Posts by Janie Cheaney
The Abolition of Man, Part Two
This week, widespread rioting in Britain has blanketed the news, along with commentators asking the eternal question, “Why?” Shaking my head over the pictures of well-dressed kids smashing store windows, I turn from the computer screen and pick up my copy of The Abolition of Man to read this, the first sentence in the second…
Read MoreClose to Famous by Joan Bauer
Close to Famous, by Joan Bauer. Viking, 2011, 250 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: ages 11-13 Bottom Line: In this feel-good middle grade novel, 12-year-old Foster gets to realize her dream of baking the world’s best cupcake. Foster McPhee, 12, is an ordinary girl who doesn’t live up to standard expectations but…
Read MoreRules of the Road by Joan Bauer
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer. Speak, 2005. 208 pages Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages 12-16 Bottom Line: Good-hearted Jenna Boller overcomes numerous obstacles to achieve her dream of becoming the world’s best shoe salesperson. It’s not easy being the tallest girl in the whole school and living with an…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength 2: Development
Previous Posts: Introduction Part One: Setup Almost all the main characters have been introduced and the potential conflicts are in place. Now development: that phase of a novel that builds tension and raises the stakes. All the major plot elements will be rounded up and herded in one direction, although the reader should feel that…
Read MoreThe Abolition of Man, Part One
(Beginning a three-part study intended to accompany our reading of That Hideous Strength this month.) In February of 1943 Lewis delivered three evening lectures at King’s College in Newcastle. Later that year the lectures were published in book form under the title of the third: The Abolition of Man. Over time Lewis came to regard…
Read More*The Dragon’s Tooth by N. D. Wilson
*The Dragon’s Tooth (Ashtown Burials, Book One), by N. D. Wilson. Random House, 2011, 482 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: ages 10 and up Bottom Line: N. D. Wilson dives into antiquity to serve up this rich fantasy about a pair of “ordinary” siblings and an ancient fellowship that resembles the…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength 1: the Setup
Beginning our first-ever Readalong: here’s the Introduction. The action takes place at three fictional locations: Edgetow, a university town similar to Cambridge, but smaller; St. Anne’s-on-the-Hill, a nearby village; and Belbury, a village in the opposite direction, currently undergoing a process of modernization. Much of it, especially at the beginning, concerns University politics, so it helps…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength: An Introduction
In the summer of 1945, George Orwell wrote a review for the Manchester Evening News, beginning, “On the whole, novels are better when there are no miracles in them.” That said, he was ready to give a grudging thumbs-up to C. S. Lewis’s latest, which completed the cycle begun with Out of the Silent Planet…
Read MoreOn Eagle’s Wings
Book 2 of the epic adventures of the three children who are heirs to a kingdom, sought by the Fangs of Dang, and as normal as any other set of siblings. North! Or Be Eaten, by Andrew Peterson (Vol. 2 of The Wingfeather Saga). Waterbrook Press, 2009, 323 pages. Reading Level: Ages 10 and up Recommended…
Read MoreShakespeare R Us
Dallas, 1970: Storm clouds gather over the Texas prairie, where the students of a small junior college are presenting A Midsummer Night’s Dream in an outdoor courtyard. With a student body of only 200, the talent pool is tiny; half the actors have never performed for an audience in their lives. But this play, often…
Read MoreIn Front of God and Everybody by K. D. McCrite
The Confessions of April Grace: In Front of God and Everybody, by K. D. McCrite. Thomas Nelson, 2011, 390 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 8-12 Bottom Line: The Confessions of April Grace series kicks off with a humorous but far-fetched take on the quandaries of growing up in a small…
Read MoreSmall Town Summers
The Luck of the Buttons, by Anne Ylvisaker. Candlewick, 2011, 224 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-12 Bottom Line: The Luck of the Buttons is a winsome look at small-town life in the 1920s. Goodhue, Iowa, 1929: Tugs (not a nickname) Button may have been unlucky in her name and…
Read MoreGod-Haunted
The death of God has been announced since the beginning of time (see Ps. 14:1), but God doesn’t seem to stay dead–not even with Darwinism and nihilism and existentialism and all the heavy guns of academia trained on Him. Pascal said that there is a longing in each human heart (often stated as the “God-shaped vacuum” that hints of a…
Read MoreOne More For the Road
Around the World in 100 Days, by Gary Blackwood. Dutton, 2010, 358 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: Gary Blackwood spins an adventurous yarn about the progeny of Phineas Fogg making his own around-the-world bet. Age 17 is a bit young to be thrown into the holding cell…
Read MoreThe Living Past: An Interview With Cheryl Harness
We end our extended history week with what some consider to be the purest form of history: biography. The old argument of whether great events, great thoughts, or great people make history will always be with us, but there’s no doubt in our subject’s mind what the most important history-making factor is: “People, definitely.” Without…
Read MoreIs Historical Fiction Dead?
