Category Archives: Reviews

Two Family Adventures: The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher and the Lotterys Plus One

Here are two stories of the classic family adventure type, but featuring same-sex parents. Both of them also have families formed by adoption, so adopted kids with many kinds of parents could see themselves reflected in these books. Misadventures of … Continue reading →

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Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. Ever.

Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. Ever. Edited by Betsy Bird. Viking, 2017. It was the author list and associated cartoons on Betsy Bird’s blog, a Fuse #8 Production, that first drew me to this book (I can no longer find the … Continue reading →

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Three for Theater Kids

I’m still trying to catch up on all the books I read for my presentation at the Allied Media Conference in June, so it’s time for shorter takes.  Here are three books perfect for the middle school theater fan. Better … Continue reading →

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Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee

More action-oriented historical fiction from the author of Under a Painted Sky. Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee. Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. Print from Putnam, 2016. Audio from Tantor Audio. It’s San Francisco in 1906.  Our story starts on a … Continue reading →

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The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi

Look!  I’m actually reading books off of my Want to Read list for this year!  This was one I found combing through Amazon’s middle grade pre-orders – a game-based fantasy starring a Muslim girl, from Simon & Schuster’s new Salaam … Continue reading →

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Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor

The story begun in Binti continues with even more depth… Spoiler alert: if you haven’t yet read Binti, you’ll want to do so before reading this review. Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor. Tor, 2017. Binti has achieved the dream she … Continue reading →

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The Hate U Give

This is the first book to be published directly because of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement, so of course I had to read it.  My only advice would be to please, don’t do as I do, and listen to this audiobook at … Continue reading →

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Always and Forever, Lara Jean

It’s always disorienting coming back to blogging from vacation, but here I am, with another simultaneously light and weighty book by Jenny Han, the closing book in the series that started with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Always and … Continue reading →

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American Street

American Street by Ibi Zoboi. Balzer + Bray, 2017. Teenaged Fabiola was born in the US and raised in Haiti with her mother.  They’ve been working for years to move in with Fabiola’s aunt, Matant Jo, and her three daughters, … Continue reading →

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Clayton Byrd Goes Underground

I loved Rita Williams-Garcia’s Gaither Sister trilogy, so of course I wanted to try her latest book, too. Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia. Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White. Amistad, 2017. Young Clayton loves hanging out with grandfather, Cool Papa, … Continue reading →

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