I don’t know how I missed this one, but I did. And I’m a bit upset about that, because there are some fine stories in here. I warmed to this book from the very beginning, because Nancy Mercado tells us …what these stories are not. They are not stories about… (Keep reading)
If you’ve read my posts up to now, you’ll know how strongly I feel about what makes a book work or not. And if you’ve read my “10+ Rules” page (see the link above) and I tell you that the first chapter of this book is called “The Jokers Club”… (Keep reading)
Worried about finding enough money to buy a new inner tube for his bike, a twelve-year-old boy gets an old riding mower from his grandmother for his birthday. Soon he is mowing his neighbors’ lawns, and making more money than he thought possible. When he meets Arnold, a stockbroker who… (Keep reading)
In this sequel to Coolies, Shek and Wong’s younger brother Ming arrives in San Francisco from China to stay with his brothers and work in their store. Although he is admonished not to leave Chinatown, he eventually does, making his way to the local school. He meets the irrepressible Patrick,… (Keep reading)
As this book opens in modern times, a young unnamed boy hears the story of his ancestors, Shek and Wong, as they came to the United States from China and worked on the railroads in California, experiencing long hours, hard work, and over racism, while at the same time managing… (Keep reading)
I’ve reviewed the Hank Zipzer books twice, and while I’ve had plenty to say about Hank Zipzer and Henry Winkler, I said nothing about Mr. Winkler’s cowriter, Lin Oliver, because I had never heard of her until I encountered the Hank Zipzer books, and knew nothing of her writing. So… (Keep reading)
A while back, I wrote a less than favorable review of Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver’s first book in the Hank Zipzer series, Niagara Falls, or Does It? I have since learned that they have recently published the seventeenth novel in the series, A Brand New Me! (a title which… (Keep reading)
Nineteen-year-old Ed Kennedy, a cabdriver in Australia, almost accidentally stops a bank robbery and nabs the would-be thief, thus achieving his Warholian fifteen minutes of fame. This would seem to be the high point in a life of mediocrity, but then a series of playing cards begin arriving in Ed’s… (Keep reading)
Hank Zipzer isn’t your average fourth-grader. He’s intelligent, creative, and incredibly likeable. Yet he does terribly at school because he’s dyslexic. Although the “d-word” doesn’t appear anywhere in this book, Hank mentions his brain and his “learning differences” enough for it to become annoying. I’m starting to feel as if… (Keep reading)
If you’ve already read what I’ve written about the first two books in this series (Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and Joey Pigza Loses Control) you can guess pretty easily that I love this book as well and heartily recommend it to you. And you would be right. There really… (Keep reading)
At the end of Joey Pigza swallowed the Key, Joey finally had it together. He was living with his working mom in a more stable home, he was on the right meds, and he had gained enough self-control to get a dog, a dachshund/Chihuahua cross he christens Pablo. Alas, nothing… (Keep reading)
You don’t have to spend much time in a school—say a month or so—before you run into a kid (or kids) who is (or are) at once your biggest delight and your biggest terror. They’re charming, they’re delightful, they’re friendly and helpful, and yet, like that semi-wild housecat who keeps… (Keep reading)
It took me forever to write about this book, and it’s only now that I realize it’s because I wanted to say a lot more nice things about than I actually can. Which is sad in a way, because looking back, I wish that this book had been around when… (Keep reading)
Are you looking for the ultimate “Best of 2009″ booklists for children and young adults? Then visit Best Children’s Books of 2009: The Big List of Lists Susan Thomsen has put together a list of links for over 100 (when I stopped counting, at least) of “Best of…” lists from… (Keep reading)
One of the worst things about being an adult is that when you read a really good kids’ book, you’re still focusing on all those “English teacher” things: theme, symbolism, characterization, etc. It is all too easy to forget that when a young person reads a book, they’re not looking… (Keep reading)
There are times when the most you can hope for a book is that you can read it, set it aside, and not completely hate it. So I must provide a caveat: I thought this would be one of those books. It was with some dismay that I found myself… (Keep reading)
This is a problematic book in many ways. It has been (seemingly forever) on lists of banned or challenged books almost as long as it has been on many high school reading lists. It’s almost as if the teachers who long ago laminated their lesson plans and teach this book… (Keep reading)