Short answer: no, but it’s showing signs of dementia. Historical fiction has one of the longest roots of any literary form. You might say that Homer was a historial novelist (if he didn’t insist on being a poet) because the events he described in the Iliad had some basis in fact—even if the incidents of…
Read MoreCovenanters: Then and Now
Duncan’s War, by Douglas Bond (Crown and Covenant #1). P&R Publishing, 2002. 270 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: Duncan’s War, first in the Crown and Covenant Series, introduces middle-graders to a little-known chapter of Scottish and Reformation history. Duncan M’Kethe, age 14, shepherds his family’s flock…
Read MoreThe Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird
The Betrayal of Maggie Blair, by Elizabeth Laird. Houghton Mifflin, 2011, 420 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, Ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 14 and up Bottom Line: Faith and doubt receive honest examination in this story of a teenage Scottish girl accused of witchcraft during the time of the Covenanters. We meet 17-year-old Maggie Blair…
Read More*Entwined by Heather Dixon
*Entwined, by Heather Dixon. Greenwillow, 2011, 472 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-15 Bottom Line: Entwined is a fairy-tale romance for teens that deftly makes profound points about relationships, love and marriage. The royal family of Eathesbury is rich in girls, but not much else. On the night Princess Azalea…
Read MoreEnchanted: Three new fairy tales
Heartless, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. Bethany House, 2010. Age/interest level: 14-up (first in a series) Princess Una is a romantic sort, indulged by her father and plagued by her little brother. But when the Twelve-Year Market–a collection of bizarre vendors and exotic goods–emerges from Goldstone Wood, something alien enters her heart. Or was it already there? …
Read MoreRebel by R. J. Anderson
Rebel, a story of modern-day fairies for young adults, is equally about faith, grace, and doubt.
Read MoreReflection in a Dragon’s Eye
The main problem with Christian fantasy may be, what do you do with Christ? Honestly: can it be “Christian” without him? But it’s not easy to represent him without tipping the story into dogma, propaganda, or even heresy. His character in the gospel is indelible, and yet elusive; even when he can be located, chronicled, and quoted,…
Read MoreKnights in Training
The Brave Young Knight, by Karen Kingsbury, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard. Zonderkidz, 2011. Age/interest level, 4-7 In the spirit of Will, God’s Mighty Warrior, here’s another picture book for encouraging manly virtue in young boys. The Brave Young Knight (no name) lives in the west village of the kingdom where he enjoys a good reputation. Villagers…
Read MoreJonathan Rogers on Reading and Writing, Boys and Dads
We’re delighted to welcome Jonathan Rogers to our site today, as one of our “writing fathers.” Jonathan is Georgia-born, with an undergraduate degree from Furman University and a PhD in 17th-century English literature from Vanderbilt. Today he calls Nashville home, where he and his wife are raising a “houseful of robustious children.” Last week we…
Read MoreWho’s Your Daddy?
