Water Sky is the story of Lincoln Noah Stonewright who, at around age 13, goes to Alaska to visit friends of his father. Lincoln is part Eskimo*, but he’s grown up around Boston and doesn’t know the Eskimo ways. While he’s there, he learns a lot about the culture and wrestles with the morality of […]
The Grimm Legacy
May 21, 2012 by 1 Comment
The Grimm Legacy is one of the more original worlds I’ve encountered in a while. Elizabeth could be a modern day fairytale heroine. Her father remarried after her mother died, and Elizabeth’s stepmother expects her to do a lot of housework. Putting her stepsisters through college costs money, so Elizabeth recently had to give up […]
Anne of Green Gables
May 18, 2012 by 4 Comments
Review written by my 11 year old daughter, MRValentine. Anne of Green Gables is about Anne Shirley and her adventures at Green Gables in Avonlea. She gets into all kinds of trouble, finds friends, and loses her temper about her “hair of the most disastrous red.” I liked the book because you can find connections […]
Icefall
May 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jocelyn Koehler. Icefall is well-conceived suspense story that also happens to be a historical novel…with vikings. Somewhere in medieval Scandinavia, a king sends his children (daughters Solveig and Asa, and son and heir Harald) to a remote outpost, accompanied by a small band of warriors, where they’ll be safe from the coming […]
The Healer’s Apprentice
May 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I felt misled by The Healer’s Apprentice. I borrowed the book from Booksfree and, based on the publisher’s description, I expected a YA retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Had I realized from the beginning I was reading Christian historical romantic fiction instead of a fairytale retelling, I would perhaps have been less disappointed. I have to admit […]
Gregor the Overlander
May 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Gregor the Overlander has much in common with other books I’ve read—a bit like A Wrinkle in Time meets Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—but it still feels like an original tale. 11 year old Gregor follows his toddler sister, nicknamed Boots, into a hole in the basement which leads to a new land (Underland, as you […]
Bridge to Terabithia
May 5, 2012 by 1 Comment
Bridge to Terabithia is one of the reasons I started this site. It’s become a childhood classic, but it’s also one that many people list among the most traumatic books they read as kids. Because I’ve been thinking a lot about depictions of death in kids books, I decided I’d better reread it, instead of […]
Hoot
May 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I’d heard about Hoot before I finally got around to reading it. I was under the impression that it was about protecting wildlife from development, but it turns out that’s mostly a subplot. This is primarily a book about bullying in many forms. Roy is the new kid in town. He’s so used to being […]
Puppy Love
May 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Puppy Love is the third novel I’ve read from the Romantic Comedies from Simon Pulse. Like Dancing Queen, I think it’s definitely for older readers. It’s the story of high school senior Alana—chronic volunteer—and her friend Stella—evangelistic environmentalist—and the boys in their lives. Alana works as a dog-walker for the very wealthy in New York […]
Exile
May 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The story of Aurelia and Robert continues in Exile. After Aurelia’s younger half-sister Melony tried to have her killed and their father refused to hold Melony accountable for her treachery, Aurelia flees both to escape assassins and to see the rest of the country she still hopes to rule someday. I enjoyed this book and […]
