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Master Storyteller Joseph Bruchac’s latest novel, Dragon Castle, draws on the rich and magical legends of his Slovakian heritage as it explores themes of the hero’s journey, the journey to find oneself, and the courage to face one’s destiny.  15 year old Prince Rashko has lived his whole life in a peace secured by a distant ancestor, Pavol the Brave.  It’s a good thing that peaces abounds, too, because his parents and older brother Paulek seem to be more interested in daydreaming, sword fighting and living a life of ease than in doing much of anything to secure the safety and long-term security of the realm.  But RashkoRead More →

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It’s the summer before 6th grade and Zelly wants a dog. More than anything, actually.  But her parents have said no, repeatedly, to Zelly’s pleading, bargaining, and begging.  Then her boisterous, eccentric grandfather, Ace, comes up with a crazy scheme Zelly can use to convince her parents she’s ready for the responsibility of a dog: a “pretend dog” that just happens to be a used plastic orange juice jug.  But honestly, Zelly isn’t sure she wants to spend the rest of the summer hauling a plastic jug around on a leash for “drags” (since it can’t go on a walk without actual legs), scooping upRead More →

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Alexis Warren is back.  Now, she and her parents have moved from their haunted Victorian-era house to a non-descript suburb and are trying to rebuild their lives after Kasey, Alexis’ younger sister, was possessed by a murderous ghost and tried to kill them all in Katie Alender’s debut novel Bad Girls Don’t Die.  Alexis has a boyfriend now, is settled into a comfortable group at school, and is ready for life to get back to a controlled, predictable normal.  But then Kasey is released from the psychiatric hospital and comes home, and of course, soon all Hell breaks loose. This time, Kasey and her friendsRead More →

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Sometimes when I am picking out the next book I want to read, I go solely on the cover art. I don’t read the jacket flap or the blurb on the back or even the little summary on the back of the title page. I let the cover draw me in and then allow myself to be totally surprised (or not) by the story that unfolds with the book. Debut author Dawn Metcalf’s Luminous  was one of these books for me – I was completely seduced by the cover (I was feeling really girly that day, OK?) and it lead me to expect either aRead More →

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It all started with a fever. No, a cherry cola and a water tower. No, maybe it started before that with a freak disease, Star Wars, and an absent dad; but it leads to the his dad walking to New York, the 6:00 news, making out with a girl, and losing his best friend.  15 year old Nick Gardner isn’t ready for all of the changes that are about to happen to his life.   But in the midst of all this upheaval and seemingly out of nowhere, quirky, smart and beautiful Jaycee Amato comes into Nick’s life.  Jaycee propels Nick to accept his best friend, the Scoot’s, dyingRead More →

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Sparrow Road by Sheila O’Connor is an enchanting, heartwarming story about the power of love, forgiveness and creativity.  The summer before seventh grade, Raine O’Rourke’s mother takes a job as a cook and housekeeper at Sparrow Road, a worn-out old former orphanage that houses an eccentric group of artists-in-residence during the summer.  Raine can’t figure out why Mama would leave her waitress job, their home with her grandpa, and  Milwaukee  to spend the summer outside the tiny town of Comfort on a sprawling farm where there’s a silence rule from sun-up to sun-down every day and there’s seemingly nothing to do.  To make it even more disconcerting, her mom keeps taking periodicRead More →

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Adam Ziegler is in his element up in the catwalks:  bringing the magic of light into the theatre below; creating the illusions of color and shadow, helping to transport the audience into the world of the play; he wants to run the spot, not be in it.   Adam’s still lost after the tragic death of his father two years ago and even though darkness brings up terrible anxiety for him, being a Techie in the theatre department at his high school gives him a safe, secure place to try to survive.  But a few days before the opening of the spring show, nothing about the productions isRead More →

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When Greg Heffley from The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series gets to high school, his journal may look a lot like Larkin Pace’s hilarious blog in Rick Detorie’s (One Big Happy) The Accidental Genius of Weasel High. Larkin is 14 and a typical freshman tech geek: introverted and height-challenged; not comfortable with girls, jocks, or popular kids; wishing he was cooler than he is; has every classic Hollywood film memorized and can recite movie dialog on a dime; a small group of likewise oddball friends; and a family he’d rather escape from that claim relation to.  But Larkin knows he will be the nextRead More →

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On a dark and stormy night in mysterious Calcutta, a British officer is barely able to save the lives of twins before a maniacal demon torments him to death.  But on that deep, dark night, the twins lives are not truly saved, because the creature made of pure madness and revenge will simply bid its time until they turn 16. Now, in 1932, as the summer monsoons rage over the sprawling, exotic capitol of the British Raj, those twins are about to turn 16:  Ben, raised in an orphanage in the hopes of hiding from a fate he doesn’t know is coming for him, and Sheere,Read More →