I loved Noah Zarc, Mr. Pease’s MG trilogy. And I enjoyed his recent grown up fantasy, Shadow Swarm. But this is his best book yet. Just as Noah was a loose parody of the Bible story, so Joey has similarities to the biblical story of Joseph. If you’re familiar with those old favorites, I’ll let […]
Navigating Early, by Clare Vanderpool
This is a strange book, one that has beautiful moments I’ve come to associate with Clare Vanderpool, but it doesn’t always resonate with me. At times, the book even feels over-written and abstract with images that are too great a stretch. And I struggled to get a handle on Early. Early Auden is a young […]
Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz
I liked this book far more than the cover and title made me think I would. (The title comes from an old Percy Shelley poem, which is not my forte, and the cover is downright creepy.) I grabbed it simply because it took Newbery honors last year, and when it comes to the Newbery award, […]
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin
This was a sweet little story that took Newbery honors a few years ago. Minli lives in a small, poor village in ancient Asia with her Ma, who has become bitter at their poverty, and Ba (father), who tells stories to lighten it. After a visit by a traveling peddler, Minli sets out to change […]
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, […]
Struggling Readers
As I’m preparing for the upcoming homeschool year, I’m going to take a break from book reviews to touch on a related literary subject–struggling readers. I have one of these. In fact, I have two. The younger one is a typical boy who’d rather spend time outside and therefore commits way less than his full […]
Prince of Malorn (Annals of Alasia, 3), by Annie Douglass Lima
I came to this book in an unusual way. One of my children’s literature friends sort of “set me up” with this author. She recommended I read this book because the author and I write in a very similar literary style. I totally trust the judgment of my friend (hey, she likes MY work :)) […]
Jump Boys, by Alex Banks
I featured this book back in January, but I’m recycling it because it never made MMGM. I mentioned it a few weeks ago when I featured The Swift, written by the same author, so I thought it was appropriate to bring this one back to the forefront. Jump Boys is the first middle grade novel by […]
Secret of Haunted Bog (Monster Moon, 2), by BBH McChiller
Last week I reviewed book one in the Monster Moon series. When we finished reading it for homeschool last fall, my boys begged me to buy the second one. So we set aside our scheduled book for two weeks and purchased The Secret of Haunted Bog. They were totally caught up in the continuing story and […]
The Curse at Zala Manor (Monstor Moon, 1) by BBH McChiller
My boys loved this book! We read it out loud together for homeschool last Halloween (yeah, somehow I missed posting it on here) and they complained every time we had to stop. Our final day we just kept reading, covering the last 30% of the book all at once. This is not literary fiction, so […]