The No-Dogs-Allowed Rule by Kashmira Sheth is an entry-level middle grade chapter book. The reader follows Ishan Mehra's misguided attempts to convince his mother into allowing him a dog. Ishan's sh…
The Last Free Cat has the basis to be an excellent and memorable story, but unfortunately falls a bit short. The set up can seem a bit silly, but is an enjoyable scenario to explore, and provides the…
From page one, you're pretty sure everything is going to go wrong, and sure enough, it does. However, this story really goes right in the end. High school kids will recognize a lot of the pain and suf…
Probably one of the most interesting premises that I’ve read in awhile, Seduction, by MJ Rose, gives us not only an inside look into the secret life of Victor Hugo, but an indepth study on reinca…
The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna is a 2013 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book. Rich with symbols, it is an introspective and reflective book. The author indicates in the notes tha…
If you had the misfortune of seeing the Hollywood movie adaptation of this book a few years ago, please cast that monstrosity from your mind; it did the book a great injustice. The Tale of …
Lulu and the Duck in the Park is a straight-forward, but charming story of a girl who loves animals. A large part of the charm is that the events that happen to Lulu could easily happen in real life …
Take a trip to Never Land in In A Blink, the first book in a new series from Disney. In A Blink introduces readers to The Never Girls -- four friends who mysteriously find themselves in…
Watership Down is possibly one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. The storytelling and writing is excellent, filling every page of the book with adventure, suspense, or mystery. But the…
The River is written as a fictional account of a boy from childhood and into adulthood. The flow of the story was smooth, but there was one glaring irritant which hurt the story. Spec…
Honor by Turkish writer Elif Shafak is one of the most gripping and well-written books I've had the pleasure to read. The story spans three time periods and takes place in two very different loca…
Wow. What more is there to say? Author Sharon M. Draper singlehandedly instigated a paradigm shift for me with her middle grade novel, Out of My Mind. The protagonist, Melody, has ce…
