Thank you, Readerkidz and Stephanie Greene, for sharing your review of BE LIGHT LIKE A BIRD and author interview: In “Be Light Like a Bird” by Monika Schröder, 12-year-old Wren is faced not only with the loss of her father,…
Category: Environment
Stickmen’s Guide to The Ocean–Uncovered by Catherine Chambers; illustrated by Venitia Dean and John Paul de Quay
This book is non-fiction, but it’s as fascinating as if the stories were invented. Sea creatures, bizarre flora, and the scariest element of all–humans! The Stickmen are little stick adventurers who have also ventured beneath cities and inside watercraft and…
Too Many Tomatoes by Eric Ode and Kent Culotta
“Too Many Tomatoes” Written by Eric Ode Illustrated by Kent Culotta Every summer, gardens explode with vegetables of all varieties especially tomatoes. In Ode and Culotta’s newest collaboration, they use this theme to take readers on a fun romp…
Escape to New York: A Hundred Hours of Night
During the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, the Dutch author Anna Woltz and I switched places. She was hunkered down in New York City while I followed the news from the safety (and sunny weather) of Lisbon, Portugal. But she turned…
The 2016 Skipping Stones Honor Awards
For 28 years the non-profit multicultural children’s magazine Skipping Stones has offered young readers a journey around the world without their ever having to board an airplane. Founded in 1988 by educator Arun Toke, the quarterly magazine offers articles for…
The Real Magic Realism: A Review of The Head of the Saint
Translated fiction for teen readers is not easy to find. Despite the recent success of adult titles by Elena Ferrante, Steig Larsson, Roberto Bolaño, Haruki Murikami, and others, and the growing number of acclaimed picture books from other countries, middle…
Dig Too Deep by Amy AllGeyer
Dig Too Deep Written by Amy Allgeyer Reviewed by Linda Boyden Seventeen year old, Liberty Briscoe believes two things: she will never cry and will only refer to her mother, Jamie Briscoe, as MFM, my former mother.…
The Dignity and Value of All: A Review of On the Edge of Gone
“The first time my future vanished was July 19, 2014.” Thus begins Corinne Duyvis’s stunning post-apocalyptic novel On the Edge of Gone, the story of an autistic biracial teenager, Denise, and her effort to save those closest to her and…
Review: Salt To The Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Last month I reviewed the middle grade novel Pax by Sara Pennypacker. This month I am reviewing a young adult novel that also explores the effects of war on our world. While Pax explores these effects in a near future,…
Juna’s Jar
Juna’s Jar Written by Jane Bahk. Illustrated by Florence Hoshino. Lee and Low Books, 2015 New Voices Award recipient. Guest Review by Linda Boyden (see bio below) What can be kept in an empty kimchi jar? Almost anything, according…