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 […]
Papa’s Latkes, by Michelle Edwards, illustrated by Stacey Schuett, 2004, book review
Happy Hanukkah, everyone! No, we’re not Jewish, but my family likes to celebrate Hanukkah. And this is one of the picture books I like to read every year. It doesn’t really explain the meaning behind the holiday, so it’s not a great teaching tool, but it’s flavored with hope and family, two of the holiday’s […]
The Lemonade War, by Jacqueline Davies, 2007
This was a short, easy read, and it just so happens I read it over Labor Day weekend, which is when this book takes place. Evan Treski is about to start fourth grade. Then the week before the year begins a letter comes in the mail. His summer is ruined! His school year is ruined! […]
The Bloody Jack Adventures, by L. A. Meyer, Series Review
I’m doing something a little different today. Instead of reviewing a single book, I’m going to highlight an entire series. This is because I started the series well before I started my blog and I just read book six. Since I never reviewed one through five, and I have no intention of rereading them right […]
The Accidental Hero (A Jack Blank Adventure, book one), by Matt Myklousch, 2010, Book Review
This book was recommended to me by Erik, from ThisKidReviewsBooks. In fact, he reviewed it in a guest post here on my blog. This summer, when he reviewed the sequel on his blog, I decided book one might be a great read-aloud to start out my son’s homeschool year. Erik assured me he would love […]
The Impossible Journey, by Gloria Whelan, 2003
“Comrade Sergei Kirov was killed on the first day of December. That same night my parents disappeared.” It is 1934 and Kirov was the man competing with Joseph Stalin for control of Russia’s Communist Party. Stalin wanted no competition. So Kirov was conveniently assassinated, and in the name of justice hundreds, perhaps thousands of arrests […]
Things That Go Bump in the Night (3:15 Season One), by Patrick Carman, 2011, Book Review
I won this book last year from Erik, over at Thiskidreviewsbooks.com. (Thanks, Erik!) Since Halloween had just passed, my son and I waited to read it till the season rolled around again this year. We’re only about halfway through, but I thought this would be a great time to post a review. Because the book […]
Such Wicked Intent (The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, book two), by Kenneth Oppel, 2012
I loved the occult-free scariness of book one. It left me with the same nicely unsettled feeling as the classic novel, Frankenstein, for which this series serves as a prequel. But in book two, after the Elixir of Life fails to save his brother, Victor burns all his books of alchemy and turns his focus […]
Summer of the Gypsy Moths, by Sara Pennypacker, 2012
If you’re looking for a sweet story, you probably wouldn’t consider one in which two twelve-year-old girls bury an old lady in the garden and lie about her death so they don’t have to be shipped off into foster care. But that’s just what Stella and Angel do, and sweet is just the word I’d […]
This Dark Endeavor (The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, book one), by Kenneth Oppel, 2011, Book Review
Have you ever read Frankenstein? There have been so many film adaptations that Frankenstein has become part of American pop culture, but the original book is actually considered classic literature. Written by Mary Shelley, the wife of well-known Romantic poet Percy Shelley, it was originally published in 1818 and has been popular with readers ever […]