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The natural age progression occurs in everyone, in other words, we all get old. Usually, it just happens, it is a part of life, but imagine being forced to grow up, take care of multiple children, and fight a war you never prepared for, all the while you are worried about just surviving until morning. This is exactly what Dean and Alex Grieder experience in Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14: Sky on Fire. The teenage brothers live in Monument, Colorado, one of many states that have recently been attacked by an air born virus that affects anyone with a blood type. The brothers and 12 othersRead More →

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While reading Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, I was immediately struck by the rich detail with which protagonist Willow Chance describes the world as seen through her 12 year old eyes. Willow, a genius who attends Sequoia Middle School in Bakersfield,California, goes to the mall not to buy things but to collect field notes and make diagnostic flash cards on skin disorders.  Besides medical conditions, Willow is obsessed with the number seven, plants, and order.  Rather than engage in small talk, Willow prefers “talk of theories and concepts mixed with facts and known quantities” (89).  Her favorite color is red. These interests and abilitiesRead More →