sabel’s Secret by Jan May features Isabel, 11, a contemporary tomboy growing up on a ranch. Her days are full of bareback rides on the range. But she’s got a grandmother who pressures her to leave her tomboy ways, move to Boston, and go to private school for young ladies.
Isabel’s Secret by Jan May, a review Read Post »
His Gift by Joan C. Benson tells the inspirational story of a gifted teenage concert pianist. Molly has entered a competition sponsored by the Detroit Symphony in the fateful fall of 1929.
His Gift by Joan C. Benson, a review Read Post »
Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan is a novel that pairs the points of view of two fifth grade boys, Ravi, a recent immigrant from India, and Joe, a local guy. Both have to deal with the same bully.
Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan, a review Read Post »
Kate Messner’s Ranger in Time series features a rescue dog, Ranger, who who magically is called to other times and places to help save people. In this tale, Soldiers and Spies, Ranger helps a young black soldier in the Continental Army of George Washington. It’s winter, and battle is coming.
Ranger in Time: Night of Soldiers and Spies, by Kate Messner Read Post »
Georges, that’s with a silent s, moves into a Brooklyn apartment building and meets Safer, another twelve-year-old who starts a
Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead, a review Read Post »
Sometimes I stray from my core mission of reviewing middle grade novels. This novel is almost a middle-grade novel. After
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt, a review Read Post »
Kia struggles to find a place socially on the track team, leaning heavily on her boyfriend. It’s not easy. And then her abuser–her grandfather–shows up and actually moves in with Kia and her mother. It’s a recipe for disaster, especially for the little six-year-old girl that her grandfather is getting to know as a volunteer at a day care.
Freerunner by Kathy Cassel, a review Read Post »
Rob Currie’s debut middle grade novel, Hunger Winter, tells a suspenseful tale of brave kids in World-War-II Holland.
Hunger Winter: A World War II Novel by Rob Currie, a review Read Post »
In the book Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson (2006), Silver is a plucky 11-year-old whose parents and sister vanished four years ago. She’s being cared for by a selfish mean woman in the family mansion, Tanglewreck, one of those old English manor houses with a lot of mysteries to it.
Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson, a review Read Post »
The Edge of Extinction by Laura Martin, a series of two books published in 2016 and 2017, provides a dystopian Jurassic Park tale for middle-graders. Plucky Sky Mundy, in an underground colony in what once was northern Indiana, is just one of a few hundred humans alive, survivors of a plague.
The Edge of Extinction: The Ark Plan by Laura Martin, a review Read Post »
In the movie “The Hate U Give,” 16-year-old Starr is an African-American living in what she calls “the ‘hood,” a
The Hate U Give movie, a review Read Post »
Debut author Suzanne Hartmann offers us a guest post today about how she constructed her thriller, PERIL, which features a cool homeschooling mom and some NASCAR settings.
Suzanne Hartmann on writing personal experiences in novels Read Post »
