Posts by Janie Cheaney
Words and Pictures: a Talk with Doug TenNapel
Yesterday we reviewed two graphic novels by a rising star in the world of “comics” who also happens to be a Christian and a homeschooling dad. Doug TenNapel, California-born and bred, began his career as an animator and moved into video game design. In that world he’s probably best known as the creator of Earthworm…
Read MoreMetaphysics, Graphics-Style
For some folks, graphic novels are actually a discipline to be learned—their eyes don’t know where to go first and they tend to jump from word to word. It takes a little effort for them (okay–for me) to slow down and glean from the pictures. But we all know people, of the male persuasion particularly,…
Read MoreLooking for Love . . . in All the Weird Places
Since I first wrote about teen paranormal romance–the spark that became a blaze with the Twilight series and all its imitators–we’ve seen the entire Bella-Edward saga translated to film. Yesterday another big-screen treatment of human/inhuman love opened: Beautiful Creatures, based on a wildly popular YA series that somehow escaped my notice. I’ve tried to find…
Read MoreHappy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln
I’ve heard that aside from William Shakespeare, more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other historical figure. That makes it difficult to come up with a fresh angle, but Lane Smith has succeeded, and Russell Freedman has at least written a readable history that opens up a few windows for fresh air.…
Read MoreFor Beginners: ALA Geisel Award Winners
The Theodore Seuss Geisel Medal (featuring a bas-relief of Dr. Seuss himself) is given by the American Library Association every year for outstanding books for beginning readers. They’re usually clever and engaging and loads more fun than Dick and Jane. Here are the picks for this year: Up! Tall! and High! by Ethan Long. Putnam,…
Read MoreLegends Told and Re-told
Robin Hood, by David Calcutt, illustrated by Graham Baker-Smith. Barefoot Books, 2012, 112 pages. Age/interest level: 9-up. Everyone knows—or do they?–how the hooded stranger showed up at Nottingham Fair and challenged the Sheriff’s men to an archery contest. He landed three arrows—whizz whizz whizz–in the black center of the target—according to some accounts, his second…
Read MoreLove in the Age of Roe
In our posts over the last two weeks, Emily and I have suggested that Roe v. Wade has changed America profoundly in the ways we think about sex, gender, and parenting. But how about love? That’s a word that doesn’t often figure in the discussion of Life vs. Choice or Our Bodies, Ourselves. But the…
Read MoreUnstoppable by Tim Green
A middle-grade boy’s football ambitions crash against a cancer diagnosis in this frank tale by NFL star Tim Green. Unstoppable, by Tim Green. HarperCollins, 2012, 352 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 12-15 It doesn’t seem like life could be any worse for Harrison Johnson, a kid too big for his…
Read MoreThe 2013 ALA Youth Media Awards: It’s the Bomb!
