Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen is, let’s admit it, the world’s greatest puberty metaphor. A boy and girl are friends. Something happens and he grows cold and distant. In the midst of his indifference he’s spirited away and must be won back. Okay, the metaphor kind of breaks down at the end there, but the separation of boy/girl… Read More
Posts Tagged ‘middle grade novel’
Review of the Day: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011Review of the Day: The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R.A. Spratt
Friday, December 24th, 2010
Don’t judge a book by its cover, they say. To heck with that, say I. When it comes to books for kids, nine times out of ten you’re going to end up judging a book on its cover no matter how much you try not to. That’s because kids themselves judge books by their covers and if a jacket is dull as dishwater… Read More
Review of the Day: The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby
Saturday, December 11th, 2010
I’m in a weird position. I’m tired of Steampunk, and yet if I say that word to most kids that walk into my library they’ll give me a blank stare followed by an immediate, “What’s Steampunk?” I’d explain to them that it’s this strange amalgamation of historical fiction plus futuristic gear-based clockwork technology but I know that this would not cause the blank stares to cease. They’d simply grow blanker. I’m… Read More
Review of the Day: Crunch by Leslie Connor
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
Leslie Connor forgive me; I sometimes forget how awesome you are. It’s nice to rely on an author. To know that you can trust them to write book after book that isn’t crap. That’s true on the adult side of things, but I feel it’s particularly important to remind folks of this on the children’s literary side as well. When a parent or a teacher or a… Read More
Review of the Day: Sugar and Ice by Kate Messner
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
They say to write what you know. We’ve all heard that line. It’s bounced about countless writing groups. But there’s an unspoken rule amongst children that’s as pervasive as it is harmful: Read what you know. If you’re a soccer fan, only read soccer books. If you like ballet, get a whole bunch of ballet books. Librarians, teachers, and parents can spend countless hours fighting… Read More
Review of the Day: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
Mockingbird
By Kathryn Erskine
Philomel (a division of Penguin)
$15.99
ISBN: 978-0-399-25264-8
Ages 9-12
On shelves now.
Children’s librarians read quite a few books for kids and the result is that we tend to want to discuss them with one another. Unlucky librarians are surrounded solely by people who agree with their opinions. You’re much luckier if you happen to have a group of close folks around you who can offer alternate takes on the books you read and critique. Now, it doesn’t happen every year but once in… Read More
Review of the Day: The Body Thief by Stephen M. Giles
Friday, October 1st, 2010
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Mysterious Benedict Society. If those words are mere gobblety-gook to you and don’t mean a thing, don’t worry. You can rectify that situation by either reading both of those books, or you can simply opt for perusing The Death (and Further Adventures) of Silas Winterbottom: The Body Thief instead. It… Read More
Review of the Day: The Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
There are good and bad results that occur when a book like Diary of a Wimpy Kid hits the stratosphere. On the one hand, suddenly publishers are a lot more open-minded about breathing life into books that… Read More
Review of the Day – Wiff and Dirty George: The Z.E.B.R.A. Incident by Stephen Swinburne
Friday, May 21st, 2010
Wiff and Dirty George: The Z.E.B.R.A. Incident
By Stephen Swinburne
Boyd Mills Press
$17.95
ISBN: 978-1-59078-755-7
Ages 9-12
On shelves now
Once in a great while I get a little bored with the usual children’s book tropes. Another new kid in school who meets a seeming outcast and bonds with them? Whoopie. A foster kid who seems prickly but has a heart of gold? Woo. Two boys in swinging 1960s London defeating a rabbit-obsessed villain intent on making people’s pants fall down? I . . . . wait, what? Back up a bit. What was that? You see, once… Read More
