I enjoy Downton Abbey, so a book loosely inspired by it is bound to get my attention. Cinders & Sapphires is a soapy Edwardian read that very much evokes Downton Abbey while still telling its own story. There are more characters and subplots than I could easily keep track of (here’s where the lack of […]
Forge
February 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Forge picks up immediately where Chains left off, although the point of view has changed from Isabel to Curzon. Then it leaps ahead a few months. Isabel and Curzon have parted ways on less than ideal terms because he wouldn’t go to South Carolina with her to search for Ruth. Curzon ends up in the […]
Chains
February 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Like many Laurie Halse Anderson books, Chains often feels like a punch to the gut, but you also just can’t put the book down until you get to the end. This historical novel tells the story of Isabel, a young slave from Rhode Island in 1776. When her relatively kind mistress dies, Isabel knows that […]
Mississippi Bridge
February 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Mississippi Bridge is an illustrated novella rather than a novel, but the slim size and pictures shouldn’t lull you into thinking it’s a sweet book for young kids. It’s a powerful picture of racism in 1931 Mississippi, told from the point of view of a ten year old white boy. Jeremy, our narrator, spends a […]
Harry Potter, books 3 & 4
January 6, 2014 by 1 Comment
Review written by Clark Valentine. (This gleefully spoiler-filled review focuses on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PoA), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (GoF). I also assume you’re read my review of Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets. If you haven’t, go do that. It’s OK, I’ll wait. Go on. Shoo. […]
The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z
December 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I read The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. several months ago, and now that my own daughter is in seventh grade and spent the first few months of the school year pulling together her own leaf project, this book has frequently been on my mind. It’s a slice of life type story about Gianna, who […]
The Cupid War
October 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Cupid War is intended for a YA audience, so only tweens on the more mature end of the scale will probably appreciate it. On the surface, it has a lot in common with Heck in that it’s an irreverent story that takes place in the afterlife and therefore has young death at its core, […]
The Real Boy
September 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Anne Ursu, author of The Real Boy, doesn’t write happy books with neatly tied up endings, but she does write beautiful and evocative books. (If this sounds appealing and you haven’t yet read Breadcrumbs, go change that.) The Real Boy takes place on an island where magic is strong. It’s the story of Oscar, an […]
A Mango-Shaped Space
September 12, 2013 by 3 Comments
There are a lot of issues dealt with in A Mango-Shaped Space. It won the ALA Schneider Family Book Award which honors “artistic expression of the disability experience.” Mia has synesthesia, which means that she sees sounds, numbers, and letters in colors. The novel covers the several months during Mia’s 8th grade year when she’s […]
Hope Defined
August 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Hope Defined follows the intertwined stories of girls from two different worlds. In this case, really really different worlds. The two girls have to learn to come to terms with themselves and figure out what they value, and somehow the fate of the world rests in the balance.
