, the pages turn to dust.
What I really think: I will definitely be purchasing a prebind copy, and hope that Marino will continue to find aspects of young people dealing with different disasters to write about. I love to give these to children who complain about things like not being allowed to use their cell phones in the hallways! Perspective can be a sobering thing.
Ms. Yingling
Posted by Ms. Yingling at 5:00 AM
Monday, September 02, 2024
MMGM- The Frindle Files and Escape from Alcatraz
It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
at
Always in the Middle
and #IMWAYR day
at
Unleashing Readers
Clements, Andrew. The Frindle Files
August 27, 2024 by Random House Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Netgalley.com
Josh Willet loves technology, prefers doing his schoolwork on the computer, and is a huge fan of The Zen of Python, a coding style manual similar to Strunk and White's Elements of Style. His teacher, Mr. N., does NOT like technology, and uses it rarely in his classroom. Instead, he has a chalkboard, requires students to bring a paper copy of Strunk and White with them every day, and makes them hand in handwritten assignments. When Nick's pen runs out of ink, he has to borrow one from his mother, and notices that it has "Frindle" written on it. She tells him that it was a big fad when she was in middle school, and when Josh does a search for the term, he comes across stories about Nicholas Allen, a boy whose dictionary loving teacher inspired him to make up a new word for pens. Not only that, but Nicholas Allen looks a lot like Mr. N. a.k.a. Allen Nicholas! Could his Hawaiian shirt wearing Luddite of a teacher be the news sensation from the 1990s? To test out his hypothesis, Josh leaves a pen with "Frindle" written on it on the teacher's desk and waits for a reaction. When the next writing assignment deals with whether or not someone should reveal another person's secret, Josh knows he has the right person. To further test, he has all of his classmates use the adjective "frindy", meaning "weird, tacky, strange, or odd" in their writing assignments. Mr. N. plays along, and before he knows it, Josh is pushing the envelope. He has several of his friends bring their laptops to class with copies of a free, online version of the Strunk and White manual. Mr. N. takes away their laptops for the day, which earns him a meeting with the principal. In the end, students are allowed to use the online version, but Mr. N. points out that there are a lot of errors in it. Josh is interested to find out that E.B. White, author of Charlotte's Web, is the "White" in "Strunk and White". Soon, the class is researching this problem, trying to find out who posted the illegal copy, and using the battle cry "For Wilbur!" Mr. N. assigns the class a letter to send to the poster, asking for the copy to be taken down. It's sent from Mr. N.'s e mail account, which causes the school server almost to crash after a famous writer heralds their cause and classmate Miguel's interview about it goes viral. When the local news covers the class's project, Mr. N.'s secret is revealed. Josh learns more about his teacher's past, and about the value of using technology responsibly as well as grammar and print books, than he ever hoped to find out.
Strengths: I have to admit that I was leery of this title going in; the note reassuring me that Clements had been working on this book before his death was helpful. Since Frindle was published in 1996, this really worked perfectly. Technology has changed so much since then, so of course Josh prefers doing homework on a laptop. Nicholas Allen would be old enough to be a teacher. I adored the story of how he came to be a teacher, and admittedly cried when he shared information about Mrs. Grander and her impact on his life. This took several twists and turns, but was a masterful look at research, coding, and even good writing. I am not a good enough writer to do this final book of Clements' justice. It really is a fitting and excellent Trumpet of the Swan song of his career.
Weaknesses: I wasn't able to go back and read Frindle, but I seem to recall that Nick wasn't as nice as Josh. Somehow, I wanted Josh, or perhaps Mr. N., to be a little snarkier or nastier, if only to see them become nicer during the course of the story. That said, it's much more on trend to have characters be nicer today, and that's much more pleasant to read.
What I really think: This begs to be studied in classes, and I thought long and hard about which book would be best to read first. I think if I were using this as a class novel with 6th graders or upper elementary school students, I would start with The Frindle Files, and then go back and meet Nick in Frindle. This would also be a perfect book for any student-parent book clubs. This will be a hugely popular book, and it has several great messages.
And yes, I could have been teaching Nick in 1996! Also, my middle school has banned cell phones during the day, and I think students will be much more engaged and actually talk to each other at lunch!
Marino, Andy. Escape from Alcatraz (Escape #4)
September 3, 2024 by Scholastic Inc.
