If you are a fan of adventurous mysteries filled with plucky kids and steampunk sensibilities, Cogheart, by Peter Bunzl, is a great choice. I actually first learned of this book because it was published by Usborne in the UK in 2016. As an Usborne consultant, I was yearning for it to come to the US.... Continue Reading →
Do you ever wish that you could start over with a clean slate? Or re-do a part of your life? Chase didn't realize that he needed a restart, but he got one after falling off the roof and suffering from amnesia. In Gordon Kormon's novel Restart, readers get a chance to see middle school from... Continue Reading →
There are books that just touch you as being special. This is one of those books. Thank you to the @kidlitexchange network and the wonderful world of Instagram book reviewers for introducing me to this amazing book. No Fixed Address tells the story of Felix Knutsson. Felix is just your average 7th grader who happens... Continue Reading →
My first finished book of 2019 is You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P.! and it is one that I would highly recommend. Alex Gino created something really special with this book and it deserves to be in all middle school libraries. Why? Because it deals with privilege and racism, important yet challenging topics that need... Continue Reading →
War. This is not a topic that I tend to read about. The human condition that goes along with wars, okay, maybe (I've been known to read way too many books about the Holocaust), but not usually books about the actual fighting. But I know a lot of young readers who are completely fascinated by... Continue Reading →
Life isn't a Hollywood movie. That's one of the many things that Ellie learns in The Third Mushroom, an incredibly satisfying sequel to The Fourteenth Goldfish. In this book, which I finished in under 24 hours, we watch as Ellie experiments with her first romantic relationship, works on a science fair project with her grandfather,... Continue Reading →
E.D. Baker, the author who brought us the beloved Frog Princess series as well as The Wide Awake Princess, is back with a new series featuring an intelligent, headstrong, and kind princess (Bloomsbury Press, November 6, 2018) More Than a Princess introduces readers to Aislin of Eliasind. Aislin is half-fairy and half-pedrasi, a new being... Continue Reading →
I just finished the third book in Jason Reynolds's amazing Track Series and now I am waiting with baited breath for the fourth, and final, book to come out in October. If you haven't already read these books, I highly recommend that you go out and try them. Understandably, I read a lot of middle... Continue Reading →
Lynda Mullaly Hunt has won me over as a MG author who just really gets it. I absolutely adored Fish in a Tree, and with this book she has created characters that are instantly real and a situation that is all too plausible. I absolutely fell in love with the characters and could have finished... Continue Reading →