Greg Pattridge hosts Marvelous Middle Grade Monday (MMGM) on his Always in the Middle website each week. Check it out for more great kidlit! In honor of Beverly Cleary, who passed this year at the age of 104, I’ve chosen three of her works for this week’s MMGM. As a kid, I dearly loved Ramona, but my all-time […]
The Captain's Dog, by Roland Smith
This is the story of Lewis and Clark as told by Seaman, Captain Lewis’s Newfoundland dog who accompanied the Corps of Discovery on their epic journey to the Pacific Ocean in 1804-6. I’d seen this book before and was very intrigued. I love history. I’ve taught this subject several times for homeschool as each of […]
Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shell Silverstein
Published in 1974, this longtime favorite has fallen in popularity as it’s aged. That’s so extremely unfortunate. I’m here to put it in front of a new generation of kids as well as remind parents, teachers, and homeschoolers who may have loved it long ago and forgotten all about it. I’ve never been a fan […]
Tony the Phony and the Northern Woods, by T. Man
Today I’m part of a very special blog event hosted by T. Man, a 10-year-old author and homeschooler who has just completed his SECOND book! When T. Man was only 8, he partnered with his older brother, M. Man, on a special homeschool writing project that resulted in their first published book, Tony the Phony […]
Redwall, by Brian Jacques
(I just got home from 2 weeks without internet. I’ve been off the grid and out of touch, but I’m back and trying to catch up!) 🙂 I’m very late to this party. Before there was Harry Potter (90’s), there was Redwall (80’s). Where was I? I thought perhaps I had read this long ago, […]
The Cay, by Theodore Taylor, 1969
“Dis be de mos’ outrageous good story, Phill-eep!” I can almost hear the words as they would sound spoken in Timothy’s Caribbean cadence. Timothy’s an old friend of mine. So are Phillip and Stew Cat, the trio of castaways in The Cay. This is a book I’ve treasured since my childhood. I shared it recently with my […]
Annals of Alasia Series, by Annie Douglass Lima
Over the summer, I started this series by reading the last book. I didn’t do it intentionally; I just didn’t research very well when the title was recommended to me. After I read it (and loved it–my review is here), I realized that the three books in the series stand alone. They can be read […]
The Candy Shop War, by Brandon Mull
This was a fantastic book. The kind I’ve come to expect from Mr. Mull. The only downside? I was craving Milk Duds all week. Nate isn’t thrilled about moving to a new neighborhood, but he quickly makes friends with Summer, Trevor, and Pidgeon, who will all be starting fifth grade with him, and is accepted […]
Trusted: Dragons’ Trust Book 1, by Krista Wayment
Another dragon book. That was my rather reluctant thought when I picked this one up. There are a lot of dragon books out there, more than I realized when I wrote my own. But I’d been told this one was good… I liked it more than Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, the dragonesque Newbery […]
Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo
This is not my favorite work by DiCamillo. It often seemed silly and repetitive, annoying even. I certainly would not have awarded it a Newbery. But by the end, it had a sweetness to it, a completeness. A feel-good-ness. Ulysses is a squirrel that was accidently vacuumed up by Mrs. Tootie Tickham. After receiving CPR, […]