by Carolyn | Audiobooks, Book Deals, Chapter Books, Early Readers, Juvenile Fiction, Middle-grade, Picture Books
Audible has done it again! They have another amazingly huge sale on some great children’s books! I’ve hand-picked over 50 of the best books from this massive sale from picture books to middle-grade novels to recommend to you. Enjoy! These books are all...
by Carolyn | Autobiography, Chapter Books, Cultural Diversity, Girls, Imagination, Juvenile Fiction, Older Elementary, Read Alouds
Let me introduce you to a modern-day Ramona. I have totally fallen for the quirky, honest, ambitious Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire by Susan Tan. The Story Cilla Lee-Jenkins is certain that she is destined for literary greatness. What she’s not...
by Carolyn | Education, Older Elementary, Picture Books, Preschool, Read Alouds
I remember the day my daughter realized homeschooling meant she would never ride the big yellow bus. It wasn’t that she saw other kids on our street joyfully piling in. Most of our neighbors were in their eighties. We had the only school-aged kids on the block....
by Carolyn | Adventure, Fantasy, Girls, Imagination, Juvenile Fiction, Magical Realism, Middle School, Middle-grade, Parenting
Orphan Island is a beautiful, poignant story for kids on the verge of leaving childhood. My older two kids are about the same age my brother and I were when we started sharing book recommendations back and forth (which we still do to this day). So it’s no...
by Carolyn | Animal books, Book Lists, Fantasy, For fun, Imagination, Picture Books, Poetry, Read Alouds, Recommendations
I don’t know how it started, but there has been a surplus of funny picture books with dragons published in the last few years. And when I say funny, I mean hilarious. I literally can’t read some of these without laughing out loud. If you have a child who...
by Carolyn | Adventure, Boys, Character Training, Fantasy, Girls, Imagination, Juvenile Fiction, Magical Realism, Middle School, Middle-grade, Scary Stories
Sometimes, when you have been anticipating a new book in a series, it won’t measure up. Well, I’m happy to say that’s not the case with The Door Before. It was stunning. The Door Before surprised me in multiple ways. First of all, it’s not just...
by Carolyn | Audiobooks
I’ve never seen such a huge sale on children’s audiobooks as the one Audible is having now! It took me all morning to sort through the 1,000 books on sale to bring you the 100 books I thought were the very best. If you have any questions about a specific...
by Carolyn | Cultural Diversity, Education, Girls, Historical Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
I loved Esperanza Rising. I love being surprised by a book, and this one surprised me. I know I had heard some good reviews, but I had also read some critical ones. I’m not sure what I expected, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did (I finished...
by Carolyn | Boys, Character Training, Cultural Diversity, Older Elementary, Parenting, Picture Books, Recommendations
A Bike Like Sergio’s by Maribeth Boelts is a rare book. It takes the reader through both the thoughts and feelings of doing something wrong and then making it right. It allows kids to vicariously experience a tempting situation and shows them a path for doing...
by Carolyn | For fun, Parenting, Reading, Recommendations, Resources
It’s summer reading program time again! I always get excited about summer reading programs, especially when the rewards are more books! We all want to avoid the summer slump, but remember, our goal is to get your kids excited about reading. If these contests do...
