This is an ebook I borrowed from the library over spring break. I only grabbed it because I figured the eight I packed wouldn’t be enough and I knew it had won the Newbery (2004). It happened to pop up when I was randomly browsing the library website. I wasn’t searching for it. It didn’t […]
Kibble Talk, by Cynthia Port
I picked this one up on a whim, after meeting the author online (unbeknownst to her). I’m glad I did, and so are my boys. Kibble Talk is a cute story about a young girl named Tawny who discovers she can converse with her dog, Dinky, whenever she eats dog food. At the heart of […]
Our Homeschool Project–A Story Where You Choose the Plot!
Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure stories we all loved as kids? This winter my two boys, we call them M-Man and T-Man online, have been hard at work writing a story in which readers can make their own crucial choices. It was about a 6-week project, and for a pair of elementary-aged low readers, […]
The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia), 1955
I published this post on my self-hosted blog last spring. Since the first five Narnia books are on this blog, I wanted to put this one here, too. I’m nearly done working my way through the Chronicles of Narnia with my son. This is the sixth and second-to-last book in the series. Oddly enough, it tells of […]
Tomato and Pea: A Bad Idea, by Erik Weibel, 2013
I believe it was back in early 2011 when I first met Erik Weibel. I had been blogging for a few months but had struggled to give my blog a cohesive direction. That was back when I thought publishers would knock down my door if I posted a few samples of my writing online. I […]
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, book three), by C.S. Lewis, 1952
MMGM is a weekly meme hosted by middle grade author, Shannon Messenger. Lewis does a great job creating different adventures within the Narnian series. Of all the installments, books one and two are probably the most alike. After that, characters begin to shift, settings change, and the plots vary widely. In The Voyage of the Dawn […]
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 […]
The Princess and Curdie, George MacDonald, 1883, Book Review
MMGM is a weekly meme hosted by middle grade author, Shannon Messenger. (Finally! A meme that fits perfectly with my content!) If you have never read The Princess and the Goblin, I’d recommend starting with my review of that book. This is the sequel, and nearly as good as the first. George MacDonald wrote in the Victorian […]