The Fire Within is a story of squirrels and dragons. David, a college student, rents a room in the house of Liz Pennykettle and her 11 year old daughter Lucy. Although he enjoys living there, he begins to notice that things are “weird.” Liz sculpts clay dragons that seem to have a life of their […]
Best Friend Thief
April 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Best Friend Thief opens with Nathalie and her best friend Reagan making plans for the beginning of 5th grade. They have great plans for the International Costume Contest that the school holds every year—a plan that is sure to win! But when school starts, Blair Bennett, one of the popular girls, latches on to Reagan. […]
Lily Dale
April 9, 2012 by 1 Comment
Although this series is made up of four books—Awakening, Believing, Connecting, and Discovering—they’re really better considered a complete novel split into four parts. In fact, they’re probably best read back to back. (I only figured out the A, B, C, D naming convention as I started the fourth novel.) The series follows high school senior […]
The Phantom Tollbooth
March 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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). […]
Why I Won’t Let My Kid Read the Twilight series
March 23, 2012 by 4 Comments
There’s plenty written about Twilight and its sequels, and many strong opinions about their worth. Many people have legitimate and well supported issues with the books, and I have no intention of getting into any of those arguments here. Personally, I enjoyed them. If you want to know why I liked them, I’ve discussed it here. […]
My Life as a Book
March 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
My Life as a Book, about the summer of a 12 year old self-described “reluctant reader,” is written in a way obviously intended to appeal to reluctant readers. The Comic Sans font resembles hand printing and the book has large margins—this prevents the “wall of text” effect and also leaves ample room for the stick […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
Only You Can Save Mankind
February 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I was excited when my son brought home a Terry Pratchett book on his own, and he really did give it a good shot (a rarity for my son who tends to make a decision about a book before he’s done with the first page), but it turns out Only You Can Save Mankind is both […]
