I remember loving The Phantom Tollbooth as a child and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it held up. I read it out loud to my kids, which allowed me to explain some of the jokes and the overall metaphorical plot (why words and numbers require rhyme and reason to reach their full potential). […]
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
March 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I was surprised by how much I liked The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. The premise is that Tommy, a 6th grade boy, is collecting stories to determine whether Origami Yoda (a folded paper finger puppet designed by Dwight) actually has the power to see into the future and impart wisdom. Visually, the book stands […]
The Season
March 21, 2012 by 2 Comments
Set in Regency England (the season of 1815, to be exact), The Season follows the first few months of the social debuts of Alex Stafford and her best friends, Ella and Vivi. In addition to the social pitfalls inherent to their status, there’s also a murder, spies, and romance. The story is full of the […]
The Penderwicks
March 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy is a sweet story about the adventures of the four Penderwick sisters—Rosalind, age 12; Skye, age 11; Jane, age 10; Batty, age 4—during their three weeks renting a summer house in the Berkshire Mountains with their father and Hound the […]
The Hunger Games
March 10, 2012 by 5 Comments
What a compelling, tension-filled, brutal, and difficult read. The Hunger Games is the kind of book that you have to read as quickly as possible because it occupies part of your brain even when you aren’t reading—it sat there in my mind like a reminder of something urgent that I needed to be doing. I’m […]
Anastasia Krupnik
March 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Although aspects of Anastasia Krupnik are dated (Anastasia gets a record player for Christmas, she takes a sip from her dad’s beer which couldn’t be casually included in a book these days), I found it absolutely charming overall. I could identify both with Anastasia and with her parents—many of the conversations they had are variations […]
