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“Just about the time I was thinking things weren’t turning out so bad after all, events took a turn for the worse.”  So says Jack Catcher, teen protagonist in Joe R. Landsdale’s latest, All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky.  And this remark captures the flavor of this book, and Jack’s adventures in it, perfectly. Set in the deepest part of the Great Depression, in the dustbowl of Oklahoma, Jack’s parents have just died – his mother from a wasting sickness and his father from grief – and now he’s not sure what to do.  He’s got no food and no money, and the bankRead More →

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Sci-Fi Action author Brian Falkner creates another fast-paced, twisting and turning thrill ride in his latest novel, The Project.  Best friends Tommy and Luke like to pull mostly harmless pranks and enjoy horsing around.  Even though their latest prank lands them in some serious trouble at school, they still volunteer with to help the local university library try to save its rare book collection from the impending threat of a fast moving flood.  While helping out, Luke discovers the only copy in existence of a rare book based on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings and theories. Because he’s been researching “the most boring book in theRead More →

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In 1978, China is just beginning to recover from the harsh turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.  Living in the furthest northern provinces on a government farm, 11 year old Zhongmei Li dreams of becoming a dancer, but her family is poor and her village is far from anywhere important.  When her older sister reads that the acclaimed Beijing Dance Academy is holding open auditions for the first time in its history, Zhongmei knows that she must do everything she can to win a place for herself and a chance at the future of her dreams.  She convinces her parents to borrow the money for theRead More →

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Debut children’s author Kelly Barnhill’s The Mostly True Story of Jack  is a delightful, imaginative tale.   It’s a story of friendship, family, and sacrifice, all wrapped up in a mostly true (depending on how you look at it) magical mystery about a boy, a town, and the choice to do the right thing. Jack’s parents are getting a divorce, so he has to go stay in a small farm town in Iowa with his only relatives, an old aunt and uncle who live in the strangest house he’s ever seen.  It’s not like Jack will miss much from his home in San Francisco since he hasRead More →

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Love Nancy Drew? Enjoy stories with a multicultural flair? Like smart tween girls whose spunk shines through?  Is so, you’ll really enjoy debut author Sheela Chari’s Vanished.  It’s full of music, mystery, coincidences, deception and fun.  11 year old Neela dreams of being a famous musician, playing her antique Indian instrument, the veena, but in reality when she’s in front of an audience, she’s full of stage fright.  When her grandmother in Indian mysteriously sends Neela an heirloom veena- the one she plays most often that’s intricately carved with a strange dragon – Neela feels that she may finally have the instrument that will help her get over her stage frightRead More →

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Padma Venkatraman’s newest work for middle grade readers, Island’s End, is both a coming of age story and an homage to a way of life that has almost disappeared in our 21st century world.  Set in the Indian Andaman Islands off the coast of Burma, a fictional tribe of aboriginals exists in harmony with the ebb and flow of the jungle and sea of their home.  Uido has lived her life apart from the modern world and is deeply connected to both the natural world of her island and the spiritual world of her tribe’s belief system and so is called upon to train as the spiritual leaderRead More →

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Will curiosity kill the Cat? A shadowy “Game” played on the fringes of normal society where everyday people gamble for life-changing magical prizes and losers may pay the ultimate price – to 15 year old Cat, it sounds like a kooky pass-time for nerds and dorks who still live with their moms.  Cat’s used to being on her own – her parents died when she was three and she’s grown up fending for herself both because of and despite her aunt’s “parenting” style – and she’s most comfortable on the fringes, observing and being invisible.  But when a crazed, breathless businessman asks for her help hiding fromRead More →

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Jane Kelley’s The Girl Behind the Glass is a scary book.  Lovers of scary movies and scary stories told in the dark at sleepovers will devour this book about a haunted house, a horrible act, and an unsuspecting family. The Zimmers have moved to the suburbs of New York City from Brooklyn. While they’re waiting for the completion of their new home, they hastily rent a huge old house on Hemlock Street that’s been derelict and mouse-infested for years.  The children of the town used to come and throw rocks at the windows and dare each other to run up and touch the front door andRead More →

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Winifred Conkling’s Sylvia & Aki introduces an unlikely pair of friends: Sylvia Mendez is 9 years old and looking forward to starting the third grade. Her parents are leasing a large asparagus farm in Orange County, CA, and she will be able to enroll in the local elementary school, rather than the poor barrio school she attended last year in Santa Ana, CA.  Aki Munemitsu should be starting fourth grade, but her family has been relocated to the Poston Internment Camp, leaving behind their asparagus farm in Orange County and any hope Aki had for a normal life.  Both girls face heartbreaking challenges: Sylvia and her brothers areRead More →