THE GOOD BRAIDER by Terry Farish This is a story written with the power of an elephant – yes, an elephant – her spare words open your heart to grace and beauty. This novel is written in verse and is…
Category: Environment
A tribute to the courage of children who face cancer
Bluish by Virginia Hamilton {Blue Sky Press) $5.99 and now available as an e-book. We know someone who has survived cancer and we probably know at least one person who has died of the disease. The power of this illness…
EDDIE’S WAR By Carol Fisher Saller published by namelos, 2011 The story is classic but the characters and situations are as fresh as a home-grown tomato. An older brother enlists and soon leaves for combat, World War II. The younger…
What can we learn about past lives?
Transcendence (Walker Books) by C.J. Omololu, $16.99 Spiritual, religious and life beliefs can bring people close or drive a wedge between friends and family. But exploring possibilities and beliefs outside our own immediate cultural, religious and life experiences can also…
Focus on Malawi: Laugh with the Moon and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The small country of Malawi, in south-central Africa, rarely appears on children’s authors’ radars, but two books published in 2012—Shana Burg’s middle grade novel Laugh with the Moon (Delacorte) and the picture book version of The Boy Who Harnessed the…
Laugh with the Moon Blog Tour: An Interview with Shana Burg
This month, author Shana Burg has visited a number of blogs as part of her blog tour for her newly-released middle grade novel Laugh with the Moon (Delacorte). The novel, set in rural Malawi, portrays 13-year-old Clare, whose father has…
MALI UNDER THE NIGHT SKY
A refugee story, a picture book, a pearl of courage and hope: MALI UNDER THE NIGHT SKY, A LAO STORY OF HOME written and illustrated by Youme Landowne, is the true story of the Laotian-American artist, Malichansouk Kouanchao, who…
The Forsaken speaks to reluctant heroes
The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) $16.99 Dystopian novels often allow readers inside the scariest of ideas. They encourage readers to think about war and our darkest fears, both internal and…
PITCH BLACK, DON’T BE SKERD
PITCH BLACK, DON’T BE SKERD by Youme Landowne and Anthony Horton is a dark but realistic account based on a true story. One out of every five children in the US lives in poverty, many are homeless. This book taps…
What happens when body image and emotions collide?
The Stone Girl (Knopf Books for Young Readers) by Alyssa B Sheinmel, $16.99 Sethie looks at her world as though she’s looking through a microscopic, always questioning or hypothesizing and analyzing out how she might connect. Inside this world…