Review of Black Cats and Ballet Shoes by Iva Valentino

Review!

Gemma is the perfect pov for this tweenish romp, complete with awkward moments and struggles with insecurity during one of mother nature's cruelest jokes, the budding maturity and fast-fleeting childhood of the dreaded middle school years. 

Laced with humor and mild suspense this is an easy, quick read with content geared toward fairly young female readers. Upper Elementary girls will probably be big fans. 

As a retired literacy expert, I noticed that the diary-entry format makes this easily accessible to a much younger audience, but older, urban or  "reluctant" readers may not be as able to relate to the Bobbsey Twin feel of the content or heroine. 

That said, this is a well-written, entertaining story with real-lifelike characters and a creative storyline.

Book Bling gives this story 4 Stars!

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Gemma Mayfield feels like middle school is a lot to bite off and chew. School, ballet classes, and planning on how to get Trevor Davis to ask her to the Halloween Dance are a tough balancing act. On top of that, Gemma is convinced that her science teacher, Ms. Pruett, is a witch.

When things start getting fishy at school, Gemma knows that Ms. Pruett is behind it all! Students are getting spells placed on them and start to go missing. Gemma and her best friend, Izzie, vow to stop Ms. Pruett from doing any more damage. Will they be able to save Middleton Middle School from witchcraft?

Enjoy an excerpt:

I am convinced that my teacher is a witch. I’m not saying that she acts witchy, like she’s mean or anything. Completely the opposite, as far as I’m concerned. Ms. Pruett is so nice that she’s TOO nice.

Ms. Pruett is the kind of teacher that masquerades as your grandma. I’m not kidding! She shuffles around the classroom with her white frizzy hair poking up all over the place out of her bun. She calls the kids “dearie,” like ALL THE TIME. She also passes out candy a lot, although I’ve never eaten any. (I’ve been too scared, but no one’s keeled over or turned into a spider yet.)

I think there’s something really creepy about her.

Like, for instance, I was sitting in Ms. Pruett’s science class today. Ms. Pruett was at the front of the room, droning on about the respiratory system of frogs. Blah, blah, blah. Every once in a while she would come down one of the rows in the classroom, gripping her frog model and pointing to some frog part. And then she’d stop, make eye contact with a kid or two, and smile this sweet, sickening smile. It was sort of mesmerizing.

I always find myself unable to stop staring at the wart on her face. Izzie says it’s a mole, not a wart. I prefer to think otherwise. Sometimes it surprises me that we’re best friends since we disagree on this very important matter.

I don’t think that Izzie in general is as convinced as I am that Ms. Pruett is a witch. What’s not to believe? Wart on nose, the fact that she must be over a hundred years old, and the spooky room that we have class in every day. Ms. Pruett calls her classroom the “Science Laboratory”. Yikes! How much more creepy can you get?

About the Author:

Iva Valentino lives in Arizona with her husband and their dog, Lupo. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Education. She loves living year-round in the warm desert.

Iva spent many years as a middle school teacher, where she enjoyed doing fun science experiments with her students. She currently works as a science editor at an educational publishing company. She loves travel, yoga, and photography. There is nothing that brings her more happiness than a good dance class!

Website: www.IvaValentino.com
Blog: www.ivavalentino.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ivaavalentino

Buy the book at MuseItUp Publishing, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. (on sale for $1.35 at publisher and Amazon)

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