Only total kidlit geeks would do this: click the live webcast link on the American Library Association website and watch an hour of book geeks (I say that nicely, patient being one myself) announcing the winners of their Youth Media awards, while their peers clap, gasp, whistle, and cheer. Only a tiny slice of the…
Read MoreIdentity and Revolution, part 2
Last week we looked at some YA titles that celebrated the “coming out” of gay and lesbian characters. “Young Adult” has traditionally been the accepted age category for exploring these themes, but since homosexuality is considered a civil rights issue rather than a privacy issue like abortion, the dogma is bound to extend to middle-grade…
Read MoreThe Roe Effect
On Friday I wrote about the treatment of homosexuality in youth literature, a topic I’m not quite done with. We notice more novels that normalize homosexual behavior popping up on bookstore and library shelves, but there’s something about them that doesn’t get much comment. The quantity of titles doesn’t equal quantity of readers. There’s a…
Read MoreIdentity and Revolution, part 1
“We will triumph with our tongues. We own our lips—who is our master?” Psalm 12:4 We live in an age where reality can be easily disconnected from imagination, where pharmaceutical or electronic aids provide a back door for escaping real life when it gets too tough. It’s an age full of words—spoken, written, texted—that can…
Read MoreOn All Fronts: New Nonfiction of World War II
My sister, who serves at a docent at a prisoner-of-war museum in Texas, says that her most eager listeners are pre-teen and teenage boys. When she talks about the War in Europe, they know exactly what she’s talking about because they’ve landed on Normandy or outfoxed Rommel in their video games. The big battles and…
Read MoreGoing to the Dogs
Of all four-legged mammals, I estimate that dogs get the most exposure in fiction, with horses and mice tying for second and cats a distant third. I read somewhere that dogs are valued as companions only in countries influenced by western culture; elsewhere in the world they’re treated like . . . well, like dogs:…
Read MoreThe Wimpy Kid and His Imitators
Jeff Kinney currently sits at the top of a $550 million empire, and it all started with a web comic. When Kinney’s ambition to write a comic strip for syndication floundered on his limited art ability, he started posting a strip called “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” on FunBrain.com, the website arm of the educational…
Read MoreKids–Try This at Home
Got a novel idea? It’s easier than ever to get published, but if the imprint on the spine of your masterwork is Xlibris or iUniverse, don’t expect placement on the New York Times bestseller list. There are always exceptions, such as Christopher Paolini, a hardworking homeschooler who completed his first dragon novel (Eragon) at the…
Read MoreGrace and Law and Two Silver Candlesticks
I love musicals—always have, ever since my sister and I sang along to original cast recordings and movie soundtracks for Rogers & Hammerstein and Lerner & Lowe. The classic age of Broadway is considered to be roughly from Oklahoma! to Fiddler on the Roof, but the 1980s brought a cornucopia of all-out, lavishly-staged West End…
Read MorePicture Books for Sharing and Giving, Part Two
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau, by Michelle Markel, Illustrated by Amanda Hall. Eardmanns, 2012, 32 pages. Age/interest level: 4-8 “Henri Rousseau wants to be an artist. Not a single person has ever told him he is talented. He’s a toll collector. He’s forty years old.” A more unlikely subject for exhibit fodder could hardly…
Read More16th Century Travels: Jepp and Will Sparrow
Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, by Katharine Marsh. Hyperion, 2012, 369 pages plus author note. Age/interest level: 12-up. Jepp’s diminutive size has always been a source of amusement and comment for the travelers who frequent his mother’s tavern in Astraveld, Holland, but she loves him and defends his dignity. So it’s a bit of a…
Read MorePicture Books for Sharing and Giving, Part One
A post for grandmas out there: when we go to the bookstore at this time of year to pick out something with no plastic in it, we’re certain to be bombarded with the latest movie-franchise offering or celebrity vanity-stoker. Better books are doubtless tucked away behind the splashy displays, but time is limited and who…
Read MoreOther Lives: Reading and Watching Anna Karenina
The latest movie version of Anna Karenina is not for family viewing, because it deals with “adult” themes more graphically than it needs to. The original novel deals with profoundly adult themes as well, in a profoundly adult way. It’s on every Great Classics list, which brands it as a novel that well-educated people are…