Of all the charges hurled against Christianity in the modern age, one of the most potent is “paternalistic.” Christianity, it’s said, has kept women in the kitchen and society in the dark ages; I recall listening to a radio program long ago in which a caller insisted that the whole point of the faith was…
Read MoreTurn On the Light
At least twice a year, it seems, there’s a controversy blowing up in the Young-Adult book trade. The latest brouhaha began with an article in the Wall Street Journal by Meg Cox Gurdon, entitled “Darkness Too Visible.” Ms. Gurdon, who used to write on culture and parenting issues for National Review and now writes about children’s…
Read More*The Charlatan’s Boy by Jonathan Rogers
*The Charlatan’s Boy, by Jonathan Rogers. WaterBrook Press, 2010, 305 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: The 12-year-old hero The Charlatan’s Boy uses creative vocabulary and evocative swampy setting to walk the thin line between truth and lies. I don’t care who you are–when it comes…
Read MoreProm and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg
Prom and Prejudice, by Elizabeth Eulberg. Point (Scholastic), 2011, 227 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 and up Bottom Line: Prom and Prejudice updates Jane Austen’s classic with a slightly sharper edge that enhances some aspects of the original story but blunts others. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that…
Read MoreEnthusiasm by Polly Schulman
Enthusiasm, by Polly Schulman. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2006, 198 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 Bottom Line: Enthusiasm, a modern-day takeoff on Pride and Prejudice, is a fun romantic read that bears no relation to reality. There is little more likely to exasperate a person of sense than finding…
Read More*The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg
*The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg. Clarion, 2011, 241 pages with author note. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 and up Bottom Line: This mother-daughter adventure, based on a true story, is a vivid picture of a relationship “forged in adversity” as the two attempt to walk across…
Read More*Press Here by Herve Tullet
*Press Here by Herve Tullet. Chronicle Books, 2011. 56 pages. Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 0-4 Recommended for: Ages 0-4 and up Those of you who know my mixed feelings about book “apps” may understand why I’m glad to hear about a picture book that’s taking the preschool set by storm. Press Here is the title. …
Read MoreQueen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg
Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg. Houghton Mifflin, 2011, 37 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 9-12 Recommended for: Ages 4-8 On the subject of mature ladies doing extraordinary things, who could top Mrs. Annie Edson Taylor, the first human being to actually go over Niagra Falls in a barrel? No kidding–in 1901,…
Read MoreSex, Cats, and Stereotypes
Just when you thought we’d done a pretty good job of knocking down stereotypes, a new study (those three words have to be among the most irritating in the English language these days) shows that gender disparity is still rampant in children’s books. True, there’s been some progress since the 1990s, with an almost-equal balance…
Read MoreInterview with Dr. Veith: Part Two
Part Two of our Interview with Gene Edward Veith In Part Two of the interview, we’re talking about how to prepare our kids for college–and whether they need to go to college at all! But don’t miss Part One. 3. Sometimes, parents send their children to a Christian college thinking they will escape the most dangerous pitfalls…
Read MoreInterview with Dr. Gene Edward Veith
Gene Edward Veith: Parent + Educator + Writer Many–if not all–of our readers are praying earnestly for their children to lead God-centered, successful lives. Of course, God can work with any sort of material, but we’d like to minimize the hard lessons and wasted time as much as possible. Not just for our kids–for us,…
Read MoreThe Graduate
In anticipation of our interview with Dr. Veith next week (see Emily’s anticipatory post), I intended to write some thoughts on life after homeschooling to share with the large number of our readers who are homeschoolers now. But I found myself lingering on how it looked to me then, rather than how it looks now.…
Read MoreDivergent by Veronica Roth
Divergent, by Veronica Roth. Katherine Tegan Books (HarperCollins), 2011, 487 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 15-18 and up Bottom Line: Divergent is a promising beginning to a YA dystopian series that explores how far human nature can be changed. With the publication of Mockingjay, last book in the Hunger Games…
Read More*Hereville by Barry Deutsch
*Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword (graphic novel), by Barry Deutsch. Abrams (Amulet), 2010, 139 pp. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 8-10 and up Bottom Line: The unusual graphic novel series Hereville introduces middle graders to Mirka: “Yet another troll-fighting 11-year-old orthodox Jewish girl.” Hereville will be a very foreign place to…
Read MoreBeautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma
Beautiful: Truth’s Found When Beauty’s Lost, by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma. Thomas Nelson, 2009, 272 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 and up Bottom Line: Beautiful thoughtfully explores the effect of a disfiguring accident on an overachieving teen, but comes to no final conclusion about truth. Ellie Summerfield is the iconic high-school…
Read MoreGood Christian Girls
I remember when Jeanette Oke and “deliverance” stories were about the only options teenage girls had if they wanted to read some Christian fiction. The inventory has greatly expanded, especially in the YA category, and almost every secular literary genre now has its Christian counterpart, especially for girls. Does she like historical, cozy mystery, fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, lighthearted…
