Review written by Jonathan Lavallee. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells the story of Arthur Junior Spirit, a fourteen year old boy who decides after his first day of high school at Wellpinit High School that he’s going to go off the reservation and go to school at the white high school. […]
My Life in Pink and Green
November 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
My Life in Pink & Green tells the story of Lucy, a 7th grader who helps her mom and grandma at their drugstore. The store is struggling, and Lucy tries to find ways to help save the family business. She loves makeup and makeovers, which she uses to start her own little business. When she […]
Breadcrumbs
November 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Breadcrumbs—a retelling of “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen—seems very much like a middle grade novel in how it’s presented, where it’s reviewed, the illustrations that remind me a bit of The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, etc. Amazon says it’s for ages 8 and up, third grade and up. Based on the […]
The Name of This Book Is Secret
October 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Lots of people suggested I read The Name of this Book Is Secret, and I’m so glad I finally did. It’s the kind of irreverent metahumor that I love. The narrator speaks directly to the reader, explicitly playing with the nature of what a book is, such as letting the reader write the last chapter […]
The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee
October 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee is the third book in the Origami Yoda series. After the events of Darth Paper Strikes Back, Dwight is attending another school that seems to be very supportive of differences. Tommy and the other kids at McQuarrie Middle School struggle without advice from Origami Yoda and begin to fear […]
The Casting
October 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Casting takes place in Ireland in 350 AD and follows the story of Robyn, the younger daughter of a bronze caster. While her older sister, Lianna, is content to follow in their mother’s footsteps—becoming a healer and marrying Gilhey, the apprentice likely to take over the foundry—Robyn feels called to follow in her father’s […]
The Goose Girl
October 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Goose Girl is extrapolated from the fairytale of the same name. Overall, it does a good job of staying true to the fundamentals of the tale while creating a complex story that stands well on its own. The basic plot is the same—a princess (Ani) travels with her handmaid (Selia) to marry a prince. […]
Green Angel
October 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jocelyn Koehler How will we react when the worst happens? Will we curl up and despair? Or will we rise up and endure? The answer to that question lies at the heart of Hoffman’s deceptively slender novel Green Angel. Taking equal inspiration from traditional fairy tales and the September 11 attacks, Hoffman […]
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
October 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane explores surprising emotional depths for a novel about a china rabbit. Edward is definitely not animate—I would call him a doll except he would take it as an insult. Although he thinks and he feels a full range of emotions, he doesn’t do anything that an inanimate object can’t […]
Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb
October 5, 2012 by 1 Comment
Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb takes place in an alternate 1935 America. The geography is just different enough to keep you on your toes and remind you that Johnny’s world isn’t quite our world (there’s a map—it looks like the South won the Civil War, for instance, and our United States became four separate […]
