It’s only a few days until Valentine’s Day, but don’t worry: each of these gifts for your beloved bookworm is under $20 and most can be ordered for speedy delivery. Don’t resort to getting your significant other just flowers or chocolate, get them something special related to their favorite hobby (but get them the flowers […]
by Julie Barton Genre: Memoir Publisher: Penguin Books Length: 222 pages Published: November 10, 2015 Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble Thank you to Penguin Books for sending me a copy of Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me From Myself! Julie Barton is a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA program and […]
*Sort-of in order It’s all fun and games until someone raises the dead. A 3D stop-motion film about eleven-year-old Norman Babcock who can speak to the dead. Random Highlight: Great stop-motion animation. Rated PG 30. Hocus Pocus It’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus! The reawakening of the three witch Sanderson sisters. Random Highlight: Bette […]
Today, I’m happy to share my interview with middle-grade author, Josh Allen. Allen’s book of scary stories, Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe, is being published by Holiday House on September 3, 2019. Perfect for any reader aged 8-12 who loves mystery and creepy twists and turns, Out to Get You […]
by Billy Collins “My Hero” Just as the hare is zipping across the finish line, the tortoise has stopped once again by the roadside, this time to stick out his neck and nibble a bit of sweet grass, unlike the previous time when he was distracted by a bee humming the heart of a wildflower. […]
[Disclosure: I received a free digital review copy of the novel from the publisher. I’ve also been friends with Jamie for over a decade. All comments, however, are my own.] Bearskin by Jamie Robyn Wood Debut-author Jamie Robyn Wood blends fairy tale fantasy with YA romance in Bearskin. Told through the lens of rotating narrators, […]
If you’re looking for fun and engaging middle-grade mysteries, look no further than the following two series. Both are now well-established and popular with young readers and feature vivid characters, historical fiction settings, and young and capable sleuths puzzling together page-turning whodunits. The Myrtle Hardcastle Series by Elizabeth C. Bunce (order the entire series here) […]
by Tilar J. Mazzeo Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, WWII Publisher: Gallery Books Page Count: 317 Published: September 27, 2016 Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble Note: A young readers edition is also available for ages 10+ (a detail of this cover is shown below). My Goodreads Rating: 5/5 stars Official Book Summary: From the New York […]
Today I’m sharing the second installment in a three-part feature on writers Chadd VanZanten and Russ Beck, authors of On Fly-Fishing the Northern Rockies. Chadd is a professional editor and has published his writing in online journals and print anthologies. Russ teaches writing at Utah State University, is the recipient of the Western Literature Association […]
by Alison Case Genres: Historical Fiction, Retelling Publisher: Pegasus Books Length: 474 pages Published: February 8, 2106 Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble Official Book Summary: “Young Nelly Dean has been Hindley’s closest companion for as long as she can remember, living freely at the great house, Wuthering Heights. But when the benevolence of the […]
by Karen McManus Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller Publisher: Delacorte Press Length: 361 pages Published: May 30, 2017 Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble “Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. […]
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, British History, Biography, Mystery, Feminism Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Length: 333 pages Published: April 9, 2019 Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble Official Book Summary: “Five devastating human stories and a dark and moving […]
by Barbara L. Packer Defying the traditional approach, Barbara L. Packer’s The Transcendentalists begins in medias res and constitutes a thorough analysis of transcendentalism. The author skillfully guides her readers through nine chapters that provide a comprehensive understanding of this American historical, social, religious, and literary movement. Packer’s text is an invaluable guide to any […]
Jactionary: Book Review – Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II by Svetlana Alexievich
Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II by Svetlana Alexievich translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Russia, Autobiography, Memoir, War Publisher: Random House Length: 320 pages Published: July 2, 2019 (first published in 1985) Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble My Goodreads Rating: […]