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After their mother’s death, fifth grader Piper Meyer is focused on taking care of her father and monitoring his diet for healthy choices, while her sister, seventh grader Megan Meyer, is simply trying to survive junior high school in a new location.  Since their recent move from Colorado to Scottsdale, Arizona, Megan, whose passion is math equations and science, is hoping to transform from meek to chic. With this clean slate opportunity, Megan would rather be known as Miss Impressive or the Fun Meister than Miss Science Fair or the girl with minimal boobage who snorts when she laughs. However, being popular comes more easily forRead More →

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Mix adventure, jokes, and a little mystery, and you have a recipe to keep most readers engaged.  Dave Eggers applies this formula to the writing of his recent middle-grade novel, The Lifters, which is actually an extended metaphor for combatting despair. The protagonist of The Lifters, twelve-year-old Granite Flowerpetal wishes for a name that is both easily understood and easily spelled, so he shortens his name to Gran, not realizing at the time how readily that version might be confused with the term some individuals use to refer to their grandmothers. Gran, who shares a bedroom with his five-year-old sister Maisie, hears his parents talkRead More →

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Fairy Mom and Me by Sophie Kinsella is about a girl whose mom is a fairy.The girl’s name is Ella and she will turn into a fairy when she is an adult . Her mom learns a bunch of different spells. It lists some of the spells and then tells you about them in the chapters. I would give this book 4 stars. I like this book because it was really funny. I think kids who like magic would really like this book because there is a lot of magic in it. I think that mostly girls would like this book best because it’s really girly. PostedRead More →

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Readers of Grandpa’s Great Escape will likely enjoy David Walliams’  recent release, The Midnight Gang, also illustrated by Tony Ross.  Presented with opening credits, a set illustration, a cast of characters, and a teaser, the book begins like a feature film with twelve-year-old Tom Charper taking the spotlight as the story’s protagonist.  Walliams welcomes readers to the children’s ward on the 44th floor of Lord Funt’s Hospital, where the children’s parents don’t visit because they are either too poor, too ill, or live too far away to travel.  Essentially abandoned and living under the control of a cruel hospital matron, the children make their own adventuresRead More →