By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, General Book Reviews, Middle Grade Reviews
With: 0 Comments

This post comes from Brian Griggs: The Tallest Librarian in the World; check out his blog briangriggs.com. I’m really liking the amount of humorous, realistic fiction that has come out recently. It takes a lot of skill to write characters that are believable and yet live in big enough experiences to keep the narrative interesting. Tommy Greenwald succeeds in doing that with Jack Strong Takes a Stand. Jack is an overscheduled middle-schooler who decides to stage a sit-in on his family’s couch until his schedule frees up. It reminded me a little bit of Avi’s Nothing but the Truth as one tiny action escalates into a media storm. Newspapers,Read More →

By:
On:
In: General Book Reviews, Ideas You Can Use, Random Thoughts and Musings, This is interesting, What We're Reading, What's Happening at PBC
With: 3 Comments

Have you ever read a book that you just couldn’t wait to recommend to a friend? We’d love to hear about it! Tell us in the comments about your favorite book or (if you can’t pick a favorite) the last great book that you read. Make sure you include the title and author, add the genre and age range, then tell us why you loved it!Read More →

By:
On:
In: Elementary Book Reviews, General Book Reviews, Picture Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Scapegoat: The Story of a Goat Named Oat and a Chewed-Up Coat by Dean Hale, illustrated by Michael Slack, is an adorable story about a mischievous young boy named Jimmy Choat and his family’s put-upon goat, Patsy Petunia Oat. Missing coat? Broken boat? Messy tote? Blame it all on the goat! As the week progresses, more and more missing and broken items plague the Choat’s, and Jimmy happily blames everything on Mrs. Oat the Goat. But what happens when someone hears and tells the goat’s side of the story? This absolutely adorable picture book is filled with fun and playful rhymes and alliteration, and is a blast to readRead More →

By:
On:
In: Elementary Book Reviews, General Book Reviews, Picture Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

The Rabbit Problem, by Emily Gravett is not a traditional picture book (in a good way.) Set up like a calendar (complete with a hole for hanging), the story starts with one Lonely Rabbit in a field sending out invitations in January to find a friend. When Chalk Rabbit shows up in February, the two bundle together (in a poorly knit sweater) and in March, Alfalfa and Angora Rabbit show up…can you see where we are going with this? As each month passes, the Rabbit family grows and faces new challenges- dealing with the weather, finding food, findng things to do when they are boredRead More →

By:
On:
In: Elementary Book Reviews, General Book Reviews, Ideas You Can Use, Picture Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes, the follow up to the successful Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes is here-Come along with Pete to school, moving and grooving through all kinds of new places like the library, lunchroom, and more! In a rare but always welcome turn of events, the second Pete the Cat book is just as fun as the first. Author Eric Litman and Illustrator James Dean have again created a book and song that is sure to have youngsters singing along. The bright colors, cute characters, and fun story draw young readers (and almost-readers) back for more, whileRead More →

By:
On:
In: Book Trailers, Elementary Book Reviews, General Book Reviews, Picture Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Substitute Creacher– the latest book from Chris Gall– doesn’t disappoint. Substitute teacher days mean goofing off and wreaking havoc, right? Well the students in Mrs. Jenkins class are about to be schooled. Meet the Substitute Creacher! His lesson plan isn’t one the students are bound to forget soon. He tells tales of kids with unfortunate habits (glue-eating, desk-stuffing, and the like) who have met with sad (and funny) tales of woe. But is anyone prepared for the creacher’s story?? Beautifully illustrated in rich jewel tones, every page of this fun new picture book pops. The rhyming speech and lots of action make this book idealRead More →

By:
On:
In: Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

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 →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), General Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Check out this review of Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld from briangriggs.com: “I realized today that there is no main antagonist in the Leviathan/Behemoth series. It’s straight character vs. self and character vs. society. I wonder if that’s why students don’t quite get into the action. The only complaint I’ve received is that there’s so much focus on the history and not on excitement. The “focus on history” comment is an interesting one, considering the book is about giant flying whales and steam-powered mechs. Behemoth is a great sequel to Leviathan. It continues documenting the travels of the airship crew as they delve into the Ottoman Empire.Read More →

By:
On:
In: Book Trailers, General Book Reviews, Romance (YA), Supernatural & Horror (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

18-year-old Alexandra Adornetto’s novel Halo follows three angels as they descend from heaven to a small coastal town to combat the Dark Forces that are rapidly spreading across Earth. There’s the archangel Gabriel, the healer Ivy, and Bethany, the youngest and most human. But when Bethany falls in love with a human boy…well, that is just the beginning of these angels’ escapades. This novel delivers everything you would expect a teenage supernatural romance story to have — there is the kind-hearted supernatural being who falls in love with the honorable human (even though she knows it is forbidden),  the inevitable reveal of the supernatural being’s trueRead More →