E ARC provided by Netgalley
Chip Carter lives with his father, a senior prison guard, on Alcatraz Island. He finds it hard to make friends, and longs for the day when he can live in a bigger city, away from the somewhat stifling atmosphere of the close knit community on the island. He also fancies himself something of a private investigator, modeling himself on Jake Hall, of the Hall of Justice television show. Having already solved the mystery of a missing cat (a gateway mystery for many crime obsessed youths), he is approached by Maddie, who wants Chip to figure out where her and her brother's new raincoats have gone. She suspects local bully Albert, who shakes people down for their daily dime of lunch money, so he's a likely candidate. Chip's mother has passed away, and his father is struggling a bit, although his weekly poker game seems to cheer him somewhat. After Chip sees Maddie's father, Mr. Thompson, on the shore with the raincoats, he knows that something nefarious is up. He tells Maddie that he knows about her dad's involvement in the coats' disappearance, and she admits that she is worried that he's involved in something illegal. They skip school, and Chip (wearing a hat and glasses as a disguise) eavesdrops on the men at a diner. He finds out that Jimmy the Hat, aka Mr. Lanza, is involved, as is his own father, but he has also gleaned the information that Zipper, an "associate" of Mr. Lanza's is trying to run how own shakedown. Mr. Thompson and Mr. Carter both owe money to Mr. Lanza, and are driven to helping him arrange a prison break when they also have to pay off Zipper. Mr. Lanza says he'll make things right as long as Chip helps with the prison break he has planned; he wants a fire set in the courtyard as a distraction. No one will be hurt, but the men on the inside will be able to escape. We see, in alternating chapters, how several men are working to dig out of the prison, construct a raft, and are planning on escaping that way. When Zipper shows up dead in a local park, Chip and Maddie know they have to keep their end of the bargain. Several men escape, and the guards are not blamed, and Mr. Lanza lets the kids know that their obligation, as well as their father's, is paid off. Chip and his father talk about how they can improve their lives, and connect more than they have in recent years.
Strengths: I wasn't quite sure how Marino would pull this off, but he does a perfect job of realistically getting a tween embroiled in a real life situation. Tom Sullivan's Unsolved Case Files: Jailbreak at Alcatraz: Frank Morris the Anglin Brothers' Great Escape is a great companion for this book, since it outlines all the details on how the escape was probably planned. I enjoyed the note from Marino, talking about how there were rumors that guards were involved, and he elaborated in an exciting way that made sense. I love Chip, who would have been a contemporary of Donald Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown, and envisions himself a hard boiled gumshoe, chewing on a toothpick. Like this author's Escape From Stalingrad, Escape from Chernobyl, and Escape From East Berlin, this book has plenty of adventures and successfully adds new characters into a historical setting. The details of daily life in this are great, as are the details about life on Alcatraz and in San Francisco. More tweens would read historical fiction if the books had the elements that Marino's work has.
Weaknesses: Chip's mother didn't have to be dead; it would have been more fun if she had been alive and found out about the father's involvement with Jimmy the Hat! Also, Maddie uses the phrase "bee's knees" to describe Nestle's Quik, which sounded more like the 1920s. Small quibble.
What I really think: Definitely purchasing this one, since there are an inordinate number of my students who listen to true crime podcasts and like to read about various criminal hijinks of the past. Chip's adventures were just particularly well done and oddly charming.
Blather Update: I've been off my foot for a month, but the cast is removed on Thursday! Whew. I am hoping to return for my 27th year of teaching on 9/16.
I've had a lot of time to read but having trouble focusing. Will try to do better for my final two weeks. Not moving doesn't work in my favor; usually, I probably spend two hours a day walking outside. Leo has been very patient with my replacement. I also miss taking breaks for cleaning, cooking, and laundry. Variety is a good thing.
On the bright side, I've had plenty of time to Tweet like it's my job, and I found out that educators can get a premium Canva account for free!
Posted by Ms. Yingling at 5:00 AM
Escape From Stalingrad
Posted on December 16, 2024 by Kitty
Escape From Stalingrad by Andy Marino
Four out of Five Magical Coffee Cups
Historical fiction
This is quite the shift from what I have been reading lately. I like historical fiction, but it can sometimes be a little harder to read because it could be true! When I read crazy thrillers about kids with powers, it is all in good fun because you know it is a story. This? This might have happened to a child. This, and much worse, probably happened during the war and could be happening now in the wars that are happening now!
Artem lives in Stalingrad with his mother and older brother. His older brother is off fighting with the Red Army. Artem and his mom are sent to work digging trenches and building fortifications. Then, the bombing begins. Artem is trapped in Stalingrad with his new friend, Yuna. They are trying to survive and take care of his injured mother.
I don’t know if I would have been as strong as these kids. They struggled so hard to find shelter, keep warm, and have a safe sleep place. They worked hard to find food and water. I know I have never been in this type of situation, but I can’t imagine I would be as successful. There was a character named Natasha, and she seemingly defected to Germany rather quickly to be taken care of. I fear I would have done the same. Either that or I would have just given up and tried to stay hidden. I don’t think I would have lasted long without food or water.
This is something that I hope I never have to find out. I hope never to have to face a time when my home is being destroyed by war.