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Mother Daughter Book Club Blog - Books & Literature
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Review: As Edward Imagined by Matthew Burgess & Marc Majewski |
During his life Edward Gorey was the artist for many children's books written by other authors. He also wrote and illustrated his own. He won awards designing costumes for plays, but he preferred to spend most of his time quietly at home snuggling up to his cats. It's appropriate then, for children to read a
Review: How To Be A Super Awesome Artist by Henry Carroll & Rose Blake |
Sometimes all you need to create art is a little bit of inspiration and some straightforward instruction on getting started. That's what budding artists and their parents will find in How To Be A Super Awesome Artist: 20 Art Projects Inspired By The Masters by Henry Carroll & Rose Blake. Using well-known artists as examples,
Review: Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson |
Marlowe Wexler had an epic first date with her long-time crush Akilah. But it ended badly when Marlow lit a candle to set a mood and accidentally burned down a family friend's summer cottage. She ends up taking a job at Morning House, an historic home on an island in the St. Lawrence River to
Review: Nina Peanut by Sarah Bowie |
Nina Peanut loves making videos that involve potatoes and bananas and tips on how not to step in dog poop. She posts her videos online, where she has two people following her: her best friend Brian and her grandma. Megan also posts videos online. Mostly about her super-cute pup doing tricks. Megan is popular, with
Review: The Owl Prowl Mystery by Diana Renn |
Miles really cares about the wildlife that lives around his home. He lives next to a wooded area and wildlife refuge that suddenly gets lots of attention for the owls spotted there. But when people flock to the area to get a sighting, they sometimes act in ways that stress the owls and can put
Review: PetWizards by Kirk Scroggs |
Finch Eaglehawk is a petwizard, a human who can control animals. Petwizards have existed for centuries, but they're supposed to be discreet, so no one knows about their special powers. But when the middle school musical is in jeopardy, and Finch's crush Ken Chu needs help, Finch promises to provide a flock of seagulls for
Review: The Cookie Crumbles by Tracy Badua & Alechia Dow |
Laila and Lucy are best friends intent on going to Sunderland Academy, an exclusive boarding school high school where Laila hoped to hone her baking skills and Lucy planned to learn more about investigative journalism. When a cookie baking competition comes up, it offers them both what they want: scholarships that will let their families
Review: Invisible Isabel by Sally J. Pla |
Isabel Beane lives in a house that's hardly ever quiet. With five siblings and parents on the go, there's always some hullabaloo. If anyone in her family stayed still long enough, she might tell them about the worry moths that flutter inside her, or the way the new girl at school has been mean to
Review: Castles and Ruins by Rue Matthiessen |
When Rue Matthiessen was eight, her family spent a summer in Ireland in an idyllic setting near the ruin of a castle. Her parents were going through a difficult period, but Rue remembers that time as a reprieve from the stresses causing a rift. Her parents, author Deborah Love and famed naturalist and writer Peter
Review: Sorry For The Inconvenience by Farah Naz Rishi |
When Farah Naz Rishi met Stephen while working on a class project in college, the last thing she thought is that they would become best friends and ultimately marry. For one thing, her first impression was that he was sloppy and inconsiderate. For another, she knew as a non-Muslim he would never be acceptable to
Review: Alterations by Ray Xu |
Life is complicated for Kevin Lee. His single-mother mom always needs help at her alterations shop. His older sister is interested in life without her younger brother in tow. And his grandmother, recently arrived from China to live with his family, embarrasses him with her lack of English and strange ways. Kevin also struggles to
Review: Else B. In The Sea by Jeanne Walker Harvey |
Else Bostelman was an artist who helped people understand what deep-sea creatures looked like by painting them underwater. The time was the 1930s, and world-renowned scientist William Beebe explored the waters off Bermuda, in the Atlantic Ocean. He hired Else to capture the images of things he discovered. Her adventures are told in a picture
Review: Spy Ring by Sarah Beth Durst |
Rachel and Joon are best friends out to solve a mystery: Did Anna Smith Strong, a purported spy during the Revolutionary War, leave clues to a treasure? If so, how can two kids figure out clues from more than two centuries ago? Spy Ring, by Sarah Beth Durst follows the two on an adventure of
