by Carolyn | Adventure, Animal books, Chapter Books, Cultural Diversity, Juvenile Fiction, Nature, Recommendations
Noah Green Junior Zookeeper fans, I’ve found a new book I think you’ll love! The Strange New Dog by James D. Witmer features mystery-solving pets. Need I say more? Animal-loving chapter book readers will be hooked after this first installment of Allen Family...
by Carolyn | Classics, Cultural Diversity, Education, Fantasy, For fun, Girls, Imagination, Juvenile Fiction, Magical Realism, Middle School, Middle-grade, Mystery, Nature, Older Elementary, Recommendations
A real-world middle-grade fantasy built around the plot of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Yes please! Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca is a magical story about a young baker and her family. The Story Eleven-year-old Mimi Mackson is the...
by Carolyn | Classics, Cultural Diversity, Girls, Historical Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
Books and authors speak to each other across the centuries. This is the Great Conversation. Author Linda Sue Park enters into the conversation with Laura Ingalls Wilder in her new book Prairie Lotus. In the author’s note at the end of Prairie Lotus, Park writes...
by Carolyn | Animal books, Book Lists, Chapter Books, Cultural Diversity, Early Readers, Fantasy, For fun, Girls, Highschool, Juvenile Fiction, Middle-grade, Older Elementary, Picture Books, Read Alouds, Recommendations
It’s always fun for me to make this list, because I get to look back on all the great books I’ve read this past year. Some of these I’ve reviewed, and some I haven’t. But I think any one of these would make a great gift for your loved ones....
by Carolyn | Audiobooks, Autobiography, Cultural Diversity, Historical Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Middle-grade, Older Elementary, Read Alouds, Recommendations
When my 13-year-old daughter read Front Desk by Kelly Yang twice in a row and told me I had to read it, I should have picked it up right away. But I forgot about it. Thankfully I remembered again when it won the Asian Pacific American Award for Children’s...
by Carolyn | Boys, Character Training, Cultural Diversity, Middle-grade, Older Elementary, Parenting, Recommendations
Save Me A Seat takes a deep dive into the perspective of two 10-year-old boys to show that the assumptions we make about other people are often wrong. Authors Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan team up in this novel to give authentic voice to the dual protagonists....
by Carolyn | Character Training, Cultural Diversity, Girls, Giveaway, Parenting, Picture Books
This past Christmas, I found a picture book I just couldn’t pass up for my daughters or my nieces. Every little girl longs to know they are beautiful, but what exactly does that mean? Beautiful by Stacy McAnulty provides a great answer to that question. (And for...
by Carolyn | Autobiography, Chapter Books, Cultural Diversity, Girls, Imagination, Juvenile Fiction, Older Elementary, Read Alouds
Let me introduce you to a modern-day Ramona. I have totally fallen for the quirky, honest, ambitious Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire by Susan Tan. The Story Cilla Lee-Jenkins is certain that she is destined for literary greatness. What she’s not...
by Carolyn | Cultural Diversity, Education, Girls, Historical Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
I loved Esperanza Rising. I love being surprised by a book, and this one surprised me. I know I had heard some good reviews, but I had also read some critical ones. I’m not sure what I expected, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did (I finished...
by Carolyn | Boys, Character Training, Cultural Diversity, Older Elementary, Parenting, Picture Books, Recommendations
A Bike Like Sergio’s by Maribeth Boelts is a rare book. It takes the reader through both the thoughts and feelings of doing something wrong and then making it right. It allows kids to vicariously experience a tempting situation and shows them a path for doing...
