Books are crucial in Secret of the Shadow Beasts. They provide an essential escape for Nora and the Order of the Hawk whilst they’re on duty, but also during training. Library time is an important part of every day, and Nora often uses this time to read up on her new world and try to learn. Midway… Read more »
Book Recommendations
Book Recommendation: Too Bright to See
I’ve always loved monster stories where the “monster” isn’t evil and, while creepy and maybe a bit scary, is there to do good. Most ghost stories don’t do this. In middle grade fiction in particular, ghosts are common devices of spooky evil. And so the fact that the protagonist of Kyle Lukoff’s Too Bright to… Read more »
Book Recommendation: The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy is Anne Ursu’s latest delight. I’m one of her fans—Breadcrumbs and The Real Boy were inspirations to me when I first began writing middle grade fiction—and I saved this as a special treat. Talk about special treats. This was one of the best books of the 2021 for me, and also one… Read more »
Book Recommendation: Cuba in My Pocket
Like two of my characters in Secret of the Shadow Beasts, I love history and historical fiction. Because I’ve read a lot of this genre (and written it!), I have very high standards. For me, the research needs to be spot-on, making the world feel real and full of life, and wholly individual. So many historical stories… Read more »
Book Recommendation: The Shape of Thunder
I’ll share this right away: The Shape of Thunder is a book about a very tough topic: the aftermath of a school shooting and how those closest to it deal with it. Jasmine Warga makes this topic bearable for a young audience through several brilliant technique, and here’s the first: She sets the story a little… Read more »
Favorite Reads of 2020—Part 2
Yesterday I posted my favorite middle grade books from the first part of 2020. Here’s the rest from the second half of that year! Class Act by Jerry Craft Jerry Craft’s New Kid, the first book in this graphic novel series, dealt with casual racism and micro-aggressions head-on (in a compelling and sometimes funny story… Read more »
Favorite Reads of 2020—Part 1
I read many incredible middle grade books in 2020. Here’s my list of my very favorites from the first half of of last year. While I liked nearly everything I read, these rose to the top as stories I enjoyed tremendously, thought about long after, and could see many young readers picking up and having… Read more »
Reading Black Voices in Fantastic Middle Grade Fiction
I am angry and depressed by the ongoing systemic racism of this country. It needs to change. Every single person needs to understand that Black lives matter. Everyone needs that knowledge to be part of their daily lives. And we need to flood our libraries with books that show it. Here are some of my… Read more »
Black Voices in Middle Grade Historical Fiction
It’s crucial to have Black voices in the middle grade curriculum in classrooms. Too often, historical stories that have meaning because of the Black experience are told from the white perspective. We need to bring these stories back to authentic voices. Here’s are four of my favorite historical fiction books for elementary and middle grades… Read more »
Book Review: TIN by Pádraig Kenny
It’s not much, really, but the orphan Christopher is pleased to be the only “real” boy among his companions in Mr Absolam’s scrapyard, a place where mechanicals—boys with some human parts but mostly metal ones, parts joined by magic—train to be as real as possible for the human families that will, they hope, one day… Read more »
These lilacs have the most glorious scent, but are pretty modest in their way. The former colleague I lost over the weekend to cancer would have liked them for both those reasons.
#flowers #grief #lilacs
It’s been a tough week. A moment with a few flowers can make a difference.
#flowers #azalea #springflowers