Book Reviews

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Easter is almost here, and while you could just pick a board book up at Walmart while you're getting the Paas dye, you've still got ...

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: ...

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 ...

Can't wait for my kids to read this in a few years.  If you don't have a copy already, here's a great way to enjoy ...

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" ...

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 ...

Roughly three years ago, I read Ginger Plowman's book, Don't Make Me Count to Three.  It's a fantastic resource with lots of practical advice for ...

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 ...

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 ...

Now that April Fool's Day is over, I should probably introduce this as my post on April 1st... Recently I had the extraordinary opportunity to ...

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 ...

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 ...

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: ...

“I just ordered Happy and Honey, Bob Books set 1, and the Starfall readers—books you recommended—for Lois's and my African-American great-grandson. Could you recommend an ...

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 ...

The Prince's Poison Cup is perfect for young boys ages 4-8, but I think it will also appeal to many girls. It's that time of ...

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 ...

“Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for ...

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: ...

$20 Bookshelf Challenge Winner Today is the big day for one Redeemed Reader: the announcement of our $20 Bookshelf Challenge winner.  Thank you to everyone ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

  Everybody seems to be pinching pennies these days.  I am admittedly pretty miserly when it comes to buying books.  As much as I value ...

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: ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

The Anansi stories have been handed down through generations of Ashanti culture...Born in Ghana I left at aged 3, leaving much of the Ghanaian culture ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

(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 ...

We live in an age of series picture books. Which, like having 27 McDonalds in every city, makes shopping a little less complicated for tired, ...

The claim that a story Bible isn’t actually a Bible may seem a bit shocking at first. I mean, it’s got the word "Bible" right ...

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 ...

You’re a new parent. You’ve got the baby crib with a fancy name, the swing, the bouncer, the burping pads. Now it’s time to choose ...