Poison

Poison starts out in the middle of things, with our protagonist, sixteen year old Kyra, on the run because she tried to assassinate the princess. Kyra needs to finish the job of killing the princess because this will somehow save the kingdom, but of course she’s now public enemy #1. Luckily she’s a master potioner […]

Black Widow Forever Red

Black Widow Forever Red is a young adult novel about, among other characters, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff. It takes place in a post-Avengers world, where Black Widow, Iron Man, and the rest of the team are celebrities (but Coulson is alive and working with Black Widow? It doesn’t fit the Marvel Cinematic/TV Universe perfectly). It’s […]

A Frozen Heart

You can enter to win a copy of  A Frozen Heart and a Fairy Tale 2.0 prizepack! Contest ends Monday, November 2. A Frozen Heart is technically a novelization of Disney’s Frozen, but it goes well beyond most movie novelizations. SPOILER ALERT: Yes, already. But for the movie. I’m assuming this warning isn’t really needed, […]

The Martian

Review written by Clark Valentine. I hear you. It’s a valid question. “Clark,” you say, “why in the world are you reviewing The Martian for a book review site focusing on 8-13 year old readers?” Yes, The Martian was absolutely written with adults in mind, no question about it. But with the film being released […]

The Sister Solution

Enter to win a copy of this book! It’s hard to live in a sibling’s shadow, and it’s even harder when that sibling is younger than you! In The Sister Solution, Sammi has to deal with her younger sister Jorgianna skipping two grades to join her mid-way through her 8th grade year. Understandably, Sammi doesn’t […]

Star Wars: Aftermath

Review written by Clark Valentine Before I get to the stuff parents should know about, I’ll kick this review off with a bit of subjective gushing. I love Star Wars. I have since I saw A New Hope (well, then it was just called Star Wars) in the theater in 1977 at the ripe old […]

Ash

Review written by Jonathan Lavallee Recently in YA/MG fiction there’s been a lot of retelling of classic fairy stories. I think this is great and wonderful because those kinds of stories have a lot of life in them. Especially when you take them and transcend them beyond the original story. I had just finished reading […]

Summer’s Friendship Games

Summer’s Friendship Games is the fourth book in the Jim Henson’s Enchanted Sisters series. I haven’t read the first three, and that wasn’t a problem as far as understanding the characters and plot—maybe some things would have had a little more meaning had I read the others, but it wasn’t really an issue. There are four […]

Flora & Ulysses

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures is the story of Flora, a girl who is a proud cynic and comic book fan, and a squirrel who gains superpowers after surviving being sucked into a powerful vacuum cleaner (of course!). Parts of the story are told in comic strips, showing the action instead of describing it. […]

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

“Beautiful” is a word frequently used to describe Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and that’s the first word that came to my mind as well. It has its painful and brutal moments, but its exploration of coming of age, cultural and sexual identity, and relationships of all kinds is a beautiful […]