Read MoreA Cold Night in Boston
Two hundred and thirty-nine years ago this month, a band of New England Patriots (not the NFL team) disguised as Indians swarmed aboard three ships in the harbor and dumped a cargo of tea. It wasn’t the shot heard ’round the world, but the line from Boston Harbor to Lexington is pretty straight. A good…
Read MoreO Come, Emmanuel
Every year advent takes me by surprise–otherwise I would have posted this last week! Family advent readers come down from the shelves this time of year, and many of them are good for more than one go-round. As the children grow up, it’s good to look around for new advent books to suit their growing…
Read MoreThe Giver Concludes
Son, by Lois Lowry. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, 393 pages. Age/interest level: 12-up. Lois Lowry’s The Giver, published in 1993, has become an iconic title in the kidlit pantheon. Winner of the Newbery medal and countless other honors, devoured in community reads across the country, debated by 7th-graders nationwide, The Giver was dystopian before dystopian…
Read MoreSpunky Siblings
Brother-Sister duos are a staple in children’s publishing ever since the Bobbsey Twins—a way of stretching the appeal, I suppose. These new series try to do a little something extra: explore the past, introduce literary classics, or indulge in the joys of wordplay. The Treasure Chest series, by Ann Hood. Grossett & Dunlap, 2012, about…
Read MoreDragon Tale: Seraphina
There’s a grand slam (plus one) among children’s book reviewers: Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. All of these publications stick a star on their reviews of outstanding children’s books, but as tastes and opinions vary, new books that gather more than…
Read MoreThe Drowned Vault by N. D. Wilson
The Drowned Vault (Ashtown Burials #2) by N. D. Wilson. Random House, 2012, 447 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, 12-15 Recommended for: ages 12 and up Bottom Line: The Ashtown Burials series continues with Cyrus and Antigone Smith making ultimate choices to stand against the world. Installment two of The Ashtown Burials begins with Cyrus…
Read MoreOrigin by Jessica Khoury
Origin, by Jessica Khoury. Penguin, 2012, 393 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages 16-up (please note: the recommended age is not the same as the reading level) Bottom Line: Origin sets out intriguing ethical questions in this story of genetic engineering, but it doesn’t quite carry through. Pia, born and raised…
Read MoreSolomon Kane, Puritan Avenger
We’re closing out Halloween week with something a little different. About two years ago, I began hearing of a new movie called Solomon Kane, based on a late-1930s pulp fiction series by Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian. Conan made a big splash on silver screen (at least the first time around), which…
Read MoreLit! – An Interview with Tony Reinke
Most of the readers of this blog would accept the title of bibliophile. But have you ever thought about your bibliophilosophy—why it exists, what it does for you, and how to manage it? Tony Reinke, currently a member of the staff at Desiring God Ministries, is a guy who’s spent so much time thinking about…
Read MoreQuiet Time For Kids – Part Two
Last week’s post ran so long I had to cut it short in order to attend to other business. But close readers may remember a promise I made to finish up the subject. Since posting our intentions, several of our readers have suggested other children’s devotional guides or related materials that we might want to…
Read MoreHand of Vengeance
Tomorrow we have a real treat for you: two Christian dads, one a pastor and one a teacher, who both happen to write books for young people. William Boekestein and Douglas Bond, together in one podcast, chat with Emily about the value of historical fiction, reading in the gospel light, and reading classics with your…
Read MoreQuiet Time for Kids
“Thy word have I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin . . .” (Ps. 119:11) More than anything, Christian parents want their children to treasure God’s word in their hearts, so it will be a guide and defense through the pitfalls of life. Starting them out right often includes a simplified…
Read MoreShopping for Bible Storybooks
In keeping with our home library emphasis this month, most of our readers would probably agree that the first items on our list would be Bibles, Bible Story books, and Bible References. But if you type in any of those categories in Amazon.com, be prepared for the deluge. How do you pick and choose among…
Read MoreBurdens of the Past
