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Getting shipped off to spend the summer with a grandmother you’ve never met, who lives out in the middle-of-nowhere Washington State, while all of your friends have basketball camp, pool parties, and days of uninterrupted hanging out ahead of them is a pretty cruddy turn of events.  To make it worse, what if your grandmother is the town kook and runs a space-themed “intergallactic” bed and breakfast that is crawling with weird guests and is the joke of the town?  For middle-schooler Scrub, it’s his worst nightmare.  And he has the whole summer ahead of him before he can go back home to Florida. Grandma needs help atRead More →

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Self-described explorer, adventurer, librarian and author C. Alexander London‘s An Accidental Adventure: We Are Not Eaten By Yaks has everything lovers ofthe Lemony Snicket adventures want in a book: slightly strange, bored, disinterested tween protagonists; dead or missing parents; outlandish villains; impossible-to-survive adventures and impending doom at every turn; a sinister plot by a secret organization; and a slightly off-key narrator who will faithfully record the unlikely heroes’ adventures for any reader brave enough to turn the pages. Eleven year old twins Celia and Oliver Navel would prefer to watch television 24 hours a day. Their list of favorite programs and actors is long, butRead More →

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In the latest Haunted Mystery, The Smoky Corridor, Chris Grabenstein delivers another spooky mystery that deftly combines creepy ghost story with humor and a perfectly captured portrait of middle school life. Picking up not long after the ending of Zack Jenning’s chilling adventure in The Crossroads, Zack is about to start sixth grade at the Horace P. Pettimore Middle School in North Chester, Connecticut.  He’s got no friends, is already the target of the school bully, is on the bad side of the Assistant Principal, and he has a creepy feeling about the old school.  All too soon, Zack again starts seeing ghosts who warn him about danger everywhere: aRead More →

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In 1943, 10 year old Dewey sets out to join her father in New Mexico, where he’s engaged in “war work.”  She’s a mechanically minded girl who is teased by girls her own age, but happily finds that she gets along fine with the scientists on “The Hill.”  On the Hill, she finds adults who encourage her curious, engineering-focused mind and she finally has the chance to have a close relationship with her father.  Artistic Suze also lives with her parents on the secret  base, and she’s bored and tired of living in the dusty desert.   She misses her old life in Berkeley, where she livedRead More →

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Debut author Pat Walsh’s The Crowfield Curse is a captivating, enchanting, and engrossing mystery that lures the reader into the dark Medieval forest around the Crowfield Abbey, where we know we’re being watched by some hidden, unseen force. In 1347, 14 year old orphan William Paynel lives in the English countryside with the monks at Crowfield Abbey.  On his regular day foray into the forest around the abbey, Will discovers a small, cat-like creature cruelly caught in a iron trap.   But it isn’t a cat Will has discovered: it’s a hob– a magical, talking creature, part man, part animal – one of the fay, or ancientRead More →

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Powerless, Matthew Cody’s debut novel,  is a fun, action-packed novel that middle grade readers will really enjoy.  When 12-year old Daniel and his family move to the small town of Noble’s Green he’s nervous about making new friends and fitting in at school.  But soon enough he makes friends with some kind of odd, but cool, kids, as well as making some instant, and scary enemies. Daniel begins to realize that what he thought were simply oddities and quirks are actually powers – super powers, that is:  Mollie is the fastest flier ever; Rohan has super senses; Rose can disappear; and Eric is super strong and can fly.  ButRead More →

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Sometimes you’re craving an over-the-top, action packed summer-block buster, full of outrageous aliens, unbelievable CGI special effects, fast dialogue, and zany surprises & intrigue… and when you’re looking for that perfect thing, and nothing else will do, then Hollywood screenwriter David O. Russell and video game designer Andrew Auseon’s Alienated is the ticket you want to buy. But I am getting ahead of myself, since Alienatedwas just published, as a book, by Aladdin.  Clearly conceptualized and written as the beginning of a series destined for the big screen, this book is one over-the-top, crazy episode and character after another.  Middle grade guy readers (and some girls too) whoRead More →

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This week, we Three P’s and B.B.W are in complete agreement about our pick of book & puppet combo: Skippyjon Jones Lost in Spice!  Action, adventure, the Chimichango Gang and bossy Martian-itos… in other words, more fun with Skippyjon Jones!  Our favorite Siamese kitty boy who knows he’s a Chihuahua has an amazing out of this world adventure on the Planet Mars and with a Skippyjon Jones puppet, everyone can have fun going along for the ride! And you can have lots of fun with Skippito Friskito on his website! Posted by B.B.W. & the Three P’sRead More →

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Who: Liza Ketchum, Author.  12-year-old Amelia Forrester, spunky, smart and adventurous protagonist – a true newshound.  Amelia’s mother, Sophie, and her best friend, Estelle – enterprising women seeking new opportunities and freedoms.  A variety of authentic, interesting charaters all working to find their fortunes. Where & When: A richly detailed San Francisco (also known as Phoenix City), Spring & Summer 1851 What:  Newsgirl, a vivid, entertaining and enjoyable novel for middle grade readers that captures both the essence and the excitement of the California gold rush.  When they arrive in San Francisco after the months-long sea crossing through Panama from Boston, Amelia, her mother and Estelle areRead More →