I’ve spent pretty much my entire adult life as a journalist, a dining critic, or a humor columnist. But over the past ten years, my reading choices have been influenced less by, say, The New Yorker, than by my daughter, Hannah. As she grew from Knuffle Bunny to Junie B. Jones to Judy Moody, so did I. And when she began reading middle-grade novels, I did too. Then I began writing them. There is something amazing about the endless possibilities of a kid’s imagination before they get cynical and start to care about things like being cool that makes middle-grade the sweet spot for ideas. It’s like Hannah came along and recalibrated my brain—for reading and writing alike.
Something sinister has come to Glacier Cove, an icy-cold town on top of an iceberg. And the only person who seems to notice is a 12-year-old bookworm named Penelope March. When Penelope meets a mysterious man in an ice house who seems to know terrifying secrets—not only about Glacier Cove but about Penelope herself—she is pulled into an ancient mystery and a confrontation with the coldest, cruelest enemy ever known. It’s an offbeat, imaginative adventure story full of horror, humor, and heart, with a razor-sharp female protagonist and a supporting cast of fearsome and lovable characters. Also, magic cookies, volcanoes, chainsaw art, and a submarine staffed by military penguins.
This madcap book, about a boy and girl who discover a crazy mansion in the forest that looks like it was built by a drunken madman, made me laugh out loud. As they join forces with the house’s unforgettably weird inhabitants to try to save the house from the wrecking ball of a “crazed bureaucrat,” it’s impossible not to be drawn in. It’s one of those quirky adventure stories where every twist and turn comes from seemingly nowhere, while also making perfect sense. Plus: wild boars! Graff has made a career out of creative stories populated with memorably eccentric characters, and this one is my favorite.
A wild and whimsical adventure story, perfect for fans of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library
Brian can think of a few places he'd rather spend his summer than with his aunt and uncle in Boring, Illinois. Jail, for example. Or an earplug factory. Anything would be better than doing summer school on a computer while his scientist dad is stationed at the South Pole.
Boring lives up to its name until Brian and his cousin Nora have a fight, get lost, and discover a huge, wooden house in the forest. With balconies, turrets, and windows seemingly stuck on at random,…
Lois Ruby is a YA veteran who has more than 20 books to her name, many of them historical fiction, including the beloved Steal Away Home, which appeared on basically every year-end best list back in 1994. She also happens to be my mom. And her latest book, which takes place during the “red scare” of the 1950s, is among her best. It’s a tense story about a baseball-crazy 13-year-old boy whose parents are accused of being communist sympathizers, turning his life upside down when he’s supposed to be studying for his bar mitzvah. The clock-ticking backdrop, leading up to the notorious execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for supposedly passing on nuclear secrets to the Soviets, gives the whole book terrifyingly high stakes.
A suspenseful and heartfelt story about an era whose uncertainties, controversies, and dangers will seem anything but distant to contemporary readers.
If thirteen-year-old Marty Rafner had his way, he'd spend the summer of 1953 warming the bench for his baseball team, listening to Yankees games on the radio, and avoiding preparations for his bar mitzvah. Instead, he has to deal with FBI agents staking out his house because his parents―professors at the local college―are suspected communist sympathizers. Marty knows what happens to communists, or Reds, as his friends call them: They lose their jobs, get deported...or worse. Two people he's…
I don’t understand why this book wasn’t a massive cultural phenomenon with movies and action figures and volumes of online fanfic and whatnot. First of all, Lloyd-Jones can write with a capital W. In this fantasy novel, she paints a bleak and vivid picture of a tough-as-nails gravedigger living in a world where the dead don’t always stay dead. But even as these living corpses begin to attack their village and the plot gets particularly dark, the narrative is always character-driven and full of heart. On one level, The Bone Houses is great, taut horror, but it also has the kind of poignance and insight that make it stick with you long after you close the book.
Seventeen-year-old Aderyn ("Ryn") only cares about two things: her family, and her family's graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote Welsh village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to fae creatures known as the Otherfolk. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don't always stay dead.
The risen corpses are known as "bone houses," and legend says that…
Count me among the zillions of people who loved When You Reach Me, winner of the Newbery Medal in 2010. I’ve seen more than one person describe it as a modern-day A Wrinkle in Time—a book that figures heavily in Stead’s plot. But When You Reach Me resonates with me far more than L’Engle’s classic. There is something about the sad, enigmatic way this is constructed with multiple storylines that just stick with you. It’s got time travel but it’s not sci-fi; it’s got puzzles but it’s not a mystery exactly. It’s just a weird, lovely book about the mysteries of life and power of friendship.
Miranda's life is starting to unravel. Her best friend, Sal, gets punched by a kid on the street for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The key that Miranda's mum keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then a mysterious note arrives: 'I am coming to save your friend's life, and my own. I ask two favours. First, you must write me a letter.'
The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realises that whoever is leaving them knows things no one should know. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she…
I admit I have never entirely warmed to most graphic novels, but this one, the first in the Bone series, is timeless. The epic adventures of cousins Fone Bone, Smiley Bone, and Phoney Bone—all of whom look like a cross between Casper the Friendly Ghost and a giant tooth—start here with lots of slapstick and cutesy animals. But there’s a lot going on under the surface. It’s a twisted fairy tale with striking art, endearing characters, and swashbuckling adventure. The whole thing is packed with so many whimsical ideas and situations that whenever I read it, I find myself energized and eager to write.
Jeff Smith's New York Times and USA Today bestselling, award-winning BONE books are one of the most popular graphic novel series of all time. Read the first book in this thrilling adventure!After being run out of Boneville, the three Bone cousins -- Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone -- are separated and lost in a vast, uncharted desert. One by one, they find their way into a deep, forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures.Eventually, the cousins are reunited at a farmstead run by tough Gran'ma Ben and her spirited granddaughter, Thorn. But little do the Bones know,…
Liveaboard sailor Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived when she blags her way into skippering a Viking longship for a Hollywood film. However, this means returning to the Shetland Islands, the place she fled as a teenager. When a corpse unexpectedly appears onboard the longship, she can run from the past no longer: Cass and her family come under intense scrutiny from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Gavin Macrae.
Even if Cass’s local knowledge and sailing wisdom help to clear the Lynch family of suspicion, they may not be enough to stay ahead of the murderer’s game... and avoid becoming the next victim.
Death on a Shetland Longship: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries
When she wangles the job of skippering a Viking longship for a film, Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived - even though it means returning home to the Shetland Islands, which she ran away from as a teenager. Then the `accidents' begin - and when a dead woman turns up on the boat's deck, Cass realises that she, her family and her past are under suspicion from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Macrae. Cass must call on all her local knowledge, the wisdom she didn't realise she'd gained from sailing and her glamorous, French opera singer mother…
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