Review: The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise by Robert Norris |
While Robert Norris was growing up, his mother, Kay, set an example for him as an independent thinker. At a time when divorce was uncommon and looked down on, she got divorced. She stood up to the priest who refused her communion after she remarried. She worked hard throughout her life and wasn't prone to
Review: The Wildcat Behind Glass by Alki Zei |
Fascism was gaining ground in Greece in the 1930s, but young Melia and her sister Myrto are more concerned about visiting their summer home by the seaside, where they run free with friends and don't have to worry about school lessons. The politics of the day intrude anyway, and they soon learn that their beloved
Review: The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants by Philip Bunting |
Did you know that if all the ants in the world were put on a scale they roughly would equal the weight of all the humans? Or that weaver ants can hang on to one another to build living bridges? Those are just two of the cleverly presented facts in The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants
Review: Sunny Parker Is Here To Stay by Margaret Finnegan |
Sunny Parker does her best to live up to her name, bringing the sunshine into the lives of her dad and her best friends. But she sometimes finds it hard to find the bright spots in the goings on in her community. Like when protests erupt over converting an old school into affordable housing or
Robert Norris On How His Mother Influenced His Love of Stories |
Today I'm featuring a guest post by Robert Norris, author of a memoir that is also a tribute to his mother called, The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise: Pentimento Memories of Mom and Me. Here he talks about how she fostered in him a love of stories. Read on to the end
Review: Lola Meets the Bees by Anna McQuinn |
Lola Meets the Bees by Anna McQuinn is a cute picture book that teaches little ones about honeybees. It starts when Lola visits her mom's friend Zora, who keeps bees on the rooftop of her home in the city. She sees bees flitting from flower to flower, spreading pollen as they go. Lola learns that
Ruth Behar on Writing About Mothers and Daughters |
Today I'm featuring a guest post by author Ruth Behar, whose books feature complicated mother-daughter relationships. Read on at the end of her post for more info about the author and her books. Relationships between mothers and daughters are always at the heart of my stories. In my first middle-grade novel, Lucky Broken Girl, which
Review: Where Do Ocean Creatures Sleep At Night? |
Curious children want to know: What happens to things that live in the ocean when its time to sleep? A picture book by Steven J. Simmons and Clifford R. Simmons satisfies that curiosity in their book, Where Do Ocean Creatures Sleep At Night? The book covers some widely recognized sea life, like stingrays, which burrow
Review: You Are a Little Seed by Sook-Hee Choi |
If you're looking for a sweet picture book with tender drawings that capture the joy of life beginning, look no further than You Are a Little Seed. Written and illustrated by Sook-Hee Choi, the book shows different types of seeds and the flowers they grow into. Some seeds are light and fluffy and blow in
Review: All About Color by Elizabeth Rusch & Elizabeth Goss |
All About Color, a picture book by Elizabeth Rusch and Elizabeth Goss, opens with a surprise fact: Color doesn't exist. We only see blue skies and green grass and yellow flowers because light sends messages to our brain. The illustrations are also unexpected, as they show people with green or purple skin and things in
Review: The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles |
Theo Tatterly has a special gift. He can see ghosts and help them peacefully transition to the next world. He comes from a long line of people with magical abilities and both the living and the dead reside in the ancestral home in South Carolina. Theo, as the last male in the line, is the
Review: Yumbo Gumbo by Keila V. Dawson |
Annabelle is excited to go to her grandparents' house and learn to cook gumbo, one of her favorite things to eat. But when they get to Mami and Papi's, no one can agree on what kind of gumbo to cook. Some want okra, some want chicken. They vote to decide but come out with an
Review: The Princess Protection Program by Alex London |
When Rosamund is woken with a kiss after being asleep for 100 years, her first instinct is to flee. With her prince in pursuit she opens a door and steps from her story into the protected haven of Home Educational Academy, where princesses find refuge from their fairy tales. The young women (and one prince)
Our Story Book Review: Fatima Al-Fihri |
Our Story books seek to shine a light on historical figures who accomplished great things. Fatima Al-Fihri is one of those. In 859 CE she established what has become the world's oldest university in the city of Fes, Morrocco. Born in Tunisia, Fatima was the daughter of a wealthy merchant who migrated with his family
