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What if there was an invention that could create ANYTHING you could imagine? For ten year old Tim, this invention is not only real, it is life changing! Tim was recently adopted by Elisa and Chris Green, owners of the Dawn Store Hotel. Tim’s adoption was finalized just two weeks before the hotel opened, which means Elisa and Chris have been very busy working. This gives Tim plenty of time to roam the hotel and even run into trouble at times. One day, Tim stumbles across a peculiar hotel guest, Professor Eisenstone. The professor’s hotel room happens to be across the hall from Tim’s, and afterRead More →

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In this final installment of Kelley Armstrong’s the Age of Legends trilogy, Forest of Ruin features twin sisters Moria and Ashyn as they face complications, conflicts, and epic decisions with the potential to save or imperil the empire. This book picks up the trilogy plot after Shadow Stalkers have massacred the village that Moria and Ashyn called home.   As a result, Moria’s sister and the children of her village are missing, her father has been murdered, her emperor is handing her over as a traitor, and two of her friends may not be the people she thought.  The thoughtful and subdued Gavril Kitsune and theRead More →

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Book Two in the Mark of the Thief series by Jennifer A. Nielsen, Rise of the Wolf carries forward the story of Nicolas Calva who continues to feel like a pawn.  In this sequel, Nic continues to crave freedom, but he finds adversaries at every turn.  His grandfather General Radulf wants the gods to bow to him, even if that means he has to neutralize his grandson.  Atroxia, a vestalis who continues in her allegiance to the goddess Diana, will torture him unless he relinquishes the Malice of Mars and creates a Jupiter Stone. Decimas Brutus will go to any length to rob Nic ofRead More →

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Nervy but not nuts, Buck Anderson craves adventure.  Most comfortable surrounded by rock and roots and earth, Buck’s passion is caving.  And living in southwest Virginia in the Appalachian foothills, this stubborn, risk-taker has many opportunities for discovering, exploring, and hoping to make history.  When his best friend David Weinstein moves away, thirteen-year-old Buck loses his cautious cave-exploring partner, and “the first rule of caving is never—not ever—do it alone” (2). Although Buck disobeys this rule more than once, his fascination with caves and their potential danger is only one strand of the plot in Going Where It’s Dark by Newbery Award-winning author Phyllis ReynoldsRead More →

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The Diseray, a nearly apocalyptic war between Othersiders and humans, has completely altered life on Earth in Mercedes Lackey’s new novel, Hunter.  After the Diseray, the world was rebuilt, laid out to protect the elite from monsters that began to cross over from the Otherside, invading Earth with frequency and with impunity.  Mythical beasts like Harpies, Furies, and Kraken, and multiple other manifestations of terror—like Knockers, Gazers, Jackals, Drakken, Ketzels, and Redcaps—have made Hunters necessary protection. In this new world, where most meat is vat-grown and eggs and dairy are synthesized from vegetable oils, economic disparity is glaringly obvious.  Real meat, eggs, and dairy areRead More →

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Late last month, a new release from New York Times bestselling author of the Tiger’s Curse series, Colleen Houck, hit the shelves.  Packed with action and adventure, Reawakened awakens the reader to diverse ways of being in the world and imparts considerable knowledge about Egyptian culture and history. Houck’s book features image conscious, seventeen year old Lilliana Young who enjoys studying people.  During spring break of her senior year, Lilliana is trying to determine a career path.  While psychology and counselling are likely choices, she knows her parents want her to major in something that would make them proud, like medicine, business, or politics.  ToRead More →

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Tiuri’s story begins in a small chapel on the hill outside the City of Dagonaut, where four other young men are keeping vigil with him, as they reflect on the eve of their knighting ceremony.  Despite being forbidden any contact with the outside world and despite the twelve hour vow of silence all aspiring knights must take, sixteen year old Tiuri cannot ignore the knock on the chapel door that comes with an urgently whispered plea, “In the name of God, open the door!”  (12)  Ignoring the voice means he will be a knight by morning, but Tiuri breaks the rules and acts as aRead More →

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A catalyst for sparking conversations on complex social issues like diversity, bullying, and the effects of prejudice, Alan Gratz’s novel Code of Honor raises social consciousness and invites collaborative conversation about tough topics.  Much like Maria Padian’s novel Out of Nowhere (2013), Gratz uses a sports story to explore the contemporary topic of cultural collisions.  Both books embody the definition of Cultural Identity Literature (CIL). I coined the term CIL to enlarge the traditional term multicultural literature.  As a category of literature, CIL also addresses issues of power and oppression and provides an opportunity to view these issues from a different perspective, thereby inspiring empathy-building. Read More →

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Known as M.D. by his associates, as Bam Bam Daniels on the cage fighting circuit, and as Doc by his little sister Gemma, McCutcheon Daniels is a 17-year-old cage fighter who fought his way into being the best.  A map of scars across his flesh tell the tale of a violent life lived, clawing his way out of the ghetto of Detroit, determined not to follow in his father’s footsteps.  His father, Damien “Demon” Daniels, “washed out of pro boxing and then fell into an abyss of crime, drugs, gangs, and whores” (5); now he’s in Jentles Penitentiary, nicknamed DT—Devil’s Toilet—for its reputation as oneRead More →