Seventy-three years ago, on September 1, German tanks rolled across the border of Poland and the conflict that soon became known as World War II officially began. The literature is vast, even for children. The weight is vast, too, with a level of destruction and death that we find hard to imagine. War stories aren’t…
Read MoreGod’s Time to Make a Change
I was alive during the Civil Rights struggles of the mid-50s and 60s, but wasn’t personally affected by them. So the history of those years can be a revelation, particularly in a recent nonfiction book for children: *We’ve Got a Job: the 1963 Birmingham Children’s March, by Cynthia Levinson. Peachtree, 2012, 160 pages + index…
Read MoreThe Long Truth of Short Stories
Non-writers, or writers who don’t do fiction, often have a misconception about fictional forms. Short stories are seen as an apprenticeship of sorts—you start out writing them, and then graduate to writing novels. It makes sense, but it’s totally untrue. Short- and long-form fiction (i.e., stories and novels) are different in form, not just length,…
Read MoreWhat Flannery O’Connor Can Tell Us About Teaching Literature
Near the beginning of her essay, “The Teaching of Literature” (in Mystery and Manners), Flannery O’Connor writes that fiction has no dearth of critics, because everyone considers himself an authority on fiction’s central subject. That is, life. So readers tend to be looking for something in particular when they pick up a novel, “and if…
Read MoreBefore the Boxcar
The Boxcar Children Beginning: the Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm, by Patricia MacLachlan. Whitman, 2012, 121 pages. Age/interest level: 7-10 The Boxcar Children have had a long run, from 1924 to the present, from nineteen titles by the original author to over a hundred by various other authors. The National Education Association, in a 2007…
Read MoreKeeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl
Keeping the Castle: a Tale of Romance, Riches, and Real Estate, by Patrice Kindl. Viking, 2012, 261 pages. Age/interest level: 13-up. Althea Crawley, age 17, acknowledges the universal truth that a man of fortune must be in want of a wife, and she’s an ideal candidate: beautiful, intelligent, and penniless. In the very first chapter…
Read MoreCrying Hard: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Another popular YA novel is soon to be a “Major Motion Picture,” opening next weekend. It’s not likely to be a blockbuster like Twilight or The Hunger Games, partly because the original book is 13 years old. I am not recommending either the book or the movie, but as a cultural indicator it might be…
Read MoreJust Because: a Roundup of New Picture Books
The picture book is alive and well, to judge by the way the publishing industry keeps pumping them out. Here are some of the more recent (and one more that’s not so recent) offerings, all recommended: Jonah’s Whale, by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Giuliano Ferri. Eerdmans, 2012, 32 pages. “God made Whale. God gave Whale…
Read MoreKids and 9/11
To our children it’s already history, but to us it seems like “only yesterday.” Too soon, really, to come to an informed conclusion about what it all meant and whether the response was justified or not. Or even whether it “changed America forever,” as every commentator claimed at the time. But it happened, we know…
Read MoreSurvival and Rescue
Rescue from certain destruction is the great theme of the Bible. When it happens in real life, it should remind us of how blessed we are, and what we all escaped . . . Last Airlift: a Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War, by Marsha Skrypuch. Pajama Press, 2011, 99 pages plus historical notes. Age/interest level:…
Read MoreThe Invasion of Fairyland
Tuesday’s post about “Twisting Mother Goose” was headed down an alley I didn’t have room to address. So today’s post springs off YA lit-blogger Georgia McBride’s offhand comment about the dark side of the “Disney stories,” and why they are never cited for their disturbing elements. I’m assuming she means fairy tales, and her mention…
Read MoreTwisting Mother Goose
We have something to look forward to this fall: a new publishing house called Month9Books which will specialize in fantasy fiction. First title, due in October, is Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes. Besides the annoying redundance, the title is an obvious rejoinder to that Wall Street Journal column by…
Read MoreLegends in their Own Minds
Captain Awesome (series), by Stan Kirby, Illustrated by George O’Connor. Little Simon, 2012, approx. 110 pages. Age/interest level: 5-7 According to many K-3 teachers I’ve talked to, the early reader market needs a little more attention, especially for boys. That’s a need Simon & Schuster is trying to fill with Captain Awesome, a series that…
Read MoreRocket Reads and Writes; Charlie Joe Does NOT
