Sequels are interesting parts of an author’s catalog. Sometimes you like them, and sometimes not. Sometimes they are too much like the others and therefore, you fall out with them as they have nothing new to say. And sometimes they are what keeps us reading. And two series that have been all that for me, are below.
Clash (Click, #4) by Kayla Miller is more of the same goodness we love about these characters in the Click series. Only this time, we are dealing with a situation that is handled slightly different than we usually see it. While we usually see the bully “getting after” our main character, this time the adults and kids cannot really see it happening, for various reasons. And the adults just think it is “sour grapes” when our main character/narrator does not like the new girl. After all, when you do not have “a clique” because you fit in all of them, the “shiny new girl” can take your place, making you feel jealous and left out, and she is not being mean, just trying to find her way around a new school. But then again, what if she is being mean? There were a few parts of Millers book I was not thrilled with as it was “typical
kids” not thinking about consequences just “doing whatever they want because they can” but overall, things work out well, and middle school readers can see themselves on the shiny, colorful pages.
Gina: The Girl Who Broke the World (Hilo #7) by Judd Winick is now following another character of the Hilo world. It is great that we have finished Hilo’s story, and now focusing on Gina, but this book felt slow and was not as strong as the others before it. If you just enjoy it as is, it is good, but I was trying to find the “deeper” in it and that tossed me off the flow a bit. There was something missing, and it did not feel as fleshed out. And while I love a good fart joke, sometimes they really start to stink. Yet, kids will love this and buy all eight books as your child will want to fly through the series. The illustrations are what you see from the cover, with a few additional puns, colors, and oddness.