Read MoreLove Will Keep Us Together by Anne Dayton
Love Will Keep Us Together, by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt. Hatchett: 2010, 287 pages. (Miracle Girls series #4) Reading Level: Young adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 and up Bottom Line: In Love Will Keep Us Together, the four “Miracle Girls” face the challenges of senior year, including boys, college, and church. Riley,…
Read MoreBecoming Me by Melody Carlson
Becoming Me, by Melody Carlson. Multnomah, 2010. (Diary of a Teenage Girl series #1.) Reading Level: Young Adults, Ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 and up Bottom Line: Becoming Me effectively explores the issues faced by a Christian teen defining her walk in the current culture of casual sex and the pursuit of social status. Caitlin…
Read MoreMotorcycles, Sushi, and One Strange Book by Nancy Rue
Motorcycles, Sushi, and One Strange Book, by Nancy Rue. Zondervan, 2010, 211 pages. (Real Life series #1) Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 Bottom line: 16-year-old Jessie’s struggles to overcome ADHD and reconcile with her father are interesting and believable, but makes Christianity look more like a 12-step program than a…
Read MoreThe Airborn trilogy by Kenneth Oppel
Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel. HarperCollins, 2004, 355 pp. Skybreaker (2007); Starclimber (2009). Reading Level: Middle grade, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up One-line Summary: Airborn, Skybreaker, and Starclimber offer fun and adventure in an alternative late-Victorian world for middle grade readers. Some people say it makes them lonesome when they stare up at…
Read MoreThe Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld
Leviathan, by Scott Westerfield, illustrations by Keith Thompson. Simon Pulse, 2009, 434 pages plus historical note. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 and up One-line Summary: Leviathan and its two sequels take middle grade and YA readers on a thrill ride to an alternative 1914 Europe in a bid to stop…
Read MoreSteampunk!
According to Wikipedia, the term was probably coined by science-fiction writer K. W. Jeter as a humorous variation of cyberpunk—which itself is a type of science fiction described as “high tech/low life.” Steampunk is a blend of sci-fi/alternative-history/speculative fiction with a historical setting (Victorian Britain is typical, though later Edwardian and turn-of-the-century settings may appear)…
Read More400 Candles
As our readers probably know, this spring marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, and celebrations are going on throughout the English-speaking world. There’s a lot of interesting KJV lore on the internet, as for instance this feature/review from the Times of London. The history is fascinating: the offer of a contentious king…
Read MoreSaving Zasha by Randi Barrow
Saving Zasha, by Randi Barrow. Scholastic, 2011, 225 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades (ages 8-10) Recommended for: Ages 10-12 One-line Summary: In post-WWII Russia, Mikhail and his brother strive to save a German shepherd from the hatred of all things German. Mikhail Tarkov, age 13, and his older brother Nikolai find a wounded soldier in…
Read MoreA Dog’s Way Home by Bobbie Pyron
A Dog’s Way Home, by Bobbie Pyron. HarperCollins, 2011. 321 pp. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 Bottom line: When Abby and her champion Sheltie, Tam, are separated by an accident, Tam must find his own way back through the southeastern wilderness. Life would be perfect for 12-year-old Abby Whistler if…
Read MoreBrave Little Digital World
In Surprised By Joy, C. S. Lewis wrote about the flowering of his imagination at an early age–especially through books, which were piled up everywhere in his house and to which he had unlimited access over acres of free time. He read everything by E. Nesbit and Conan Doyle and Jonathan Swift, pored over Arthur…
Read MoreThe Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
The Emerald Atlas (#1 in the Books of Beginning series), by John Stephens. Knopf, 2011, 432 pages. Reading level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up One-line Summary: The Emerald Atlas is an exciting fantasy for middle grades, but draws so many elements and plot points from other fantasies it has little…
Read MoreLooking For Love: The Paranormal Teen Romance
Several years ago I started noticing references to a new YA novel that was enjoying sensational sales, especially among adolescent girls. As months passed, excitement seemed to build and build, anticipating–of course–the sequel. The cover featured two hands clasping an apple: simplicity itself, but loaded with cultural baggage. Original temptation, original sin. What the heck?…
Read MoreStalking the Elusive Boy Reader
Supposedly, one of the most-asked questions in children’s publishing divisions is, “Will boys read it?” Will boys read anything? Or only books that have “butt” or “fart” in the title? Or only supposed diaries featuring kids with bad attitudes, illustrated by stick drawings? Or only comic books (or, in their more literary manifestation, graphic novels)?…
Read MorePeak by Roland Smith
Peak by Roland Smith. Harcourt: 2007, 246 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 and up One-line summary: Fourteen-year-old Peak Marcello’s adventures on Mt. Everest make compelling reading for middle-graders on up. When we first meet Peak Marcello, he’s clinging to a sheer surface, making his way slowly up its rock…
Read More*Dust Devil by Anne Isaacs
Dust Devil, by Anne Isaacs, Illustrated by Paul Zelinsky, Schwartz & Wade, 2011. Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 4-8 Recommended for: Ages 4-8 and up Bottom Line: Dust Devil continues the tall-tale adventures of Angelica Longrider, the Tennessee “Swamp Angel” who tames the wild west. In 1995 Swamp Angel won a Caldecott Honor medal for…
Read MoreIndestructables: Give your baby a taste for books!
