‘The Marriage Sabbatical’ by Lian Dolan is an enjoyable light story of marriage and discovery

In “The Marriage Sabbatical,” this not-a-romance novel, Lian Dolan introduces Jason and Nicole Elswick, who have been married for almost a quarter of a century. Jason is in publishing, and as he approaches his twenty-five year anniversary with his company, he gets a year sabbatical. Since the death of his best friend, he is determined to fulfill their dream of traveling through Patagonia on motorcycles. He has the whole year planned, with a few months in a small village on the Pacific learning to surf and writing a book at the end of the trip, and before he and Nicole meet their children, two college students who are traveling abroad for the school year.

Continue reading

‘Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II’ by Adam Gidwitz is both charming and chilling

Adam Gidwitz is a much loved children’s author whose fabulous tales have taken readers young and old from Grimm’s fairy tales (“A Tale Dark and Grimm“) to the Inquisition (“The Inquisitor’s Tale“) and now to WWII in “Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II.” This historical fiction also contains Gidwitz’s trademark fantasy twist with two mythical creatures who accompany main character Max as he travels from Berlin to London as part of the Kindertransport, which took Jewish children from Germany to countries where they stayed in foster homes until the end of the war.

Continue reading

Percival Everett: “James,” Jim, and by the way, Huckleberry Finn

Percival Everett’s brilliant novel, “James,” is a significant achievement, almost as important, perhaps, for what it is not, as much as for what it certainly is. It is not simply a “reimagining” of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Nor is it simply an “updating” or “retelling” of Twain’s magnificent contribution to American literature. It is, instead, a moving, fiery, anger-inducing, sad, and occasionally humorous account of a slave in 1860 America. That slave, Jim, is a friend of a semi-wild fourteen- or fifteen-year-old ultra-country boy named Huck.

Continue reading

‘Wrecker’ by Carl Hiaasen is an thrilling, must-read, thoughtful middle grade novel

Wrecker,” is pure Carl Hiaasen with its Key West setting and fabulous action, quirky characters, and clever plot. Carl Hiaasen is known for his novels about Florida, its struggle against pollution and destruction of the land and waters around it, as well as his tongue-in-cheek depiction of people who are oblivious to common sense and basic reasoning skills. This is a book that, in pointing out the racist past of Florida, and Key West in particular, could very well be banned in Hiaasen’s home state of Florida: In this clever and gripping novel, one of the characters actually feels terrible about an ancestor who was a member of the Klu Klux Klan and participated in the lynching of a white man who had dared to enter into a common law marriage with the Black woman he loved.

Continue reading

‘City Spies: Mission Manhattan’ by James Ponti is the fabulous new middle grade thriller in this exceptional series

Can I just say that I love the “City Spies” series by James Ponti? This latest one, “Mission Manhattan,” is just as exciting and thrilling as the preceding books, and reading them brings me as much pleasure as reading one of my favorite adult spy novels, like Tess Gerritsen’s “The Spy Coast” or even John Scalzi’s “Starter Villain.” While granted, these spy novels are geared for middle grade readers, the plots and the action are every bit as well plotted and gripping as many of that genre written for adults. The major differences are that the books in this series are much quicker reads with spies that are underaged. But they are no less brilliant than any seasoned adult spy.

Continue reading

‘Bonus Time’ by Claire Cook is filled with new characters, life-long friendships, and joyous new adventures

In Claire Cook’s newest novel, “Bonus Time,” three life-long friends head south to the beautiful St. Simon’s Island in Georgia to discover what the rest of their lives might unfold. Like her novel-turned-movie “Must Love Dogs,” this novel includes plenty of humor marching side-by-side with Cook’s perceptive life lessons and a plot that will keep you turning the pages.

Continue reading

‘Gather’ by Kenneth M. Cardow is a brilliant young adult novel about abandonment and finding family

In “Gather,” Kenneth M. Cardow introduces us to a teenager who has had to grow up much more quickly than anyone should have to. Ian is used to being abandoned; his father left Ian and his mother years before, and then his grandmother left them to move south to be with her sister. So now, it’s just Ian and his mother in the small, run-down family home, on land that has been in Ian’s family for many generations. His father’s family, that is.

Continue reading

‘Spy School: Goes North’ by Stuart Gibbs is a perfect chilly winter read for middle grade readers

While El Niño might promise a rather warm winter, those reading “Spy School: Goes North” by Stuart Gibbs will surely feel the icy chill of north winds fingering down necks and up sleeves. Because in this eleventh novel in the Spy Series, Ben and his cadre of fellow spy students and a few adults are in Alaska, where even in the summer you need parkas in addition to industrial strength mosquito repellant.

Continue reading

‘Dogtown’ by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko is an absolutely heartwarming middle grade tale of dogs and community and adventure and family

“Dogtown” by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko is a middle grade fantasy that will be extremely appealing to kids because it’s filled with dogs—real dogs and robot dogs, or really just one special robot dog. There’s even a mouse. The story is told in first person by Chance, a dog residing in a shelter at the start of the story.

Continue reading

‘Leeva at Last’ by Sara Pennypacker and illustrated by Matthew Cordell is destined to be a classic

While “Leeva at Last,” written by Sara Pennypacker and illustrated by Matthew Cordell, is written with plenty of hyperbole and shows exaggerated cruelty worthy of Roald Dahl’s “Matilda,” at heart this is a beautiful, thoughtful story of standing up for truth and doing the right thing. It’s also a story about the importance of books and reading, and as celebrated children’s author Gary Paulsen shared about his childhood, how books and reading can literally save the life of an abused and neglected child, as it did for him.

Continue reading

‘Whale Done’ by Stuart Gibbs is yet another brilliant middle grade addition to the FunJungle series

If there were an award for best first sentence ever in a novel (and maybe there is), Stuart Gibbs deserves it for the beginning of “Whale Done”: “I would never have seen the whale explode if a kangaroo hadn’t burned down my house.” I’m embarrassed to admit that this eighth book is the first I’ve read in the very popular FunJungle series. I’m always hesitant to jump in and start reading in the middle of a series, but I should have learned with his Spy School novels, which I started reading several books into the series, that Gibbs always provides enough backstory that there’s no need to start at the beginning.

Continue reading