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. ...

It seems an appropriate time to talk about facing big challenges, since this whole virus-stay at home-school online thing is pretty challenging!  Thinking about different kinds of  challenges is kind of a nice diversion.  These books were certainly that. The first one is called "Like Nothing Ever Amazing Happened" by Emily Blejwas.  It's about Justin, a middle schooler who is struggling to adapt to a new normal.  His dad died awhile back and part of the problem with his dad's death is that there were a lot of unanswered questions.  Justin's dad was a Vietnam War vet that struggled with PTSD.  He didn't talk much about it and was careful with the words he did speak.  His dad was killed by a trolley and one of the things that Justin wonders is if his death was a suicide or just an accident.  His mom and older brother are doing the best they can to try to hold things together.  His brother is a talented athlete but has taken to working at...

School started last week and I just love this time of year... so full of possibilities and potential... the kids are so excited to see their friends and to consider all the promise a new year holds.  Books are like that too.  When you pick one up, you wonder "Am I going to completely fall in love with these characters and their situations?"  "Is this author going to take me places I didn't even know I wanted to go?"  These new picture books do just that. The first one is called "Lazy Cat Hero- The Rise of the Nap".  It's a folk tale about the laziest cat ever and it is hilarious.  If you've ever owned a cat, you know that they can certainly out-lazy any other animal on the planet.  My own cat, for example was too lazy to respond to her own name (although, in fairness, maybe we called her the wrong name).  The cat in THIS book is called Bubastis who calls himself Bub or sometimes just B, because really, Bubastis is SUCH a long name.  Bub sta...