recommendations and reviews for the aspiring reader

recommendations and reviews for the aspiring reader

Category: Middle Grade

Review: All-American Muslim Girl

Review: All-American Muslim Girl

All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney   In the newest novel by Nadine Jolie Courtney, a teenage girl named Allie learns to embrace and accept a part of her that many don’t understand. Her journey is one woven with threads of many colors: the […]

Review: Willa of the Wood

Review: Willa of the Wood

Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty   Willa can blend. She can disappear. She can bend the wood to her very will, feeling the drum of it deep in her bones. She can move like a snake, silent and cunning. The very soil of […]

Review: Umbertouched

Review: Umbertouched

Umbertouched by Livia Blackburne   When last we saw the healer Zivah and the warrior Dineas, they were on a mission against the Empire. All of their collective efforts were wrapped up in finding out the purpose and strategy of the impending war, and what […]

Recommendation: Burning Magic

Recommendation: Burning Magic

Burning Magic by Joshua Khan When last we saw the young and gothic Queen Lilith Shadow and her outlaw best friend Thorn, they were doing their best to protect the country of Gehenna from a lethal army of trolls, all while attempting to control the […]

Recommendation: Sage Alexander and the Hall of Nightmares

Recommendation: Sage Alexander and the Hall of Nightmares

Sage Alexander and the Hall of Nightmares by Steve Copling   Do you remember that evil, cranky looking sun in the old-school Mario video games (if you were born any time after the 1900’s, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about) that was […]

Recommendation: My Rotten Stepbrother Ruined Beauty and the Beast

Recommendation: My Rotten Stepbrother Ruined Beauty and the Beast

My Rotten Stepbrother Ruined Beauty and the Beast by Jerry Mahoney   11-year old Maddie watched with equal parts relief and horror as a plague descended upon her home. The sickness was of the love variety, and brought with it a union between her father […]

Review: Prince in Disguise

Review: Prince in Disguise

Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm   “You’re Dusty’s sister?” For the entirety of Dylan’s life, she’s been firmly ensconced in Dusty’s perfume-ridden shadow. And it’s not even that she begrudges her sister the spotlight; Dusty is far better suited for the glitz and […]

Recommendation: Threads

Recommendation: Threads

Threads by Ami Polonsky   When young Clara entered the mall on that swelteringly hot day, yearning for the coolness of the air conditioning and something to take her mind off of the loss of her older sister, she didn’t expect to leave feeling changed. […]

Review: The Chronicles of Captain Shelly Manhar

Review: The Chronicles of Captain Shelly Manhar

The Chronicles of Captain Shelly Manhar by Nabila Fairuz   Captain Shelly Manhar is courageous and cheeky, but she’s also cautious. Her past haunts her like the lingering scent of briny fish on the deck of her ship, The Untamed. Holding her emotions in check […]

Review: Refugees

Review: Refugees

Refugees (Mud, Rocks, and Trees Volume 1) by R. A. Denny ” ‘In the last days, when the new star glows in the skies; Out of the depths of the rocks we call. Hear our cries! As earth’s secrets unfold, he who sleeps will arise; […]