REVIEWThe View from the Very Best House in Town (Walker Books, 2022) is a tale of friendship, told with a twist. Sam and Asha are both autistic and ostracized as a result. They’re each other’s best friends, playing soccer and their favorite videogame, Househaunt, together. As the summer ends and Sam and Asha are preparing to begin seventh… Continue reading THE VIEW FROM THE VERY BEST HOUSE IN TOWN: A Middle Grade Review by Guest Blogger, Elliott Kurta
Congratulations to Tricia Clark who won Letters from Space.Six months ago, author Tammi J. Truax contacted me after reading my review of Orchards on Goodreads. She deduced that I liked free verse historical novels and offered to send me a copy of her book, For to See the Elephant (Piscataqua Press, 2019). Come with me into the… Continue reading For to See the Elephant: A Novel in Verse and an Autographed Giveaway
Browsing a recent Recorded Books catalog, I was pleased to find Wonderland (Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2018), by North Carolina author, Barbara O' Connor. I hope one of your students, children, or grandchildren will enjoy it as much as I did. REVIEW The book opens with10-year-old Mavis Jeeter leaving Hadley, Georgia for the same reason she's left so… Continue reading Wonderland: A Review and Audio Book Giveaway
Congratulations to Connie Saunders who won Behind These Hands from last week's blog. ******** Nikki Grimes' sequel to Bronx Masquerade, BETWEEN THE LINES (Penguin Random House, 2018), combines narrative and free verse in a moving book about teens whose lives are changed through poetry. The audio book published by Recorded Books is narrated by different actors; each eloquently expresses… Continue reading Between The Lines: A Review and Audio Book Giveaway
What if you’re an 8th grade football player who has built your reputation around bullying. You’re suddenly given the opportunity to rewind the clock and restart your life. Would you do it? That’s the problem that Chase Ambrose faces in Restart by Gordon Korman. After falling off his roof and going into a coma, he… Continue reading Restart by Gordon Korman: A Review and Audio CD Giveaway
Congratulations to Connie Saunders and Jennifer Ervin for winning FIRST TIMES from last week's blog. As promised last week, Alan Gratz has returned to share some of the intricate process of writing his middle grade novel, REFUGEE. Alan autographing a copy of REFUGEE for the Cousins Club. INTERVIEW CAROL: How much time did you spend researching REFUGEE? Was that… Continue reading Behind the Scenes of REFUGEE: An Interview with Alan Gratz and Giveaway-Part II
This is a busy week on my blog. TWO giveaways running concurrently! WARNING: Reading this book will make you stay up late and the characters will haunt you long after you finish reading it. Readers of my blog are no strangers to Alan Gratz's books. You're a click away from seeing what I thought of… Continue reading REFUGEE- A Review and Giveaway- Part I