In keeping with our back-to-school focus: if you haven’t met little Rocket, you really should. As for Charlie Joe, well . . . How Rocket Learned to Read, by Tad Hills, Schwartz & Wade, 2010, 32 pp. Age/interest level: 4-7 Rocket is a loveable gray-and-white crewcut mutt who enjoys his doggy life—mostly chasing leaves and…
Read MoreCore Conundrum
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s back-to-school time. We will observe the season with curriculum-related posts this week and next. First, a look at the Core Curriculum State Standards that supposedly have nothing to do with the federal government . . . There are two kinds of cores: the kind that forms the center and…
Read MoreFacts of Life
Our 50 Shades of Gray discussion this week demonstrates how our sin nature turns God’s gifts into perversions. But sex is still a gift, and part of parental responsibility is teaching children to respect it as such. Christian publishing has acknowledged that need with “guides” for young people over the years, of varying quality and…
Read MoreSwash and Buckle: the Chronicles of Egg
Deadweather and Sunrise, by Geoff Rodkey. Putnam, 2012, 296 pages. Age/interest level: 10-up. Thirteen-year-old Egbert Masterson, or Egg as he will soon be called, is the youngest son of a glum and taciturn plantation owner on Deadweather Island. The product of the plantation is ugly fruit, and instead of slaves old Masterson hires pirates for…
Read MoreCatching Up with YA Fantasy
Readers of this blog may not believe me when I say I’m not a big fantasy fan. Then why so many fantasy reviews? Because that’s what’s hot, friends. I hear that the pendulum is about to swing back to realistic fiction, but I’ll believe it when I see it. The good news is that some…
Read MoreRemarkable Happenings
Remarkable, by Lizzie K. Foley. Dial, 2012, 325 pp. Age/interest level: 9-13 Jane is remarkable in her town for being unremarkable. In fact, she and her grandpa are the only people she knows who aren’t world famous or incredibly gifted. But “everybody is so busy being talented, or special, or gifted, or wonderful at something…
Read MoreBible Reading Challenge, Week 28
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Read MoreHoping Against Hope: Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt
Doug Swietek finds a new life in his new town, despite his boorish father. Perfect for fans of The Wednesday Wars. Okay for Now, by Gary Schmidt. Clarion, 2011, 368 pages. Okay For Now: Featuring Holling Hoodhood’s friend Doug Swietek Gary Schmidt’s Newbery-honor-winning The Wednesday Wars featured 13-year-old Holling Hoodhood, a child of the mid-1960s…
Read MoreThe Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy (drawings by Todd Harris). HarperCollins, 2012, 436 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-14 (especially boys) Bottom Line: A Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom offers a slightly snarky sendup of some beloved fairy-tale characters for middle-grade readers. First, we need…
Read MoreTuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
Tuesdays at the Castle, by Jessica Day George. Bloomsbury, 2012, 225 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12. Recommended for: Ages 8-14 Whenever Castle Glower became bored, it would grow a new room or two. The castle has a mind of its own, which can be frustrating when you want to redecorate. But it’s extremely…
Read MoreDystopia, Junior
Dystopian fiction for middle-grades isn’t new: Lois Lowry’s The Giver is a classic of the genre. The success of The Hunger Games means similar titles for younger ages would be showing up soon. These two are good examples, even though each comes with a little twist–the first stirs in a generous measure of magic, and…
Read MoreHard Science
God particle, Higgs boson—it’s been news since Independence Day (no relation to said holiday) and most of us scratch our heads. It’s too hot to put our brains in gear! But discovery has a way of grinding on, whatever the season, and every time some big news in physics pops up, the religious skeptics pop…
Read MoreWe Hold These Truths
“If men were angels,” wrote James Madison in The Federalist #51, “government would not be necessary.” While understanding what Madison meant, he wasn’t quite accurate. Even angels are governed. Government was established before the fall, not after (see Genesis 1:28), and if human history proves anything, it proves that humans tend to order themselves whenever…
Read MoreAmerican Originals
Those delegates to the Second Continental Convention probably had no idea what they were creating when they signed a certain document back in July of 1776, but the American dreams have come true in unexpected ways ever since. Here’s a roundup of recent picture books on the varieties of American experience: Write On, Mercy! The…
Read MoreThe Notorious Benedict Arnold by Steve Sheinkin
