by Phyllis | Jul 1, 2020 | Book reviews
Jason Reynolds’ award-winning middle-grade novel Ghost tells the story of a boy who joins a track team. But he’s not just any boy; he’s one who, three years ago,ran for his life from his father. He’s the one whose mother, struggling to work and...
by Phyllis | Jun 3, 2020 | Book reviews, Middle-grade voice example
Sometimes I stray from my core mission of reviewing middle grade novels. This novel is almost a middle-grade novel. After all, its narrator is twelve, perfect for middle grade. But the real protagonist is thirteen or fourteen, a boy who’s already lived enough...
by Phyllis | May 28, 2020 | Phyllis Wheeler's Books
Elk Lake Publishing will be publishing a book of mine in about a year, I’m happy to announce. The book, a middle-grade novel, features time travel. I’m not going to tell you anything more about it right now. Sign up for my occasional newsletter if you want...
by Phyllis | Apr 1, 2020 | Book reviews, Middle-grade voice example
In this book, J.J. Johnson gives just the right funny touch to the voice of twelve-year-old Iggy, and occasionally to his little brother Oz. Oz is convinced there are monsters in the attic. Iggy goes to prove him wrong at 3 a.m. and discovers that yes, there are some...
by Phyllis | Mar 12, 2020 | Book reviews
Rob Currie’s debut middle grade novel, Hunger Winter, tells a suspenseful tale of brave kids in World-War-II Holland. After a neighbor bangs on their door late at night, Dirk must grab his six-year-old sister and flee from the Nazi secret police into the Dutch...
by Phyllis | Jan 21, 2020 | Book reviews
Andrew Peterson’s middle-grade Wingfeather series that started out as an amusing tale full of rollicking names moves to epic scope along the way. In this fourth book, The Warden and the Wolf King (2014), it builds to a mighty conclusion full of heroic deeds....
by Phyllis | Jan 16, 2020 | Book reviews
Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga tells the tale of the widow and three children of the King of Anniera, a blessed island kingdom overwhelmed nine years before by the dreaded fangs of Dang. This book is Book 3 of the four-book saga, The Monster in the Hollows (2011)....
by Phyllis | Jan 12, 2020 | Book reviews
I’m reviewing On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, by Andrew Peterson, Book One of the Wingfeather Saga (2008) . In this middle-grade book, the three children of the Igiby family are being raised by their mother and their grandfather. They live just outside...
by Phyllis | Dec 16, 2019 | Book reviews
Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner, Book 1 of The Keepers TrilogyPublished 2010 by Delacorte Press, 312 pagesGenre: Secular middle-grade fantasy In Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner (2010), Book 1 of a trilogy, Goldie is a protected child. She’s so protected...
