Greg Pattridge hosts Marvelous Middle Grade Monday (MMGM) on his Always in the Middle website each week. Check it out for more great kidlit! This is the first time I’ve participated in MMGM in a few years, and I picked a great book for my return. The premise grabbed me right away. I’ll post a […]
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
I picked up an audio version of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children on a whim last week when I was leaving for a long bike ride. It came out in 2011 and never appealed to me, but the title was one I’d heard of in a sea of unfamiliar books, so I gave it […]
Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, 2009
I have terrible timing. After three consecutive posts about the research that went into my upcoming novel, this was supposed to be the grand finale, the big announcement that Ebb Tide has released!!!! But it hasn’t. It’s coming soon. I promise. In ten days, in fact. It’s undergone final revisions and is currently out to my last […]
The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, 2016
I am completely infatuated with this book. It is outstanding in beauty and nearly biblical in its perceptions. It is a story of magic, of beginnings and endings infinite in their proportions; it is the story of love. The Day of Sacrifice waits for no one. A child, the youngest within the Protectorate, must be […]
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 […]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling, 2007, Book Review
It took me fall, winter, and spring, but I finished my third venture through the Harry Potter series. And you know what? I enjoyed it as much as the first time. I’m amazed at the imagination and intricacy of the books, and I’m doubly amazed at how much I forget in a few years’ time. In […]
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J. K. Rowling, 2005
I stalled out on my Harry Potter reviews over the winter when my own novel was taking priority. This week it was so fun to set other stuff aside and read just for the sake of reading. And no place is more fun to escape to than Hogwarts. A LOT is going on in this […]
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by JK Rowling, 2003, Book Review
At 870 pages, this is a very long book. It takes a dedicated child reader to finish, but Rowling seems to draw those in abundance. Needless to say, the book covers a lot of ground. Within, the home of Sirius Black has become headquarters for those who believe Voldemort is back and are working to […]
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by JK Rowling, 1998, Book Review
I just finished this second book in the Harry Potter series for my third time. The funny thing about these books, however, is that I can’t ever seem to remember them well. Because each of the seven takes place at the same location with the same characters, I get the plots all confused. There isn’t […]
The Monster Ring, by Bruce Coville, 1982, Book Review
This is my favorite Halloween story, one I’ve shared with my kids this time of year a couple times. One that’s scary, yet appropriate, fun and yet, well…scary! Within, eleven-year-old Russell Crannaker is tired of putting up with Eddie. The school bully is continually stealing his lunch money and pushing him around. But that’s about […]