by Carolyn Leiloglou | Book Lists, Education, For fun, Imagination, Parenting, Read Alouds, Reading, Recommendations, Resources, Summer Reading
I used to do a yearly post rounding up all the summer reading contests. My older kids are huge readers. They would fly through books and collect the rewards (often another book). But when my younger two girls came along, I discovered that those same summer reading...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Adventure, Fantasy, Imagination, Magical Realism, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
When your daughter hands you a book and tells you it’s the best book she’s read in a while, you read it! A Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay is a fantastical story set in the real world with compelling characters and vivid writing. The Story Living in a...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
Roll With It by Jamie Sumner is a heartfelt book full of quirky characters. It touches on so many issues: living with a disability, dementia, complex friendships, standing out, and family. But if I were to pinpoint one theme it would be that accepting help and...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Adventure, Fantasy, Older Elementary, Picture Books, Read Alouds, Recommendations
I read lots of picture books that retell or mash up fairy tale, but it’s wonderful to find a fairy tale that feels brand new. The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess by Tom Gauld combines a classic style with more modern sensibilities (read: no wolves or...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Adventure, Fantasy, Imagination, Juvenile Fiction, Middle-grade, Older Elementary, Read Alouds, Recommendations
If you love fairytales, I have a wonderful book for you. Otto Tattercoat and the Forest of Lost Things by Matilda Woods is a beautiful fairytale about friendship that touches on complex moral themes. The Story When Otto’s mother disappears in their new, freezing...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Books about Books, Historical Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Read Alouds, Recommendations
Did you ever wonder what kind of adventures Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy would have gotten up to if they hadn’t found their way into Narnia? What about the other millions (yes, millions) of children evacuated to the British countryside during World War II? And...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Boys, Chapter Books, For fun, Gifts, Girls, Middle-grade, Picture Books, Read Alouds, Reading, Recommendations, Resources, Young Adult
Here’s a round-up of bookish gifts for every bookworm kid, tween, and teen on your list this year. (And maybe a few for the adults as well.) If you’re reading this in 2021, we’ve all heard supply chain and shipping may be issues this year, so make...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Animal books, Education, Nature, Older Elementary, Preschool, Read Alouds, Recommendations
Certain books just ask to be read aloud. Often, they possess a conversational quality or a certain voice you can “hear” in your mind. Beside the Pond by James Witmer, the newest in his Big Old Garden series, is one of those books. Witmer’s writing...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Adventure, Boys, Historical Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Read Alouds, Recommendations
If you think your kids wouldn’t enjoy a western, you just might be wrong. When we visited Colorado this summer, I chose an audiobook themed to our location. The Misadventured Summer of Tumbleweed Thompson by Glenn McCarty with illustrations by Joe Sutphin is a...
by Carolyn Leiloglou | Adventure, Character Training, Cultural Diversity, Fantasy, Highschool, Recommendations, Young Adult
The Sunlit Lands Series by Matt Mikalatos is my top pick for kids who have grown up reading The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wingfeather Saga, and The Green Ember Series and are now ready to dive into young adult. These books contain the same kind of deeply true and...
