The Sea of Trolls is a great historical fantasy epic for the middle grade set. It follows the adventures of 12 year old Jack after he and his little sister Lucy are captured by Northmen. After gravely insulting Frith, a half-troll queen, Jack needs to go on a quest to see the queen of the […]
The King of Attolia
November 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jonathan Lavallee. The King of Attolia is a huge departure from The Thief and The Queen of Attolia. Not in tone, with its lovingly put together plot and brilliantly defined characters. Not in style, written with major intrigue rather than roaring battles as the focus. It’s a huge departure because the main character […]
Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon
November 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Amber Brown Is Not A Crayon is the first book in the Amber Brownseries. Amber Brown is in 3rd grade and dealing with the fact that her best friend, Justin, is going to be moving away soon. It’s a surprisingly deep story of loss in a short book easily accessible to young readers. SPOILER ALERT: […]
Shelter
November 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Shelter is the first book in Harlan Coben’s YA series. Our hero is Mickey Bolitar, the nephew of Myron Bolitar who is the protagonist in Coben’s adult series. It’s a fun and exciting book, but it’s pretty clearly also primarily an adult thriller scaled down for a somewhat younger audience. Mickey is a high school […]
Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt
October 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I was aware of the Nate the Great series when my kids were young, but we never read them at home. I finally read my first one, Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt. It’s very much a beginning reader book—no chapters, large type, lots of pictures—just about right for kids who aren’t quite ready for […]
Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding
October 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I had my doubts about any book starring a character called “Horrible Harry,” but at least in Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding, Harry isn’t really all that horrible. He’s a bit of a prankster and he prefers to be the center of attention, but he’s actually kind of sensitive and figures out how to […]
Princess Academy
October 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment
My daughter’s assessment of Princess Academy was “Really good, but not at all what I was expecting.” That seems quite accurate to me. Due to machinations of the plot, a tutor from the lowlands comes to Mount Eskel to try to get a bunch of mountain girls trained up enough that one of them can […]
Look Out, Washinton, D.C.!
September 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Look Out, Washington D.C.! is a Polk Street Special, part of The Kids of Polk Street School series. I haven’t read any of the Polk Street School books before, and this wasn’t the best introduction to the characters—there were some interpersonal dynamics, nicknames, and phrases I didn’t fully understand, and the novel doesn’t bother to […]
Moonsilver
September 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Moonsilver is the first book in The Unicorn’s Secret series. It’s written for newly independent readers, with short paragraphs and less than 100 pages. Like many books like this, it also takes some short cuts on character development, but it’s a more complex world than many books for young readers. Heart Avamir is a young girl […]
No Talking
September 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Both of my kids love No Talking, and once I finally read it, I can see why. Inspired by a school report on Mahatma Gandhi, Dave decides to stop talking for a day. In the process, he ends up coughing his way out of an oral report he was supposed to give with Lynsey. At […]
