The Book Search

 I adore historical fiction and the middle grade versions are typically wonderful!  Here are two terrific ones to look for! The first one is called "The Enemy's Daughter" by Anne Blankman .  I haven't read any of her books before, but I'm definitely going to be looking for more!  "The Enemy's Daughter" has such an interesting point of view.  It's told by Marta, a German girl who has been living in America with her extended family but is returning back to Germany, on the eve of World War 1.  She and her dad are traveling on the Lusitania and have been trying to make sure that no one knows they are German.  Marta is an excellent actress and loves trying out different accents and attitudes to match.  When the boat sinks, Marta and her father are separated, but both are rescued and taken to England, where her dad is an accused of being a spy for Germany.  Marta decides that rather than going home, she will go to find and then rescue her dad. ...

Big news!  I got picked to be on the CYBILS panel to judge middle grade fiction! So excited and I'm getting to work with some awesome other bloggers!  I can't wait to get started.  In the meantime, I'm trying to polish off my Netgalley list and wow, did I find some good ones. My new favorite book is called "The Girl Who Could Not Dream" by Sarah Beth Durst.  It starts with a seminal event, Sophie is 6 and she decides to take a dream and dream it herself.  She dreams a monster (6 tentacles, 4 scaly claws, black iridescent fur, 3 rows of razor sharp teeth) but the monster turns out to be friendly and smart and hilarious.  The story flashes forward to when Sophie is 12.  You then find out that her parents have a book store and they also distill and sell dreams.  Sophie does not dream and really, really wants to.  Monster has become her friend and protector but a complete secret from everyone except her mom and dad, which limits her opportu...