Newbery Buzz #5: Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All
Megan and Janie discuss Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller. (See our starred review, HERE.)Megan: Janie, this book builds on a common experience: the whereabouts of one sock lost in the laundry. Magnolia and her new friend, Iris, are using clues in each sock to track down its owner. Do you have a…
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Newbery Buzz #4: The Bletchley Riddle
Betsy and Hayley discuss The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. (See our starred review, HERE.) Hayley: Betsy, I know you and I LOVED this book! Something I really appreciated was the brother-sibling relationship between Jakob and Lizzie. I think the authors nailed the awkward, “we used to be friends but now you’re…
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Newbery Roundup #2: Plain Jane, Wrong Way Home, and First State of Being
Our second roundup of Newbery-buzzing books includes a graphic-novel fairy tale, an escape narrative, and a time-travel adventure.
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Newbery Buzz #3: Ferris
Betsy and Hayley discuss Ferris by Kate DiCamillo, another new favorite. (See our starred review, here.) Hayley: Betsy, it’s no secret I love Ferris. In fact, I loved it so much I spent one newsletter last fall talking about it! I’m going to unashamedly steal some of what I wrote then and incorporate it into…
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Newbery Buzz #2: One Big Open Sky
Today Betsy, Janie, and Hayley discuss a verse novel we all loved.
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Newbery Buzz #1: Olivetti
Beginning our annual series of discussions on possible Newbery contenders.
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Newbery Roundup #1: Hank Hooperman, Louder Than Hunger, and The Enigma Girls
Beginning our annual coverage of possible contenders for the coveted Newbery Award.
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Jolabokaflod for Megan’s family in 2024
Choosing Jolabokaflod titles for my family every year is a pleasant challenge. What would interest each member that we don’t already have in our collection? As each boy reaches a new stage of maturity and I see their own characteristics developing, I want to find a good fit for their personal libraries. Here’s what I…
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Back Porch Book Chat with Tasha Kazanjian (YA author)
Back Porch Book Chat: a casual conversation about books and writing. Today we’re visiting with Tasha Kazanjian, author of A Trick of Spades. A lover of old books, history, and theology, Tasha writes fantasy inspired by very real places and times. She can’t resist adding a bit of magic to her worlds, but her stories primarily focus…
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Spiders: A Book List for Young Arachnophiles
A few weeks ago I was trying to address the cobwebs on the walls and corners above my desk (possibly some procrasti-cleaning due to a looming book deadline), and strangely found that I couldn’t bear to vacuum up the spiders that were trying to escape, whether they were poised on a freshly-woven web or weakly…
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