Sunday Salon – Happiness is a Really, Really Good Book: Review of “Marcelo in the Real World” by Francisco X. Stork

Before I tell you about this book, I want to insert a quote from the author’s blog on what it means to love a book, because I truly loved this book. And this post not only tells you what that means, but shows you something of the author’s style, and of his heart: True Love [...]

Review of “Blankets,” written and illustrated by Craig Thompson

Bloggers have raved about this book, so I put it on hold at the library (as soon as I recovered from my shock that our library even carried it). This autobiography in graphic form is a memorable book in some ways, but it is so overwhelmingly sad I can’t claim that reading it brought me [...]

Review of “A Dog At Sea” by J. F. Englert

This is the third book in the Bull Moose Dog Run mystery series featuring Randolph, “a Labrador retriever with a penchant for literature” (not to mention pigs in the blanket) and his owner Harry, (“dangerously abstract and artistic”) who needs a little secret guidance from Randolph to help solve mysteries. In A Dog At Sea, [...]

Black History Month: Review of The Listeners by Gloria Whelan – Ages 6-10

I was attracted to this book because of the artwork (by Mike Benny), which is a little reminiscent of the miraculous Bayou, written and illustrated by Jeremy Love. Bayou, however, is too scary for young children; The Listeners, which tells a story of what life was like for children under slavery, is quite suitable for [...]

Review of “Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict” by Laurie Viera Rigler

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict is the complementary story to Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. In that first book (reviewed here), Courtney Stone, a 32 year old from the year 2009, wakes up in 1813 Somerset, England in the body of Jane Mansfield, daughter of a gentleman. Rude Awakenings tells what happens [...]

Guest Blogger Ari from “Reading in Color” Interviewing Author Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

If you haven’t been to Ari’s blog Reading in Color, you are missing the most amazing voice! Ari is a sophmore in high school, and has only been blogging since June 2009, and you would never guess either of these facts. I can’t pay enough compliments to this teen blogger who reviews YA lit with [...]

Black History and People of Color Children’s Literature Month

The month of February (we might note, the shortest month of the year) has been designated as Black History Month. I’ll be publishing a number of posts to highlight this time. What exactly do we mean by “black history” anyway? Do we mean African-American history or the history of black residents of America? During the [...]

Moby Dick Mondays – Week 12

Ti of the blog Book Chatter is sponsoring a challenge/readalong to read the classic Moby Dick. On Mondays, we’ll be posting about our progress. I am listening to the unabridged audiodisks for this book. Some of you may be wondering: so where are Ahab and Moby Dick already?!!! Here’s the answer: this book has 135 [...]