MMGM is a weekly meme hosted by middle grade author, Shannon Messenger. Matt Myklush did it again. The Secret War, book two of the Jack Blank series, is 525 pages of awesomeness. It’s fun, it’s dynamic, it’s unpredictable, and it’s clean. My son and I read it together for homeschool. We never seemed able to […]
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia, book one), by C.S. Lewis, 1950
This spring I’m making my, golly, eighth or ninth journey through Narnia, but this time I’m taking along my son. We’re going to end the homeschool year by reading the entire series. He’s watched the movie before, but he’d never experienced the written version. It was a hit. We finished The Lion, the Witch and the […]
Horton Halfpott or the Feindish Mystery of Smugwick Manor or The Loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s Corset, by Tom Angleberger, 2011, Book Review
If I might add yet another subheading to the title of this most unusual book, it would be “or Whimsical Wit and Lyrical Nonsense,” because those happen to be the two most notable assets of this particular scrap of literature. The story is sort of a whodunit with very stylized characters and a not entirely […]
Rules, by Cynthia Lord, 2006, Book Review
This was part of my goal to read every Newbery book (this one took honors), and I finished it in one sitting. I started it the last evening of 2012 and enjoyed it enough to forego watching the ball drop. I turned the last page in the earliest hours of 2013. I knew this book […]
A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, 2011, Book Review
This was a tough read, though I made it through the entire book in one sitting. You could say it was timely. Connor has been having the same nightmare over and over for months. The one where—oh, he can’t stand to think about it. He’s been having trouble at school with three bullies. He’s distanced […]
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg, 1967
Can you believe I’ve never read this book before? This Newbery winner is a heavy hitter, well-known and well-loved by the generation that grew up with it. Except me. But now I see why it has such a reputation. Claudia Kincade is a sixth grader who is so unhappy with the routine of her life […]
Noah Zarc: Cataclysm (Noah Zarc, #2), by D. Robert Pease, Book Review
D. Robert Pease has done it again. His first MG novel, Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble, was given the very first Bookworm Blather Squeaky Award. His sequel, Cataclysm, is just as good. (Check out my review of Mammoth Trouble and my 5-Q interview with the author.) In book one, Noah’s family had embarked on a scientific mission of […]
Open Minds (Mindjack Trilogy, book one), Susan Kaye Quinn, 2011, Book Review
I am so excited to share this book! I have read over two hundred MG/YA books since reading The Hunger Games, a series that totally floored me. Out of those hundreds, Open Minds is the only one that glued my butt to my couch as The Hunger Games did. In fact, this review will be a […]
The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, 2012
Ivan has lived at the Exit 8 Big Top Circus Mall since he was a juvenile gorilla, just off I-95 and under the billboard lauding “The One and Only Ivan.” His best friends include Stella, the aging elephant, Bob the stray dog, and Julia, the daughter of the janitor. But the Big Top isn’t faring […]
Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage, 2012, Book Review
Meet Mo LoBeau, eleven-year-old spitfire from the town of Tupelo Landing, NC and her best friend, Dale Earnhart Johnson III. (The three is for the immortal legend’s race car number, of course.) Yup, you’ve just landed in a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business–which is a good thing, according to Miss Lana, because […]