I Need My Monster

What do you do when your monster is not under the bed but you find a note that says gone fishing?  That’s the dilemma that Ethan finds himself and tries to solve by getting a substitute monster under the bed.  I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll is a nicely blended monster story that is [...]

The Road to OZ

 Finally someone has written a biography about the author of one the world’s most favorite stories – The Wizard of OZ.  Frank Baum has long been in need of recognition not of his books or the movie (which everyone can recite lines from) but of the man himself.  The Road to OZ: Twists, Turns, Bumps and Triumphs [...]

Enchanted Lions

Bedtime stories are a dime a dozen these days, so it is a pleasant surprise to find one that peacefully portrays a bedtime tale without going over the top.  Enchanted Lions by David Greenberg is about a enchanted lion who takes a little girl to see the constellations prior to her drifting off to sleep.  What makes [...]

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June

When I first started reading this new novel by Phyllis Naylor, I thought I was reading something less than her usual quality of work.  However the more I read, the more I began to see that Faith, Hope and Ivy June  is perhaps one of her best works in recent memory.  Though understandably readers may [...]

Fancy Nancy Tea Parties

Fancy Nancy is back - this time with her own advice on tea parties.  In this latest in the Fancy Nancy series (Fancy Nancy Tea Parties),  Fancy Nancy explains to the reader everything you need to know (or not) about tea parties.  In reminiscence of the Eloise stories, the reader is told quite explicitly every detail that should go [...]

Library Mouse: A Friend’s Tale by Daniel Kirk

There are not many books about libraries written for children that I have enjoyed as much as I Took My Frog to the Library by Eric Kimmel.  That may have to change thanks to the latest work by Daniel Kirk called Library Mouse: A Friend’s Tale.  A sequel to the Library Mouse, Sam the shy mouse lives [...]

Team Moon: How 400,000 people landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh

it’s 1969 and man has not yet set foot on the moon.  But all that changes on  July 20 1969.  Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon describes in words and pictures how man finally reached and landed on the moon.  This work tells in simple  language and style all of the work [...]

One Small Step

For those who enjoy fictional tales of going to the moon, this recent story by P.B. Kerr is right on target.  One Small Step is set right before the launch of Apollo 11.  Scott, a 13 year old, loves flying, especially with his Air force dad.  When Scott saves his dad and himself in a plane crash [...]

The Unknowns: A Mystery by Benedict Carey

Benedict Carey has carved out an unusual tale in his story  The Unknowns:  A Mystery.  The premise is that people from this trailer park start to disappear and it’s up to to two youths to try and find them and uncover what is really going on at a nuclear power plant.  The only clues they [...]

Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta

If you enjoy baseball, then you are definitely going to enjoy this book.  Mudville is first and foremost a a baseball story.  But don’t let that stop you from reading this book.  There are also interpersonal relationships between father and son, family, friends, strangers, and a centuries old rivalry that goes on and off the field.  Scalletta [...]