book reviews

What’s on the Menu? Literary Cookbooks!

Food occupies our minds a lot this time of year—to gather around, to give away, to serve to strangers at the Salvation Army, to stuff ...
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Thankful for Cheryl Harness

The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish, by Cheryl Harness.  National Geographic, 2006, 143 pages.  Age/interest level: 8 and up. Thanksgiving means a raid on the ...
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Thanksgiving! Books For Kids 10 and Under

Books To Consider Buying We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below earn us ...
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Those Who Served–And Serve

Veterans’ Day is one of those holidays that sneak up on me.  I intend to write a note to a veteran, wear red, pray a ...
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*The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins

*The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, written by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Brian Selznick.  Scholastic Press, 2001.  48 pps.  Recommended for ages 7-up. When I ...
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Kids’ Books & The Historicity of Adam

This week, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will entertain a panel discussion on the historicity of Adam.  I came across this tidbit of news recently ...
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Salem’s curse

Wicked Girls, by Stephanie Hemphill.  HarperCollins, 2010, 389 pages.  Young Adult Father of Lies, by Ann Turner.  HarperTeen, 2011, 326 pages.  Young Adult There are ...
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The Story Behind the Confessions

Faithfulness Under Fire: The Story of Guido de Bres (2010) and The Quest for Comfort: The Story of the Heidelberg Catechism (2011), by William Boekestein.  ...
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Martin Luther: Guest Review by Shanna Gonzalez

Today Janie and I have the opportunity to introduce you to two delightful resources: first, fellow Christian and kids' book blogger Shanna Gonzalez, whose own ...
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Hall of Heroes

Reformation Heroes, by Diana Kleyn with Joel R. Beeke.  Reformation Heritage Books, 2009, 250 pages.  Age/interest level: 11-up. October 31, 2017 (only six years from ...
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How to Be Good

Saint Training, by Elizabeth Fixmer.  Zondervan, 2010, 233 pages.  Age/interest level, 10-14. Mary Claire, sixth grader at St. Maria Goretti School in Wisconsin, has lofty ...
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The Pilgrim’s Progress: Introduction

John Bunyan was a dissenting pastor of the mid-17th century: “dissenting” meaning that some of his biblical interpretations differed from those of the established (state-supported) ...
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Columbus and the Founding of our Nation

COLUMBUS The first time I browsed through Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire's biography, Columbus, I purchased it for my kids on the spot based largely ...
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Autism: Fiction and Fact

Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X Stork. Scholastic, 2009, 312 pages. Age/interest level: 14-up. Dancing With Max, by Emily Colson. Zondervan, 2010, 200 ...
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Author Interview: Simonetta Carr on Athanasius

Athanasius.  By Simonetta Carr.  Reformation Heritage Press, sale 2011.  66 pp.  Ages 9-12. What makes a good children's book?  We've talked a lot the past ...
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What Gets a Book “Banned”?

In my post on Tuesday, I included a brief survey of the ALA’s “Top Ten Banned Books for 2010.”  Let’s take a closer look at ...
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The Meaning of Life

Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley.  Atheneum, 2011, 240 pages.  Age-interest level: 16-up. UPDATE: Where Things Come Back has won a gold medal ...
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The Strange Condition Called Middle School

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger.  Abrams, 2010, 141 pages.  Age/interest level: 9-12. Sixth grade is the witching time for authors of ...
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Picturing God

Images of God for Young Children, by Marie-Helene Delval (illustrated by Barbara Nascimbeni) Eerdmans, 2011. Brother Sun, Sister Moon, by Katherine Paterson, illustrated by Pamela ...
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Brixton Brothers: Ace Detective

The Brixton Brothers, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex, published  by Simon & Schuster.  The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity (2009), 179 ...
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One More Movie Post: The Lightning Thief

In our continuing tradition of slopping over themes to the following week, I wanted to weigh in one more time on our book/movie emphasis.  Partly ...
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Homelanders Series by Andrew Klavan

Homelanders, by Andrew Klavan.  Published by Thomas Nelson in four parts: The Last Thing I Remember (2009), The Long Way Home (2010), The Truth of ...
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Close 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 ...
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Rules 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 ...
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*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 ...
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That 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 ...
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On 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 ...
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Growing Up Shakespearean

Shakespeare and Story Bibles As I was searching recently for Shakespeare resources for my kids--who are 3 and 5--I harbored a nagging, undefined feeling that ...
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Shakespeare 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 ...
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In Front of God and Everybody by K. D. McCrite

In 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 ...
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Small 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 ...
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God-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 ...
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One 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: ...
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The 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, ...
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‘Oh Say, I Can’t See’ Anyone Else But Me

Boy Humor, and How I Came to Terms With It One of my earliest realizations of the strange, otherness of boy humor is embodied in ...
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Covenanters: 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 ...
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The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird

The 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 ...
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Entwined by Heather Dixon

*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 ...
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Enchanted: 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 ...
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Rebel by R. J. Anderson

Rebel by R. J. Anderson. Enclave Publishing, Reprint edition, 2015. 308 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, 12-15. Recommended for: Ages 12-15 Bottom Line: Rebel, a story ...
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‘Creative’ Retellings of Paul Revere’s Ride

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Illustrated by Christopher Bing.  Ages 4-8.  40 pgs. Roughly 150 years ago, a poem entitled ...
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Knights 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 ...
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Is Your Son ‘God’s Mighty Warrior’?

Will, God's Mighty Warrior by Sheila Walsh, Ages 4-7, 32pgs.   “This book is a favorite with my boys, 2 and 5. They really like ...
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The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers

*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: ...
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Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

Prom 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: ...
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Enthusiasm by Polly Schulman

Enthusiasm 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 ...
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The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg

*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 ...
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Press Here by Herve Tullet

*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 ...
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Queen 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 ...
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Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent 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: ...
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Hereville by Barry Deutsch

*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 ...
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Thomas the Train: All Aboard for Fun!

Today's Article is a Guest Post by Libby Minor.  See more about her below. "The morality of the stories was clear and Christian: misbehaviour led ...
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Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma

Beautiful 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 ...
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Good 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 ...
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Love Will Keep Us Together by Anne Dayton

Love 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 ...
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Becoming Me by Melody Carlson

Becoming 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 ...
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Motorcycles, Sushi, and One Strange Book by Nancy Rue

Motorcycles, 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: ...
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The Airborn trilogy by Kenneth Oppel

The 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 ...
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The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

The 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 ...
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Saving Zasha by Randi Barrow

Saving 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 ...
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A Dog's Way Home by Bobbie Pyron

A 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 ...
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The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

The 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: ...
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Peak by Roland Smith

Peak 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 ...
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Dust Devil by Anne Isaacs

*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 ...
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90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis

90 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 ...
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Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong

Escaping 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 ...
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Shooting Kabul by N. H. Senzai

Shooting 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: ...
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The Prince's Poison Cup cover image

Easter Gifts 101: ‘The Prince’s Poison Cup’ by R. C. Sproul

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 ...
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The Perilous Gard

*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: ...
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The Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud

The 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 ...
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The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud

The 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 ...
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Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Percy 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 ...
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Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Moon 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: ...
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Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

Turtle 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 ...
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One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

One 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 ...
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*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 ...
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*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 ...
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a story, a story cover image

‘A Story, A Story’: Thinking Through African Mythology

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 ...
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It's a Book

It’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 ...
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The 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 ...
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THe book thief cover image

The 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 ...
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Annexed cover image

Annexed 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 ...
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*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 ...
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If Olivia Comes to Visit….

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, ...
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