Review written by Jonathan Lavallee. In Jacob Two-Two’s First Spy Case, the title character lives his life by twos. He has two eyes, two ears, two lips, two hands, two feet, and two brothers and two sisters. Two of them are older siblings, and two of them are very much older siblings and Jacob is […]
Speak
April 22, 2013 by 2 Comments
There are a few reasons I decided it was time to reread and finally review Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention month, and Anderson is doing a fundraiser with RAINN. I also read an interesting interview with her. And I recently read about a fascinating study that looks at […]
Beyond Dinocalypse
April 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
My 10 year old son is so excited that Beyond Dinocalypse, the sequel to Dinocalypse Now, is finally available! Full disclosure up front: I edited this book, so I may be biased on quality—although that’s not really what Reads 4 Tweens is about, and therefore I think it’s fine to review books I’ve edited. Beyond […]
Scarlet
April 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I usually wait until an entire series (or at least most of it) is published before I start reading—that avoids the situation of anxiously waiting for the next book to come out, a situation I faced with Scarlet, the hotly anticipated sequel to Cinder. Of course, as soon as the book was in my house, […]
Rapunzel, the One With All the Hair
March 27, 2013 by 4 Comments
The Twice Upon a Time series by Wendy Mass tells a familiar fairy tale from the point of view of both the heroine and the hero. Rapunzel, The One With All the Hair certainly takes liberties with the tale (Rapunzel is taken by the witch on her twelfth birthday instead of at her birth, for […]
Why Are Fairytales “Girl Books”?
March 27, 2013 by 5 Comments
When did fairytales end up being for girls? Is this something the Disney Princess marketing juggernaut created or something it just cashed in on? A quick tangent: As a mom, a teacher, and a book reviewer, I twitch a little when I click the “Boy Appeal” or “Girl Appeal” button to categorize a book on […]
A Tale Dark & Grimm
March 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A Tale Dark & Grimm takes several familiar and a nice variety of less familiar Grimm fairy tales and links them together, casting Hansel and Gretel as the main characters in all of them. The premise is that these seemingly unconnected tales are actually all parts of one story. The author is also very straightforward […]
How to Survive Ancient Spells & Crazy Kings
March 20, 2013 by 1 Comment
In How To Survive Ancient Spells And Crazy Kings, Bianca and her cousin Melvin convince their parents to take them to the Maya ruins of Tikal to look for Zebulan, their archeologist grandfather who has gone missing. Bianca found a jade necklace that Zeb sent to her father for safekeeping. Of course, she decides that […]
Deadwood
March 14, 2013 by 1 Comment
Martin Cruz moves to Deadwood (known to most people as Lower Brynwood) to live with his “Aunt” Michelle—actually his mother’s cousin, as she’s quick to tell people—because his mother is deployed to Afghanistan and his grandmother has recently passed away. Still grieving and separated from everything he knows and loves, Martin bonds with a huge […]
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 […]