You’d think a mother of triplets would have enough to do, but a few years Amy Pixton took the time to dream up and create a set of wordless baby books to be illustrated by her mother-in-law Karen. The idea probably would have remained in the mock-up stage were it not for Amy’s little innovation:…
Read More90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis
An 11-year-old boy flees revolutionary Cuba with his brothers and learns American enterprise in this vivid, fast-paced middle-grade historical novel. 90 Miles to Havana, by Enrique Flores-Galbis. Roaring Brook Press, 2010, 292 pages. Reading level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 People are chanting and dancing on a carpet of paintings, curtains, and clothing. …
Read MoreEscaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong
Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong. HarperCollins, 2010. 210 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 12-14 Recommended for: Ages 15-18 Bottom line: The experience of southeast Asian refugees escaping Communism in the 1980s comes to life in this historical novel for middle grades. After the fall of South Vietnam, the domino theory played itself out…
Read MoreShooting Kabul by N. H. Senzai
Shooting Kabul, by N. H. Senzai. Simon & Shuster, 2011, 253 pages plus glossary and author note. Reading level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 Bottom line: Shooting Kabul offers a look at 9/11 and its aftermath from the viewpoint of a family of Afghan refugees in the United States. On the night…
Read MoreYoung Adult or Adult “Youngs”?
Once upon a time there was no such thing as YA in the publishing world. That may be because there was no such thing as teenhood. A “youth” began taking on adult responsibilities somewhere between the ages of 12 and 18, and adults, young and old, read the same books–either openly or furtively. (I’m old…
Read More“Jane! Jane!”
Few literary cries have echoed down the ages as persistently as that one: the ultimate impassioned plea from the ultimate gothic romance, which stands as sturdily today as when it was first published in 1849. From Jane Eyre to Twilight is an unbroken line of gloomy castles, windswept moors, and tortured gentlemen with thorny dispositions…
Read More*The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001, 288. Age/interest level 12-up. Reading Level: Teens/Young Adults Recommended for: Ages 15-18 Bottom line: The Perilous Gard combines a love story with issues central to Christianity and paganism, in a satisfying and thought-provoking read for teens. Katherine Sutton serves as lady-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth,…
Read MoreThe Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud
The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud: The Amulet of Samarkand (Hyperion/Miramax, 2003), The Golem’s Eye (2004), Ptolemy’s Gate (2005). Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-14 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 Bottom line: The Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud pictures a neo-pagan world of demons and spirits, but does not glamorize it. The sulfur cloud contracted into…
Read MoreThe Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
The Ring of Solomon, by Jonathan Stroud. Hyperion/Disney, 2010, 398 pages. Reading level: Middle grades, 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 12-14 One-line Summary: The witty narrator of Jonathan Stroud’s popular Bartimaeus novels is back for a biblical romp, but the story is problematic and lacks the depth of the original series. As our story opens, the…
Read MorePercy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan: The Lightning Thief (Hyperion/Miramax,2005), The Sea of Monsters (2006), The Titan’s Curse (2007), The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008), The Last Olympian (2009). Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 8-10 Bottom Line: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson stories are an entertaining way to introduce middle-graders…
Read MoreMoon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool. Delacorte, 2010, 342 pages plus historical notes. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 Bottom line: This Newbery-winning historical novel for middle grades takes readers to mid-America during the Great Depression. Abilene Tucker, age 12, has absorbed a lot of lessons from her father Gideon, an…
Read MoreTurtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm
Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer Holm. Random House, 2010, 177 pages plus historical notes. Reading level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 Bottom Line: Turtle In Paradise is a mostly lighthearted tale told in a winning style by a winner of multiple Newbery honor awards. Turtle’s nickname comes from her hard shell; unlike…