The Glorious Fourth, as they used to call it, celebrates the birth of a nation whose independence was only declared with the signing of a document in July of 1776. Proving independence took five more tortuous, draining, confusing years, ending with a success so improbable that most of the participants chalked it up to Providence. …
Read MoreMystery Under the Stars
. . . In which we crack the spines of two middle-grade novels that have been getting a lot of favorable press: both are mysteries, both take place in atmospheric locations during high summer, and both are narrated by misplaced eleven-year-olds girls who speak well above their grade level. Kepler’s Dream, by Juliet Bell. Putnam,…
Read MoreCrazy Numbers
Some kids like numbers and are good with them; others aren’t. Though no longer a kid, I fall in the latter category,but these two books helped me understand their appeal a little more: Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems, by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Michael Slack. Harcourt, 2012, 37 pages. Ages…
Read MoreTough Guy: An Interview with Andrew Klavan
Andrew Klavan’s new novel, Crazy Dangerous, is the story of complicated characters in a complex world. Not necessarily the story you’d expect from a Christian author these days, but then not much about Andrew Klavan fits the Christian author stereotype. He grew up in a Jewish home, and his writing–from screenplays to editorials in the…
Read MoreCrazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Coming up on Friday, an interview with Andrew Klavan himself! And we have a copy of Crazy Dangerous to give away!! Read on for details . . . Crazy Dangerous, by Andrew Klavan. Thomas Nelson, 2012, 324 pages. Age/interest level: 12-up. Nobody can ever say Andrew Klavan doesn’t know how to write an…
Read MoreBunk Beds, Backpacks and Bibles
Summer- camp stories are a staple in children’s literature–we reviewed one worthy example on Tuesday. But for today, let’s look at “real life.” Do your summer plans include church or Bible camp? In years gone by, it used to be a given that kids would benefit from a week or two away from home in…
Read MoreThe Great Outdoors
Your kids may be packing for camp this month–or maybe not. (Watch for my post on Bible/Christian camps later this week.) While the weather’s warm and the days are long, they can at least get outside and play some . . . you know, outdoor games. Does anybody remember how to play Capture the Flag? …
Read MoreThe Bible in Brickbats
The Brick Bible: A New Spin on the Old Testament, as told and illustrated by Brendan Powell Smith. Skyhorse Publishing, 2011, 270 pages. In his Introduction, the author reveals why he decided to stage Bible stories with Legos: “People should really know what’s in the Bible. For a book that so many of us consider…
Read MoreIn Memory – Picture Books For Memorial Day
Memorial Day, like Veterans Day, is one of those overlooked observances that to government, library, and bank employees means a chance to catch up or take a long weekend. Kids—even grownups!—easily get confused about the difference between Memorial Day (last Monday in May, to honor war dead) and Veterans Day (Nov. 11, to honor living…
Read MoreSaturday Review: Among the Fairies
Tagging along after yesterday’s post, here are two relatively new (and one older) titles in that perennial genre, the fairy tale: Small Persons with Wings, by Ellen Booraem. Dial, 2011, 302 pages. Age/interest level: 12-16. Melissa Turpin learned to give up imagination in kindergarten, when her fairy friend Fidius turned out not to be real. …
Read More“Do you believe in fairies?”
The Fairy Ring, or Elsie and Frances Fool the World, by Mary Losure. Candlewick, 2012, 168 pages. Age/interest level: 10-14 When Frances Griffith arrived in England with her family in the winter of 1917, the place didn’t seem like home. Though English by birth, she had grown up in sunny South Africa and the Yorkshire…
Read MoreThe Secret Lives of Animals
The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate. HarperCollins, 2012, 304 pages. Age/interest level: 8-up. Last week, a little bluebird appeared in our wood stove. The stove was not fired up, of course: at this time of year it’s an iron box about 18” square with a sooty floor and a glass door. My husband…
Read MoreThinking Different(ly)
I’m way behind on my Saturday reviews, so it’s time to catch up—with a Tuesday review tagging off of last Friday’s Steve Jobs post. Jobs was known more for his insights than his inventions—he never really invented anything, but he could see how new technology could be adapted to new uses. “Think Different” was one…
Read MoreBible Reading Challenge – Week 18
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Read MoreSteve Jobs: American success story?
