realistic fiction

Ava and Pip by Carol Weston. Sourcebooks, 2014, 211 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grade (11-12) Maturity Level: 4 (11-12) On the first day of fifth ...

Always, Abigail by Nancy Cavanaugh. Sourcebooks, 2014, 311 pages. Reading level: Middle Grade (8-10) Maturity Level: 3 (8-10) Abigail Walters is starting sixth grade with ...

*Somebody on This Bus Is Going to Be Famous by J. B. Cheaney. Sourcebooks, 2014. 304 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades (8-12)Recommended For: Ages 10-12 Bottom ...

The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer. Alfred A. Knopf, 2014, 323 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, Ages 15 - 18 Maturity Level: 6 (ages 15 ...

I Kill the Mockingbird, by Paul Acampora. Roaring Brook Press, 2014, 177 pages. Reading level: Middle grades, ages 11-12 Maturity level: 4 (ages 11-12) and ...

Zane and the Hurricane: a Story of Katrina, by Rodman Philbrick. Scholastic, 2014, 181 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 11-12 Maturity Level: 4 (ages ...

Grandmaster, by David Klass. Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2014, 226 pages. Reading Level: Young Adult, Ages 15-18 Maturity Level: 6 (15-18) What if you discovered ...

*The Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya, by Jane Kelley. Feiwel & Friends, 2013, 201 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, Ages 8-10 Maturity Level: 3 ...

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge. Candlewick, 2003, 116 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Maturity Level: 5 (Ages 12-15) One-line Summary: Kevin, age 15, ...

*The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. Harcourt Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 237 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grade, ages 10-12 Maturity Level: 4 (ages 10-12) and up Bottom ...

Betsy and I are back to dialogue about childrens' books that the American Library Association may delight to honor.  This year's ALA Youth Media Awards ...

As Hayley noted earlier this week, the much-heralded final volume of Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy was a disappointment.  Much-heralded final volumes often disappoint, but what's ...

Jane, the Fox, and Me by Fanny Britt and Isobelle Arsenault (translated from the original French).  Groundwood, 2014, 101 pages.   Reading Level: Middle Grades, ...

A lonely boy and a lonely girl team up to rescue their dog friends and end up each finding a true home in this feel-good ...

A gentle chapter book that explores family emotional issues with a big dose of furry love on the side. White Fur Flying by Patricia MacLachlan. ...

Boy + dog is a solid formula that's been in play in the literary world for decades. How many of you read Old Yeller in ...

A Balanced "Book Diet" Reading is like eating: you need a variety of wholesome ingredients, a little sugar, and a little moderation across the board. ...

Chasing Jupiter, by Rachel Coker.  Zondervan, 2012, 221 pages.  Age/interest level: 12-up. Our story begins in small-town Georgia, 1969—but 16-year-old Scarlett’s world seems even smaller ...

Destiny, Rewritten, by Kathryn Fitzmaurice.  HarperCollins, 2013, 335 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 (especially girls) Bottom Line: Destiny, Rewritten ...

In our posts over the last two weeks, Emily and I have suggested that Roe v. Wade has changed America profoundly in the ways we ...

A middle-grade boy's football ambitions crash against a cancer diagnosis in this frank tale by NFL star Tim Green. Unstoppable, by Tim Green.  HarperCollins, 2012, ...

Got a novel idea? It’s easier than ever to get published, but if the imprint on the spine of your masterwork is Xlibris or iUniverse, ...

Summer is the traditional time for road trips, and road-trip novels traditionally roll out in the spring.  A title from this year and one from ...

Wonder, by R. J. Palacio.  Knopf, 2012, 320 pages.  Ages 8-up August (Augie) Pullman obviously doesn’t remember the day he was born, but in the ...

As Jesus takes us to the cross this week, I’d like to spend some time looking at recent and classic children’s literature that addresses the ...

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George.  Harper Collins, 1972 (paperback reissue 2003).  208 pages Reading Level: Middle Grades, 10-12 Recommended for: Young adult, ...

Gary Paulsen's classic survival novel Hatchet offers a realistic--as opposed to romantic-- view of nature and what it takes to survive in the wild. Hatchet ...

Million-Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica.  Penguin, 2009, 244 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Bottom Line: Mike Lupika's young hero ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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: ...

*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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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: ...

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 ...

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 ...

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: ...

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 ...