I think I can honestly say that I've never read a Cynthia Lord book that I haven't enjoyed. From her picture books about a wild and wacky hamster, to her sensitive middle grade book Rules about an autistic boy and his family, Ms. Lord has a way of telling stories that entertain, teach, and delight readers of all… Continue reading A Handful of Stars: A Review and Audio Book Giveaway!
Congratulations to Clara Gillow Clark who won "Diary of a Waitress" off last week's blog. ******* Fans of Between the Lines, a young adult novel that crosses back and forth between fantasy and contemporary fiction, will be happy with the recent release of Off the Page (Delacurte Press, 2015); the companion book which Jodi Picoult wrote in collaboration with… Continue reading Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
This new young adult novel by Atia Abawi, a foreign news correspondent stationed in Afghanistan during the war, has all the elements of Romeo and Juliet: young lovers from families of different social status and backgrounds, parents who disapprove of their relationship, a jealous cousin, deaths of innocent secondary characters, and a clandestine marriage performed by a sympathetic… Continue reading The Secret Sky:A Novel of Forbidden Love in Afghanistan and A Giveaway
Congratulations to Sheri Levy who won an autographed copy of Lisa Kline's book, Eleanor Hill from last week's giveaway. For those of you who didn't win last week, here's another chance! ********** I've been a fan of Nikki Grimes' poetry ever since reading Bronx Masquerade; I love how she juxtaposes words and images. This is her second… Continue reading Words With Wings – Audio Book Giveaway!
When Tracey Adams of Adams Literary recommends a book, I listen. As a result, when I was given the opportunity by Recorded Books to listen and review the book Tracey recommended, the good braider (Skyscape, 2012) I jumped at the chance. For one fortunate blog reader, you'll be glad that I did. Following this review you'll… Continue reading The Good Braider: A Review and a Giveaway
Award winning author Russell Freedman published this biography of African American vocalist Marian Anderson in 2004. I selected it as background to the novel that I'm working on and was not disappointed. Anderson was born in 1897 and grew up in the ethnic neighborhoods of south Philadelphia. Her mother was widowed when she and her… Continue reading The Voice that Challenged a Nation
What kid isn't going to like a book in which the main character boards a fancy train headed to Los Angeles; is abandoned among cowboys in Flagstaff, Arizona; meets a famous movie star; and has a gun pulled on him during an airplane ride over the Grand Canyon? Personally, I can't imagine an adult not… Continue reading The Neddiad
If boys can keep reading beyond the first few chapters which tell the back story of "A Small White Scar", they will find rattlesnake bites, a dangerous flash flood, and a rodeo that is so real you can hear the calves bawling in their pens. Boys who like action from the first paragraph will have… Continue reading A Small White Scar
This is a magnificently written story of two individuals whose lives intersect in medieval England. The first is Crispin, an orphaned peasant boy who is pursued by nobles suddenly seeking to kill him. The second is Bear, an itinerant juggler and a member of an underground movement pursuing freedom from the same nobility who are… Continue reading Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
What happens when a 13-year-old girl who invents a non-existent father and lives with a palm-reading wacky mother befriends a 9-year-old boy who is mourning his mother's death? You end up with a sometimes explosive, rocky friendship that bonds two lonely children together in their need for love and acceptance. In this another "I-read-this-because-I love-the-author"… Continue reading Eggs