All of these books were published before 2000—you may remember some from your own childhood! Some are classics and/or award winners. Some…not so much. At any rate, they’re older than the tweens you may be choosing them for. PLEASE NOTE – SPOILER ALERT: Reviews on this site are aimed at parents, educators, and other adults […]
Brian’s Winter
March 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jocelyn Koehler. Brian’s Winter, by Gary Paulsen, is the sequel/continuance/what-if to Hatchet, which is probably Paulsen’s best known book, and certainly one of the most durable modern “boy books” around. Full disclosure: I adore Hatchet. I own it, I reread it often, and I recommend it like it’s my job (and for […]
Hatchet
March 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jocelyn Koehler. Hatchet is one of my favorite-est “boy books” (more on that below). It freaks me out to think that it’s 25 years old! Maybe that’s partly because it seems like it should be ageless. The core of the story is a boy living alone in the woods, and no amount […]
King Khan
March 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
My 10 year old son has been devouring the Spirit of the Century novels from Evil Hat, and Dinocalypse Now and Khan of Mars were perfect for him. He won’t be reading King Khan for a few years, though. Not that it’s not a great novel—if you think the story sounds fun, then you should […]
Insurgent
February 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jonathan Lavallee. If you haven’t read the Divergent review, I suggest you read that first because I’m not going to go over the descriptions of the various factions and the setup. If you need a reminder, it’s probably a good place to start. Insurgent starts off immediately where the last one left […]
The Magician’s Elephant
February 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jocelyn Koehler. Are there kids out there who read the New Yorker? Because those are the only kids I can imagine loving The Magician’s Elephant. That’s not to say it isn’t beautiful and at times moving. But entertaining? Not so much. Ostensibly, it’s the story of a young boy named Peter in […]
Kat, Incorrigible
February 22, 2013 by 1 Comment
Review written by Jocelyn Koehler. For reasons of my own, I’ve been reading a lot of Regency period romances. So when I saw Kat, Incorrigible, a children’s novel set in 1803 England, I snapped it up. (Note: it was published in Britain as A Most Improper Magick). The plot borrows heavily (and amusingly) from tropes […]
Planet Middle School
February 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Planet Middle School is told in poems that show moments in Joylin’s life during her first year of middle school. Although spare in words, it’s full of emotion and insight. My daughter identified with the things Joy is going through even though the specific details of their lives are different. Typically I’m not a huge […]
What Came from the Stars
February 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jocelyn Koehler. It would it be too high of praise to say that Gary D. Schmidt’s What Came from the Stars is a solid block of crazy cool braised in awesome sauce. It would not be too high of praise, however, to say that this book is special. In the town of […]
Walk Two Moons
February 12, 2013 by 6 Comments
I’ve heard wonderful things about Sharon Creech so I picked up her Newbery Award winning book Walk Two Moons. I’ll definitely try some other books of hers because people had such glowing things to say, but I didn’t particularly like this book and I certainly won’t be recommending it to my daughter—she would find it […]
