It is truly rare to find a book like Much Ado About Baseball where math not only propels the plot forward, but also contains perfectly normal, sportsy characters for whom loving math is just one aspect of their personality. Add in baseball, Shakespeare, magic AND snacks and you’ve got yourself a unicorn of a book.
Review of the Day: The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo, ill. Sophie Blackall
September 10, 2021 by
Pairing with the utterly lovely Sophie Blackall, Kate DiCamillo presents us with a story that has all the trappings of a fable, and all the reality of a thoroughly thrilling tale.
Cover Reveal and Interview: SOFÍA ACOSTA MAKES A SCENE with author Emma Otheguy
July 1, 2021 by
“…sometimes, it’s okay to make a scene.” We’re talking with author Emma Otheguy today about immigration, her own family history, and her brand new middle grade novel out in 2022. It’s a cover reveal day!
Review of the Day: Losers at the Center of the Galaxy by Mary Winn Heider
June 10, 2021 by
In an era of information overload, Mary Winn Heider is the author who will lead us through the pandemonium into the light. Hand this to the kid that wants something smart and funny with a side order of turmoil for spice.
Review of the Day: The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book by Kate Milford
April 22, 2021 by
Ms. Milford’s skills have at last come together to produce her magnum opus. I’ll tell you true – there’s not a soul alive I’ve handed this book to that didn’t get sucked into it. Every book has its reader. It just happens that this book’s reader is you.
Review of the Day: Root Magic by Eden Royce
March 31, 2021 by
A smartly plotted dip into the Gullah-Geechee culture of early 60s rural South Carolina, this book weaves family, history, and spooky stuff together like a braid.
Review of the Day: Amber and Clay by Laura Amy Schlitz, ill. Julia Iredale
January 27, 2021 by
This is a book positioned to impress, that then sneaks over and steals your heart. Hermes would be proud.
31 Days, 31 Lists: Great Middle Grade Novels of 2020
December 30, 2020 by
The penultimate list. Maybe, with lists like this one, we can all try to end 2020 on a slightly less terrible note.
Review of the Day: King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
November 6, 2020 by
I’m late to the party in celebrating this book, but now that I’m here, let’s dance until dawn! This is one book that kids and adults alike will read and never ever forget.
Review of the Day: The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
October 6, 2020 by
A book that shows in the most eloquent way possible how family trauma lives on, from generation to generation, taking shape, forming us one way or another. The elements that make a great novel for children aren’t difficult to understand. Hanna Alkaf has laid them out for you.
Review of the Day: Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon
August 13, 2020 by
If you have kids looking for outright, down and out, horror horror (the ones who’ve watched Stranger Things but balk at the heft of a Stephen King novel) this little book is an answer to your prayers. Prayers / nightmares.
Review of the Day: A Game of Fox and Squirrels by Jenn Reese
July 23, 2020 by
It’s a mystery. It’s a game. It’s filled with puzzles and riddles and clues. It’s funny, and it’s deadly serious. Parts are evocative and parts are heartfelt and parts are completely unforgettable. Having a rough day/week/month/year? Cuddle up to this. Challenging enough to intrigue you. Enticing enough to keep you.
Review of the Day: Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte
July 1, 2020 by
May casual cruelties fall by the wayside in the presence of such books as this ione. May our children find it and love it and read it repeatedly. And may we see more such books from Ann Clare LeZotte and authors like her, that put work and care into the very folds of their stories.
Review of the Day: Wink by Rob Harrell
May 28, 2020 by
They say, write what you know. And if what you know is how to lie on a steel table, your head screwed into place, a laser pointed at your face, that might be a good place to start. We live in dark times. How dark are they? SO dark that a book about a kid with a potentially deadly eye cancer is the bit of lighthearted levity we all need and crave.
Review of the Day: Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
May 7, 2020 by
Not every 12-year-old is going to be ready for the abuse and pain addressed in Bradley’s latest. But for those kids that want a book can be honest with them about the world, written at their age-level, with funny parts and a happy ending where things get better, this is that book. It ain’t easy but it’s there for you.
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