Steve Jobs: Thinking Differently, by Patricia Lakin. Aladdin (Simon & Shuster), 2012, Age/interest level: 10-14. Who Was Steve Jobs? by Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso, illustrated by John O’Brien. Grosset & Dunlap, 2012, 105 pages. Age/interest level: 8-12. “I started thinking that maybe Thomas Edison did a lot more to improve the world than Karl…
Read MoreMr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire! by Mrs. Bunny, translated from the Rabbit by Polly Horvath
Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire! by Mrs. Bunny, translated from the Rabbit by Polly Horvath, illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Schwartz & Wade, 2012, 248 pages. Age/interest level: 8-12. Madeline is a very resourceful young lady, especially for going-on-eleven, but even she is flummoxed when her parents are kidnapped by what appears to be a…
Read MoreBible Reading Challenge, Week 17
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Read MoreHuddled Masses and Deadly Desperados
City of Orphans, by Avi. Atheneum, 2011, 350 pages. Ages 10-14. New York, 1893: “Look at someone on the street and you may never see that person again—ever. Then you bump into a stranger and your whole life changes—forever.” Hawking newspapers on the street is no way to make a living, especially when all you…
Read MoreBad Trips
Summer is the traditional time for road trips, and road-trip novels traditionally roll out in the spring. A title from this year and one from last have some interesting “faith” connections, but it’s unclear what faith is getting connected . . . You Don’t Know About Me, by Brian Mehl. Delacorte, 2011, 404 pages. Age/interest…
Read MoreCowboys and Other Guy Stuff: Poems by David Harrison
The title is a misnomer; poetry is for girls, too—and humans in general. In spite of my lazy attitude toward it, poetry is the highly personal act of touching the heart of human experience in a way that communicates like nothing else. Not to everyone, of course. But to enough. With over seventy books to…
Read MoreSpeaking of Poetry: An Interview with David Harrison
I’ve known David since the publication of my first novel, when we started seeing each other at children’s book events. He’s tall, thin, and genial, and one of the most dedicated writers I’ve ever known. Up until a few years ago he managed his family business full-time–while holding to a very active writing. publishing, and speaking schedule. …
Read MoreThe Splendor of the Ordinary
I have a confession to make: I’m not a fan of poetry. For someone who loves literature, I see this not as a mere preference (as for pancakes over scrambled eggs), but an actual defect. It may be due to mental laziness (poetry can be so difficult) or a childish appetite for narrative (Tell me a…
Read MoreHow Our Gardens Grow
Planting a garden is an exercise in faith—the assurance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. Young children are fascinated with the phenomenon of planting a seed and watching a tiny green sprout thrust itself above the soil—the bowed necks of pole-bean sprouts making their first shy appearance still thrills me. …
Read MoreDetectives: Hard Boiled and Four-Legged
Ever since Edgar Allen Poe, one of the most reliable publishing genres has been the mystery or detective novel. I’m not a huge fan myself, but when the Nancy Drews were circulating through fourth grade I read a few, and many of the popular series books of the time (that weren’t about nurses) often had…
Read MoreMay B by Caroline Starr Rose
May B., by Caroline Starr Rose, Schwartz & Wade, 2012, 225 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, Ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: May B is the moving story of a young girl on the Kansas frontier whose will and courage are tested when she’s left alone in a sod hut. “I won’t…
Read MoreWonder
Wonder, by R. J. Palacio. Knopf, 2012, 320 pages. Ages 8-up August (Augie) Pullman obviously doesn’t remember the day he was born, but in the first few chapters he tells us his mother’s version. The story as she tells it (with sound effects) always cracks up Augie and his sister because of his mother’s depiction…
Read MoreDealing with Death: Bridge to Terabithia
The first time I ever heard my father cry was when my uncle, the brother closest to him in age and disposition, was dying of brain cancer. The process took several months, during which Uncle Charles progressively lost his faculties and faded to a ghost of a human being. I was about 11 at the…
Read MoreThe Fault in Our Stars by John Green