Read MoreOne Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia. HarperCollins, 2010, 215 pages. Reading level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 Bottom line: One Crazy Summer is a good way to introduce middle-grade readers to the Black Power movement and the civil rights revolution of the 1960s. Three girls–Delphine (11), Violetta (9), and Fern (7)–fly from Brooklyn…
Read More*The Year Money Grew on Trees by Aaron Hawkins
The Year Money Grew on Trees by Aaron Hawkins. HMH, 2010. 301 pages Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10-12 Bottom Line: Middle-grade kids persevere through hard work and frustration to cultivate their own apple orchard in this engrossing tale that beautifully illustrates the work ethic. My dad always said that his feet…
Read More*Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen
Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen. Random House (Wendy Lamb Books), 2007. 88 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Maturity Level: 4 (Ages 10-12) Bottom line: Lawn Boy entertainingly teaches middle graders how the stock market works by recounting the adventures of a boy and his developing lawn-care business. The nameless hero of this brief…
Read MoreIt’s a Book by Lane Smith
It’s a Book by Lane Smith. Roaring Brook Press, 2010. 32 pages. Reading Level: Picture book, ages 4-8 Recommended for: ages 10-12 and up Bottom Line: This picture book contrasting the printed page to texting may appeal to the 4-8 reading level, but the point is probably above their heads. It’s a Book, by Lane…
Read MoreThe King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli
In The King of Mulberry Street a 9-year-old Italian immigrant realizes the American dream in 1890s New York through a combination of luck, ingenuity, and hard work. The King of Mulberry Street, by Donna Jo Napoli. Random House, 2005, 256 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grade, Ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 4 (Ages 10-12) Except for being…
Read MoreThey Don’t Write ’em Like This Anymore
In tone, appearance, and character, On the Blue Comet is straight out of the 1950s. On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells. Candlewick, 2010, 329 pages. Reader age 9-13. Even though Oscar’s Ogilvie’s mother is dead, he and his dad have a pretty good life in Cairo, Illinois, including quality time with a Lionel train…
Read MoreThe Digital Age
We’re in it; deal. Thanks to Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Android, and their promised descendents, digital publishing will eat its way like PacMan (remember PacMan?) into all areas of the book business, including children’s. This does not mean that the days of curling up on a cozy sofa with a beloved hardcover picture book are numbered–all…
Read MoreThe Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Book Thief, a literary novel for teens and adults, explores Nazi Germany and the Holocaust through the eyes of a child, in prose that is often beautiful but ambiguous. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. 550 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Maturity Level: 6 (ages 15-18) and up…
Read MoreAnnexed by Sharon Dogar
Annexed is the fictionalized story of Peter van Pels, Anne Frank’s fellow inmate, who offers a moving account of the Holocaust for teens, but no real hope. Annexed, by Sharon Dogar. Houghton Mifflin, 2010. 337 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, ages 12-15 Maturity Level: Ages 15-18 Are you still there? Are you listening? That’s the…
Read More*Sneaky Sheep by Chris Moore
Sneaky Sheep is a light-hearted book about two silly sheep who go astray. The illustrations are worth the price of the book. *Sneaky Sheep by Chris Moore. Carolrhoda, 2010. 32 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, Ages 4-8 Maturity Level: Ages 4-8, Ages 8-10 The story is so simple your preschooler can tell it to you. Rocky…
Read MoreDystopia, Part Three
Part One. Part Two. What’s the problem with a glut of grim, futurist fiction on the YA bookshelves? Maybe nothing. Youth is resilient, and most young people are smart enough to know that fiction is fiction. If their reading is balanced, and they get out in the fresh air often enough, no harm done. Too…
Read MoreDystopia, Part Two
(Find Part One here) Besides being uniformly grim, there are other traits the current crop of dystopian novels share: A post-apocalyptic future–the story opens after an event of universal destruction so huge that humanity has to re-organize itself along new principles, usually some variation of survival of the fittest. A young hero trapped in circumstances…
Read MoreDystopia: Dead Ahead
Part One How’s this for a scenario: In the future, the USA has been divided into thirteen districts, and the most prosperous oppresses all the others. One form of oppression is the annual televised exhibition in which two teens from each district compete for fabulous prizes–the chief prize being life. Katniss, a 16-year-old poacher from…
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