Book Reviews / C+ ReviewsArt / Asian characters / Contemporary / cultural representation / England / family relationships / First-Person / friendship / grandmother / immigrant / math / middle grade / picture books / POC / POC author / racism / school bullyNo Comments
A touching and funny middle-grade story about a boy whose life is turned upside down when his Chinese grandmother moves in Eleven-year-old Danny’s life is turned upside down when his Chinese grandmother comes to live with his family in England. Things get worse when Danny finds out he’ll have to ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviewscats / Dark / Friends / macabre / middle grade / mystery / POC / The Zombert ChroniclesNo Comments
A second meaty serving of the ZomBert Chronicles offers a suspenseful treat for animal lovers and fans of spooky mysteries. ZomBert is back in book two of a wry new mystery series by award-winning creators Kara LaReau and Ryan Andrews. A stray cat who escaped the YummCo Laboratories on the ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ Reviewscommunication / community / family relationships / Fantasy / friendship / goblins / language / middle grade / thiefNo Comments
A group of goblins steal a boy’s ability to apologize in this lively middle-grade fantasy from Nebula Award-winning author Fran Wilde No matter how much trouble Sam gets in, he knows that he can always rely on his magic word, “sorry,” to get him out of a pinch. Teasing his ... more >
B Reviews / Book ReviewsArtists / dual-timeline / friendship / LGBTQIA characters / middle grade / Rome / time slip / Time-Travel2 Comments
Two unlikely friends—Federico, in sixteenth-century Rome, and Bee, in present-day New Jersey—are linked through an amiable cat, Leonardo Da Vinci’s mysterious wardrobe, and an eerily perfect sketch of Bee. Newbery Honor author Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Da Vinci’s Cat is a thrilling, time-slip fantasy about rewriting history to save the present. ... more >
Book Reviews / C+ ReviewsBollywood / divorce / family relationships / First-Person / Indian American / Magical Realism / middle grade / POC / POC author / self discoveryNo Comments
Bollywood takes over in this contemporary, magical middle grade novel about an Indian American girl whose world turns upside down when she involuntarily starts bursting into glamorous song-and-dance routines during everyday life. You know how in Bollywood when people are in love, they sing and dance from the mountaintops? Eleven-year-old ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviewsbooks and reading / bullying / children's literature / deafness / family relationships / first person present tense / First-Person / found family / gender inequality / middle grade / OCD / soccer / strong heroine / VermontNo Comments
Bea and her mom have always been a two-person team. But now her mom is marrying Wendell, and their team is growing by three boys, two dogs, and a cat. Finding her place in her new blended family may be tough, but when Bea finds out her school might not ... more >