The Edge of the Ocean (Strangeworlds Travel Agency #2) by L.D. Lapinski tells a high-action tale with emotional resonance. Flick is a girl (age 12?) who lives in Little Wyvern, England. When her parents aren’t looking, she travels to other worlds through a magical...
These days, a great recent book for a boy can be hard to find, what with all the new offerings featuring girl power. But boys are still out there, and many of them like to read. If you want to promote reading in your family, perhaps a list of good recent boy books is...
I’ve got big Moonbeam news! But first, I apologize for being quiet. You may have been wondering what I am doing. I’ve been working on writing more fiction for kids. I’ve now got a study guide for homeschoolers reading The Long Shadow! And, there are...
Max Einstein: The Genius Experiment is a middle grade book that takes the female scientist character to a whole ‘nother level. But does the book grab our hearts? Maxine Einstein, an orphan who has no idea where she came from, lives with other homeless folks...
In this middle-grade story, An Unexpected Adventure by Kandi J. Wyatt, eighth-grader Harley and two friends help a geologist look for geodes on the beach. Instead, they find what seems to be a huge egg. Soon it hatches –into a dragon! They’re able to hide the...
I was delighted to find Tonke Dragt’s novel The Letter for the King. It was originally published in 1962 in the Netherlands. It won many awards and sold a million or so copies, but it made its way into English only after fifty years, in 2013. Now Tonke...
In Mulan: Before the Sword, Grace Lin takes her turn as storyteller of the Chinese folk tale of Mulan, female warrior of old. In Lin’s story, Mulan is a young teenager, living with her parents and younger sister. When a magical spider bites her sister and sends...
It’s here! The Long Shadow, my debut novel, is born today. I am so thrilled and thankful that so many people, including kids and adults, are reading it and telling me they love the book. Including, for example, Covenant Seminary professor Jerram Barrs: “I...
In Alone by Megan E Freeman, twelve-year-old Maddie plans a secret sleepover with two friends featuring a smorgasbord of Twinkies and soda. But her friends cancel and she sleeps by herself at her grandparents’ otherwise empty apartment. Then she wakes up to a...
