The Book Search

 It's funny how sometimes there's kind of a "thing" in middle grade literature.  This week, I read two different books that were published in the same week and both were about kids who were dealing with a missing mom.  It's fairly often that children are left to their own devices, particularly in middle grade literature-think James and the Giant Peach, Harry Potter, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, to name a few, so it's not really surprising to find missing parents, but these two books both showed the emotional toll this can take on kids, particularly if the leaving hasn't been explained to them.  Let me show you what I mean. The first one is called Olivetti.  It's written by Allie Millington and it appears that this is her first book but she has several that are coming out in the next year or so.  Here's a link to her website if you want to find out more.  This story is told from two perspectives, one is Ernest, who is 12 and is having a ha...

 Would you be surprised to hear that body images are something that kids think about?  The images kids see on social media (including TV and video games) shape the way they think about their own bodies and not always for the better.  Here are two books where the main characters are thinking about the way that they are perceived and how people perceive them in two really different ways.   The first one is called Time to Roll by Jamie Summer.  This is a sequel to her book Roll With It.  The main character, Ellie, wants to be a baker and finds happiness cooking and baking for her family.  She is also in a wheelchair most of the time, which she doesn't find as off putting as some other people do.  In Roll With It, Ellie and her mom move back to their hometown to help Ellie's grandmother because Ellie's grandfather is struggling with dementia.  In this second book, Ellie has happily settled into her new hometown, she has wonderful friends and her ...

 Ahhh, summer!  Time to take a break from the usual and try a few new things...  We've been traveling this year to someplace completely different-Alberta, Canada.  The weather was forecasting rain every single day for the entire two weeks we were here and today, they were really right.  It's 49 degrees and windy and raining so we're staying tucked in our hotel!  We've seen some beautiful places  like this- The Athabasca Glacier Me and my sweetie at Emerald Lake     At the Valley of the Five Lakes-all of them are beautiful! But it's good to think about reading...  I've read so many wonderful ones while we're on vacation!  Here are two of my new  favorites.    The first one is called "The Summer of June" by Jamie Sumner.  I heard her read some of her first book "Roll With it" in this YouTube video. And I love her voice SO MUCH.  I could really hear her reading her new one as well.  June is a girl who live...

I do love middle grade fiction.  Middle grade fiction has such an amazing array of topics that it's willing to discuss and hash out.  Here are my two new favorites. The first one is just about to be published.  It's called "Roll With It" by Jamie Sumner.  It's about Ellie who is 12.  She lives with her mom and because Ellie has cerebral palsy, she is mostly in a wheelchair.  Ellie's mom is worried about Ellie, but also about her dad (Ellie's grandfather), who is suffering from dementia.  So Ellie's mom decides to quit her job and move in with her parents.  Ellie thinks is on one hand, great.  She loves her grandparents and loves spending time with them.  On the other hand, terrible.  Her grandparents live in a small, single wide trailer.  Their trailer isn't handicapped accessible, which makes things difficult.  Ellie doesn't really have any friends at home, so she's not sorry to leave any of them behind.  She finds...