Posts by Janie Cheaney
The 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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