Ira Marcks

In Shark Summer, we meet Gayle, who has moved to Martha's Vineyard from Boston so that her mother can open an ice cream store. She had been the star of her local soft ball team, until a bad play caused her to be injured and fighting with new friend, Lex. It's summer, and with her arm in a cast and at odds with her softball team, Gayle is not in a good mood.
When a Hollywood film crew arrives on Martha’s Vineyard with a mechanical shark and a youth film contest boasting a huge cash prize, Gayle sees a chance to earn money to help her mom with bills and turn a bad softball season into a great summer.
Gayle teams up with new friends Elijah and Maddie to make a documentary about the island’s own phantom shark and win the film prize money. But the friends are about to discover what happens when you turn your camera toward troubled history lurking below the surface. Filmmaking, sharks, friend drama, and financial woes are all wrapped in a graphic novel format for middle grades to younger YA readers.
This will be on my “solid recommendation” list for middle grade readers!… (more)

Going into this book blind I would’ve thought this was a ghost story. However, it’s a retelling for the Shining but for a much younger audience. It’s not a strict retelling, but it’s about the Underlook Hotel in Estes Park. It’s about the writer who lives in that hotel with his son Danny, and the ghosts that inhabit it. It’s also about a girl from the community who hates everything about the hotel and the young boy who has come to interview the author on film. I loved how the author incorporated ideas of other famous hauntings as well as mining and lore from the town itself. Overall, this was a fun and interesting read, but it could have been better. I say that because the ending is depressing and leaves a bit of a bat a taste in my mouth. However, there is no blood and guts or gruesome deaths, making this book perfect for the age group.… (more)