As Jesus takes us to the cross this week, I’d like to spend some time looking at recent and classic children’s literature that addresses the subject of death. Please understand that I make no blanket recommendation of these books, especially the one I’m reviewing today, which contains some bad language and sexual situations (and the…
Read MoreBlue Like Jazz
Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts On Christian Spirituality, was published in 2003 by Thomas Nelson. Since then it has become a staple of Christian college campuses and nondenominational churches that meet in downtown warehouses and storefronts. This spring we get the movie version, which will probably enjoy a very limited run before going to disc…
Read MoreTalking Over The Hunger Games: conclusion
We’re wrapping up our conversation (begun here) with Morgan Lee and Caity Kullen on the effect of The Hunger Games on the audience it was written for, namely older teens and twenty-somethings. This week I wanted to talk about the trilogy’s relevance (if any) for Christian kids and parents. A question for both of you:…
Read MoreThe Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson. Holt, 2008, 265 pages. Reading Level: Young Adults, 15-18 Recommended for: ages 15-18 and up Bottom Line: After a horrific accident, Jenna Fox discovers that she has been the subject of a bizarre science experiment, which raises profound questions for her identity. My half-filled memory is…
Read MoreUnwind by Neal Shusterman
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Simon & Shuster, 2007, 352 pages Reading Level: Young Adults, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages 15-18 Bottom Line: Unwind presents a harrowing future in which parents may request their children be “unwound” at the age of 13 if their lives are deemed unworthy. The Heartland War was fought to settle the…
Read MoreSaturday Review: Books for Beginning Readers
I read a lot of books for this blog. All the ladies at the circulation desk at the Greene County Library (bless their hearts!) know me by name. Some books I don’t finish, but most are like that box of old worksheets and supplies left over from homeschooling days that I just might want to…
Read MoreTalking Over the Hunger Games, Part One
Since Susanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy (reviewed here) has sparked so much discussion in school cafeterias and dorm rooms (not to mention break rooms and car pools), we thought it would be worthwhile to get different points of view—particularly the young readers for whom the books were written. So we’ve invited two Christian college students…
Read MoreHungry
Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games, Scholastic, 2008, 374 pages. Catching Fire, Scholastic, 2009, 391 pages. Mockingjay, 2010, 387 pages. Age/interest level: 14-up. READER ADVISORY: This review contains a major spoiler about the last volume in the series–warning ahead! At some time in the distant future, our great and free society has collapsed. The reasons are…
Read MoreA Parent’s Guide to Environmentalism in Children’s Literature, Part Two
Wrapping up our two weeks of Lorax-inspired environmental emphasis, how do children’s books specifically reflect growing concern about our care of the earth? Because of course they do. Any publisher will gravitate toward books that speak to a current issue, so expect to find plenty of books in your local school and public library about…
Read MoreCities and Gardens
As mentioned last Friday, some professional worriers have noted that children’s picture books are displaying a decided preference for cityscapes as opposed to natural landscapes. If the winners of this year’s Caldecott awards (given by the American Libary Association for outstanding picture books) are any indication, this supposed trend is only half true. Two of…
Read MoreJulie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. Harper Collins, 1972 (paperback reissue 2003). 208 pages Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: Young adult, ages 12-15 Bottom Line: Julie of the Wolves presents an absorbing but over-romanticized view of life in the wild, paired with a low view of white civilization. The title character,…
Read MoreHatchet by Gary Paulsen
Gary Paulsen’s classic survival novel Hatchet offers a realistic–as opposed to romantic– view of nature and what it takes to survive in the wild. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Simon & Shuster, 1987 (paperback re-issue 2006). 192 pages Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 12-15 and up (especially boys) In a culture where…
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