The Book Search

One of the things that's so much fun about reading middle grade fiction is the amazing array of characters.  This first book has the most interesting array of characters I've read in awhile.  It's called "The Not So Boring  Letters of Private Nobody" by Matthew Landis.  It's about 12 year old Oliver, who is SO EXCITED to be starting a new social studies unit on the American Civil War.  Oliver loves learning about the Civil War.  He even belongs to a group of people who re-enact Civil War battles.  The bad news is that the project he's been so excited to start requires that he has a partner (he really wants to work alone) AND he and his partner are given a soldier to research that no one has ever heard of.  The partner is a GIRL named Ella who appears disheveled and is failing many of her classes.  She is not particularly interested in the Civil War and Oliver tries very hard to get out of working with her.  But, his teacher, Mr. Carrow (who is wildly enthu

I'm really excited that I get to be on the CYBILs judging panel again this year!  Last year I did middle grade speculative (fantasy) fiction and this year I'm doing realistic fiction.  It's such an awesome opportunity to get to read A LOT of books in a short amount of time!  So, not to gloat, but                                 Aaaand, that would be me doing the happy dance! The first book I read was already terrific!  It's called "Once Upon a Princess" by Christine Marciniak. I'm going to tell you the truth, I was totally ready to hate this one.  I have very little patience with things that are just pink and sparkly and after the first chapter, I was ready to kick it to the curb, but I persisted and man, was it worth it!  It's about a princess (yes, pink and sparkly and silk gowns to start with but be patient!) who is ready to attend her first ball.  She's only 12 and typically princesses don't get to start attending balls until they