Review: My University of the World by Neill McKee |
Today I'm taking part in a blog tour through Wow! Women on Writing for Neill McKee's book, My University of the World: Adventures of an International Film & Media Maker. For other stops on the tour, check out the complete list following my review. As a young man, Neill McKee volunteered to be a high
Review: I’m Trying to Love Germs by Bethany Barton |
Germs are everywhere. And when most of us think of them, we think of bad germs. Like the ones that cause us to feel nauseated, or have diarrhea, or get a cold. But there are also good germs that help us stay healthy. Bethany's Barton's cute and fun picture book, I'm Trying to Love Germs,
Review: The Zoo-Choo Train by K.B. Otto |
The Zoo-Choo train is bringing sleepy animals back to their homes after a long day at play. There's a lion and giraffes, hippos and zebras. But where are the penguins? Only one of five shows up. So the engineer backtracks to all the other stops he's made until they're all accounted for. The Zoo-Choo Train
Review: Meet Claude Monet |
Books that highlight famous people of the past are great for introducing children to all kinds of concepts. Meet Claude Monet, part of the Meet the Artist picture book series, helps budding artists learn how Monet used broad brushstrokes to create the illusion of detail. The illustrations highlight small pieces of famous paintings on one
Review: Too Many Interesting Things Are Happening to Ethan Fairmont |
When we last saw young inventor Ethan Fairmont and his friends, they were finishing up a summer of adventure and surprises. They had helped an alien friend, brought people in their neighborhood together, and set up a space where kids could gather to create things. Now, with school starting again, Ethan faces new challenges, both
Review: Woke Up Like This by Amy Lea |
It's the end of her senior year and all that stands in the way of Char meeting all the goals on her checklist is her nemesis, Renner. The two have been at odds ever since he stood her up for homecoming in their freshman year. With prom just days away, she's determined not to let
Review—Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford |
In her book Kin: Rooted in Hope, award-winning children's author and poet Carole Boston Weatherford takes a family roots story and turns it into the wider tale of American slavery. Through research, Weatherford discovered that her ancestors fought in the American Revolution and were enslaved alongside Frederick Douglass. They also fought in the Civil War
Author Carole Boston Weatherford on Kin: Rooted in Hope |
Award-winning children's author Carole Boston Weatherford and her illustrator son Jeffrey, worked together to create Kin: Rooted in Hope. An illustrated book of poems for young readers, Kin draws on their personal family history to humanize their enslaved ancestors and their struggles as well as their triumphs. In this post, Carole talks about the book
Review: Quest Kids and the Dark Prophecy of Doug |
The lovable troupe of adventure seekers from Quest Kids and the Dragon Pants of Gold continue their search for Ned's parents in Quest Kids and the Dark Prophecy of Doug. Six months after Ned, Terra, Gil, Boulder, and Ash found a creative way to save a village from a dragon, they find a clue from
Review: Graveyard Girls Scream for the Camera by Lisi Harrison & Daniel Kraus |
When we last saw the Graveyard Girls, Whisper, Sophie, Gemma, and their friend Zuzu, they had just found out that someone stole Silas Hoke's body. In the next installment in the series, Graveyard Girls: Scream for the Camera by Lisi Harrison and Daniel Kraus, they are on a quest to find out who did it.
Review: The A&A Detective Agency: The Fairfleet Affair by K. H. Saxton |
Young readers who love mysteries similar to The Westing Game, will love K. H. Saxton's The A & A Detective Agency: The Fairfleet Affair. In the story, Alex Foster and Asha Singh are not only friends, they also have a budding detective agency. They even have a headquarters in a tree house in front of
Book Review: Hello Trees by Nina Chakrabarti |
Hello Trees: A Little Guide to Nature by Nina Chakrabarti is a great little book for children about something we see every day but probably don't give much thought to. This small-format pocket guide is handy enough to take out to the park, a stroll in the woods, or just an amble about the neighborhood.
Book Review: Mascot by Charles Waters & Traci Sorell |
What happens when students of a public school see the sports mascot as racist and others see it as a tradition to be upheld? That's the question asked in the middle grade novel Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell. Told in verse from the viewpoint of six eighth-grade students and their teacher in an