Melissa (Formerly Published as George) by Alex Gino: Book Review

Melissa (Formerly Published as George) by Alex Gino Book Cover

Oh my goodness. I inhaled this book in just a few hours and it left me with so much joy for George, I was almost in tears. George is afraid to tell anyone that she’s really a girl. What will they think? But as she slowly starts to share her secret, she finds so much love and acceptance. The road isn’t perfectly smooth—that would […]

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Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary: Book Review

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary Book Cover

I’m 42 as I write this so it’s been 30 – 35 years since I read any of Beverly Cleary’s books. I always enjoyed them as a child, and can clearly picture exactly where they were on my local library’s shelves. I called it a good library day when I found a new one. Who am I kidding? Every library visit was a good library day, but…

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Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan: Book Review

5 Stars. First of all, I loved listening to this audiobook. Each part has a different narrator and they each do a fabulous job. What I really loved were the musical numbers by Corky Siegel. If Mike was playing “America the Beautiful” in the text, a harmonica would play the song softly in the background, for example. That kind of thing is […]

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The Night Witches by Garth Ennis: Book Review

The Night Witches by Garth Ennis Book Cover

I literally just finished this graphic novel and I’m about to flip back to page one and read it again. That isn’t to say it was perfect–it wasn’t–but I know that in my hurry to read it, I missed a lot of important details. Now that I know Anna Kharkova’s story, I can take my time and chew it over. I’m struggling with where to…

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Aurora Borealice by Joan Steacy: Book Review

Aurora Borealice by Joan Steacy Book Cover

I usually rate books five stars if they rock my world or if I simply can’t bring myself to put them down. That’s not the case here. My rating reflects the subject matter. How frustrating it must be to have a sharp intellect but to be written off as “less than” because…

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Geekerella by Ashley Poston: Book Review

5 Stars. So, this is not the cleanest edit and it’s not Literature, but I grinned from ear-to-ear the entire time I was reading. I couldn’t wait to see how it ended but at the same time, I didn’t want it to end. It’s an adorable retelling of Cinderella set in the geeky fandom world, and I loved every minute of it […]

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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins: Book Review

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins Book Cover

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this is one of those rare books–a second that is actually better than the first. In my humble opinion anyway. I read all 391 pages in two sittings, really in one day. I picked it up, got sucked into Katniss’s world, and never looked away. We got to see a little more of Gale in this story […]

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The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: Book Review

The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett Book Cover

5 Stars. I read this back in college and loved it so much that I still have my copy from that class. I decided to re-read it when my husband and I visited the coast of Maine last month. I might love it even more now. The narrator, who remains unnamed, is accepted in this tightly-knit community, but she’s still enough of an […]

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Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier: Book Review

Caitrin is on the run from a bad situation at home. With only the clothes on her back, a few coins, and her box of scribing tools, she just wants to get away. Her money runs out late one evening in the middle of nowhere. She finds her way to a village called Whistling Tor. […]

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One Child by Torey Hayden: Book Review

Torey Hayden is what I can only call a special ed teacher. At some less-politically-correct point in her career, she agreed to teach the “garbage class” (her words, not mine) that consisted of the abused, unteachable, unreachable kids. The class of eight students, a teacher’s aide who lacked even a high school diploma, a high […]

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Drawing Down the Moon: Book Review

Charles Vess’s fantasy artwork has been collected in a beautiful volume. I love just about every piece of art in this book. The few that I don’t like are probably the few that are science fiction. I am not at all knowledgeable about art so I can’t write in any kind of meaningful way about […]

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