Happy Independence Day, readers! The holiday weekend is almost upon us, which means you may be planning your long weekend summer reading (or your pilgrimages to independent bookstores during your days off). Independent bookstores around the country have put together unique and tantalizing summer reading recommendations for your reading pleasure. Check out this photo of …
Rose is deep in the “sweatpant years” raising three children, but every night, she returns to the same empowering island of adventure she has visited since she was six years old, where she’s a heroine and she’s always with her dream friend, Hugo. Then she meets Hugo in real life. Foley’s writing zings with vivid …
It seems like at almost every shower, someone brings a copy of the tried and true classics: Goodnight, Moon, On the Day You Were Born, Jamberry, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and/or Pat the Bunny. You may want to consider something a little different to help build baby’s library. (No matter what you pick, I suggest bringing a …
Powerful! This is a middle grade novel so worthy of discussion and rereading. Annabelle struggles as she faces evil in the form of a 14-year-old bully– and prejudice that leads a community to follow fear instead of the truth. Poetic and thoughtful, it’s a story about justice and doing the right thing (To Kill a …
When you read this Americans-abroad novel, you may find yourself so fascinated by the characters and so seduced by the setting that you stay up way too late turning the pages. The reading hangover is worth it, believe me. I can’t help but think in wine terms after all the bottles consumed over the course of Brooke …
This middle grade debut novel, available now in paperback, has just enough creepiness and plenty of hilarity! I loved the adventure and quirkiness; the storytelling reminds me of Roald Dahl but with a modern sensibility. It will make a fun family read-aloud. (I was hooked as soon as I learned our heroine suffers from tragic flatulence… …
Salt to the Sea is all that I hoped for and more from Ruta Sepetys (the author of Between Shades of Gray). Once again, she shines a light on a dark part of history with a beautifully crafted novel. Because of the alternating points of view and short, poignant chapters, I was torn between wanting …
Last week, within one six-hour shift, I had two customers I didn’t know all that well tell me that they were rereading the entire Harry Potter series—and that they did it every summer. To a children’s book buyer, who receives hundreds of new kids’ books to evaluate every month, rereading is an indulgence. For someone …
I’d had it with myself. I spent Sunday whimpering in the heat of the un-air-conditioned store with temperatures over 90. It was hot, hot, hot, so of course I was cranky. (I’m the person who keeps her thermostat at 57 on winter nights.) But compounding my irritation was the sense that everywhere I looked, there …
For all the odd folks who make life more interesting, and all the previously-normal ones who convert to the zestier side of life… Momo visits his cousins, but he does everything differently. (He’s kind of like a non sequitur in flying squirrel form, dressed like a roly-poly version aerobics instructor from the 80’s.) At first, …
