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 →
Poverty and Homelessness in children's literature #ReadYourWorld
If you have a list of important middle grade reads, Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, absolutely must be on that list. It isn't a fun read, but like The Hate U Give, I think it is one that should be read by everyone. This is a book which at its heart wants the world... Continue Reading →
When the first Scholastic flyers came home from my kids' school this fall, I gladly spent a chunk of money on books to support their classrooms. While going through their selections, I came across the book "Save Me a Seat" by Sarah Weeks and Gata Varadarajan and bought it on a whim. That whim proved... Continue Reading →
Bullying has always been an issue that kids are confronted with. No matter how much we try to protect them, there are always going to be kids who feel the need to pick on other kids. There are many reasons that kids bully others, but the thing that parents try to do is to help... Continue Reading →
Patricia Polacco has done it again. Book after book she manages to tackle tough topics in an approachable and honest manner. In "Bully," she keeps up with the times and considers bullying in the modern age of email, texting, and Facebook. While this isn't something that is impacting my nine year old yet, thank goodness,... Continue Reading →
From time to time you discover an author that just gets it. In adult literature, the books very often have nothing to do with each other. In children's literature, however, when an author has multiple books they are often a part of a series - Madeline, Magic School Bus, Ramona, Magic Treehouse, etc. Recently, we... Continue Reading →