The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan

A few months ago I had never heard of author Rick Riordan or the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. A few months ago I never would have imagined that my ten year old twins would be fascinated by Greek mythology, or that we would have spent many hours reading these books. The premise of the series is that the Greek gods are not only real, but still around in present day. Some of them have even had children with mortals. The hero of the series is such a child – a demigod, or “half-blood”. Percy is an unlikely hero; … Continue reading →

Snowball Launchers, Giant-Pumpkin Growers, and Other Cool Contraptions – Tom Fox

Snowball Launchers, Giant-Pumpkin Growers and Other Cool Contraptions by Tom Fox really does have cool contraptions. Yet I hesitate to show the book to my children. Most of these are not instant projects. Most of them would require a trip to the hardware and maybe the electrical parts store. I do think they would they would be worth the effort. These projects are just the types of things to capture the imagination. There are directions for creating a secret drawer lock that can only be opened by passing a 9 volt battery in front of it! Another project is building … Continue reading →

Make Me a Home – Tamra Norton

“Make Me a Home” is the sequel to Tamra Norton’s smash hit middle-grade novel, “Make Me a Memory.” Our character, Allie, is still living in Edna, Idaho, with her mom, her brother, the new baby, and her grandma while her father is deployed in Iraq. She’s the new kid and really doesn’t like that kind of notoriety. When Ivy moves in, not only is Allie no longer the “new kid,” but she has a new friend as well. Allie thinks things can’t get any better until she comes home from school one day to find her mother crying. Her father … Continue reading →

Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones

In fairy tales, it’s always the youngest who saves the kingdom, wins the fortune, or outsmarts the dragon. The heroine of Howl’s Moving Castle knows this because she lives in the land of Ingary, where not only is there such a thing as a Royal wizard, but where there are things like boots that let you take twenty-one mile steps. Alas, Sophie is the eldest. She resigns herself to a boring life. No part of Sophie’s life, or this book, is boring though. She has many adventures as she grows into her own gifts and abilities. Sophie’s own brand of … Continue reading →

The Victory Garden – Lee Kochenderfer

During World War II, families across America planted their own gardens to help with the war effort. The more food that was produced here, the more food the government was able to send to the troops. “The Victory Garden” by Lee Kochenderfer, an intermediate historical fiction novel, is the story of one such garden. Teresa is a young girl who wants to earn money to buy war bonds. Her older brother is a pilot and has been overseas for some time, and she’s anxious to do whatever she can to bring him home sooner. When her teacher announces that they … Continue reading →

The Wizard’s Apprentice – Jackie French Koller

The second book in “The Keepers” series, “The Wizard’s Apprentice” continues the story of Nell, the princess who wants to become a magician and possibly even the apprentice to the Keeper. A prophesy has gone forth that the Chosen One will soon emerge, and Nell, so far, has met all the requirements. But the current Keeper can’t accept that the Chosen One might be a girl, and has told Nell that he will only take her as his apprentice if she will get the Mantle of Trust from her father, something generally only passed from father to son. Nell is … Continue reading →

The Mysterious Benedict Society – Trenton Lee Stewart

Reynie Muldoon is an orphan, but he doesn’t feel particularly bad about it because he’s never known anything different. He lives in a large orphanage filled with children who ignore him, and his only friend is his tutor. She’s a kindly older woman who has taken Reynie into her heart, and it’s a good thing, too, otherwise no one would love him at all. One morning while reading the paper, they spy an ad for children of unusual abilities. Just what these abilities are supposed to be, the ad doesn’t say, but Reynie is curious. He decides to go in … Continue reading →

The Jade Dragon – Carolyn Marsden and Virginia Shin-Mui Loh

“The Jade Dragon” is a children’s book which introduces us to Ginny, a Chinese girl who’s in the second grade. She’s excited when she sees that another Chinese girl has moved in – she’s been the only one this whole time and no one really understands her. When she meets Stephanie, she’s surprised at how American Stephanie is. She has an English last name, her clothes are all American, and she doesn’t even like Chinese food. Ginny learns that Stephanie was adopted out of China by white parents, and has no memory of China itself. Ginny has grown up with … Continue reading →

Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

I’ve read quite a number of books about the Holocaust, but it wasn’t until reading “Number the Stars” that I read about it from the Danish perspective. It was fascinating. Annemarie Johansen lives in Denmark with her family and has a best friend named Ellen Rosen, who is a Jew. As the political tensions in Denmark increase, Annemarie and her family take in Ellen for a while, until her parents can get her to safety – Jews are disappearing all over Denmark. Annemarie’s mother takes her and Ellen on a trip to visit their uncle, a fisherman in the north … Continue reading →

A Wizard Named Nell – Jackie French Koller

“A Wizard Named Nell” is the first book in a series entitled “The Keepers,” which is fantasy geared toward the intermediate reading level. My daughter took one look at it and clamored to be next to read it, and I’ll have no problem at all letting her. It’s a fun adventure with just enough peril, but not too much. Many hundreds of years ago, two wizard brothers fought for control of the land. The good wizard, desperate for his evil brother to be conquered, put himself and all his magic in a scepter that shone more brightly than the sun. … Continue reading →