by Carolyn | Adventure, Character Training, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
My favorite line from the Tony Parker Spiderman movies was always, “with great power comes great responsibility.” That idea is echoed in the new middle grade superhero novel The Minor Miracle by Meredith Davis. Because having super powers isn’t what...
by Carolyn | Highschool, Historical Fiction, Imagination, Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams is a story about storytelling. And who better to write such a book but master storyteller Daniel Nayeri, author of the award-winning Everything Sad is Untrue? I enjoyed the audiobook version, read by the author,...
by Carolyn | Adventure, Boys, Fantasy, Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
A magical world that intersects with ours. A nostalgic 1980’s setting. Engaging characters kids will love. All of this in a new series from a favorite author your kids probably already love. Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key is the first book in a new...
by Carolyn | Adventure, Fantasy, Imagination, Magical Realism, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
When your daughter hands you a book and tells you it’s the best book she’s read in a while, you read it! A Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay is a fantastical story set in the real world with compelling characters and vivid writing. The Story Living in a...
by Carolyn | Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
Roll With It by Jamie Sumner is a heartfelt book full of quirky characters. It touches on so many issues: living with a disability, dementia, complex friendships, standing out, and family. But if I were to pinpoint one theme it would be that accepting help and...
by Carolyn | Books about Books, Historical Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Read Alouds, Recommendations
Did you ever wonder what kind of adventures Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy would have gotten up to if they hadn’t found their way into Narnia? What about the other millions (yes, millions) of children evacuated to the British countryside during World War II? And...
by Carolyn | Adventure, Boys, Historical Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Read Alouds, Recommendations
If you think your kids wouldn’t enjoy a western, you just might be wrong. When we visited Colorado this summer, I chose an audiobook themed to our location. The Misadventured Summer of Tumbleweed Thompson by Glenn McCarty with illustrations by Joe Sutphin is a...
by Carolyn | Adventure, Boys, Education, For fun, Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Mystery, Recommendations
Readers have asked me for more adventurous books that boys would like, and I think the Lost Art Mysteries series by Deron R. Hicks fits the bill. Boys and girls alike will be pulled into these fast-paced novels that read like a spy thrillers. They’ll be so...
by Carolyn | Classics, Cultural Diversity, Education, Fantasy, For fun, Girls, Imagination, Juvenile Fiction, Magical Realism, Middle School, Middle-grade, Mystery, Nature, Older Elementary, Recommendations
A real-world middle-grade fantasy built around the plot of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Yes please! Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca is a magical story about a young baker and her family. The Story Eleven-year-old Mimi Mackson is the...
by Carolyn | Classics, Cultural Diversity, Girls, Historical Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Middle School, Middle-grade, Recommendations
Books and authors speak to each other across the centuries. This is the Great Conversation. Author Linda Sue Park enters into the conversation with Laura Ingalls Wilder in her new book Prairie Lotus. In the author’s note at the end of Prairie Lotus, Park writes...
