Second Fiddle is a story of adventures in exotic locales. From the outside it may seem that this is always true of military family life. It is accurate that I have lived in six countries and four states. And I have the annoying habit of being able to trump just about anyone’s extreme temperature stories, having lived in both one of the hottest cities in the world, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and one of the coldest, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. But the appeal of exotic travel chronicles only part of the experience. The constant moving of military families is an important theme in Second Fiddle and the book does a great job of capturing the sense of loss, while at the same time, even the thirteen-year-old characters appreciate that they are also receiving a gift.
As the main character, Jody says near the beginning, “The upside of being a military kid was that you got to see a lot of cool places. The downside was that every time you made a friend, you had to move away.” And her friend Vivian adds, “My mother thinks I’m having this great international experience, but changing schools all the time is just the same horrible experience over and over.”
Jody and her two friends Giselle and Vivian live on an American Army base in Berlin in 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. They are brought together by their love of music and they travel by train each week to music lessons in East Germany with Herr Muller. They are scheduled to attend a music competition in Paris and they all know it will be their last time to perform together as they are all moving away. On their way home from a music lesson they witness an attempted murder and the adventure begins, sending them across international borders as they desperately try to save the life of a young man.
Without their musical connection the three would not have been friends at all, as Giselle’s father is a general and the base commander, while Jody’s father is enlisted. Jody feels she can’t invite the general’s daughter over as even the adults in the enlisted housing area wouldn’t like it. Of course, parents’ ranks shouldn’t make a difference to the children, but this book accurately reflects that they do.
Author, Roseanne Parry based Second Fiddle on her own life experiences as she says that she moved to Germany in 1990 with her soldier husband. While the details of girls’ adventures can at times seem melodramatic, the book does a wonderful job of capturing the feel of military life. She mentions details that I recognize or have heard from my children and other people. For example, impending doom in the smell of moving boxes; the constant absence of Jody’s Dad; Jody not minding moving so much when she was younger; finding the question of where are you from impossible to answer; living in one place for three years for the first time and feeling unnatural in knowing her way around; and also remembering the time of an event in your personal history from where you lived (“I was seven so it must have been Missouri”).
Second Fiddle is an exciting older children’s adventure that sneaks in some history about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Cold War. Try it if you are interested in the military lifestyle and the people who lead it. I also recommend it for military families, both older children of around ten and up and their parents. It will be a great start for conversations about the lifestyle.
Check the WRL catalog for Second Fiddle.
What girl doesn’t dream about shrinking down to play in her dollhouse? This premise, with a time travel twist, is the genesis for the story The Sixty-Eight Rooms. The titular rooms are the Thorne Miniature Rooms housed in The Art Institute of Chicago. They are meticulously crafted rooms depicting late 1200s to 1930s Europe and 1600s to 1930s America. Ruthie and Jack visit the exhibit on a field trip and Ruthie, in particular, is mesmerized. Intrigued to see what the rooms look like from the staff-only area that runs behind the exhibit, Jack manages to talk a security guard into showing them backstage. That’s where Jack finds the key.
I have decided to take a risk and recommend one of my favorite books ever. It has a satisfying story, strong characters who are learning about themselves, magic and magical creatures, a magnificent horse, evil elderly relatives, a castle, and children who are better people than the adults around them. How could any book need more? In fact, my enduring ambition is to live in Chrestomanci Castle (they do have a librarian; it says so in the book!).
A misfit is a great subject for literature, because the character’s life story creates inbuilt dramatic tension before the plot even begins.
Kate DiCamillo’s work has long been a staple on our Battle of the Books lists, but The Magician’s Elephant (on this year’s 4th and 5th grade 
It is the spring of 1768 and Matt’s father has just left him alone in the middle of nowhere. Well, not nowhere. He is on property his family has purchased in Maine territory, in a cabin he and his father just finished building. Matt’s father is making the return trip to Massachusetts to bring the rest of his family to their new home. He leaves Matt to protect their land, tend the crops, and prepare for the family’s return. Matt expects to be alone for six weeks, perhaps a bit more. Things don’t exactly go according to plan.
Dystopian fiction seems to be all the rage these days, ever since The Hunger Games started a trend. The Line’s version of the future is grim as well, but suitable for younger readers. This story tells of a potential future for the U.S.—only those initials stand for the Unified States. In what was perhaps inspired by current events regarding border control, the entire country is surrounded by the National Border Defense System. It is a force field which separates the U.S. from the rest of the world. It was meant to protect the country from an impending enemy invasion, but was a rush job which resulted in cutting off a portion of the country. This severed area is called Away. The attack came, and those trapped in Away were abandoned.
The Candymakers is a bit like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory if it had been told from the perspectives of the other contestants as well as Charlie, and if Willy Wonka had not been so eccentric. The Confectionary Association is looking for the next great kid candy creator and his or her new candy craze. Four of this year’s competitors, Logan, Philip, Miles, and Daisy, are making their creations at the Life is Sweet Candy Factory, and each takes a turn telling their part of the story.
For Mr. and Mrs. Smithfork, making the move from Brooklyn to Manhattan means being able to give their children an even better life. For the Smithfork children, CJ, Brid, Patrick, and Carron, the idea of a new home, private school, and making new friends sounds awful. Well, maybe not to Carron, but she’s just a baby. The story begins as Mr. Smithfork takes his video game company public and the family makes millions. With that windfall come more hours at the office for Dad, a new home to spend all her time decorating for Mom, and lots of readjustment for the kids.
