Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, one of my favorite places was in the top branches of a tree. From up there I could watch the world pass by, remaining invisible. I could make up stories about the world below and no one would challenge me. The second best place for me was inside the story of a book, the kind that took you to magical places where children always found a way to win the day. I knew when I ā€œgrew upā€ I would write one of those empowering books. I became a middle school teacher and have since read many wonderful books for this age. Enjoy my list of favorites.  


I wrote

Terracolina: A Place to Belong

By Carla Kessler, Richard Kessler (illustrator),

Book cover of Terracolina: A Place to Belong

What is my book about?

A forest is being devoured, a magical garden smothered. Can one quiet boy save them from disaster?

Thomas Smithers isā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Secret Garden

Carla Kessler Why did I love this book?

This book touched many from my generation.

For me, Maryā€™s abandonment by the adults around her, came close to home. I rooted for her to free her soul. It was the beauty of the garden and the gentle robin that first melted the ice around her heart by connecting her with nature.

Then along came Dickon, who had grown up deeply connected with the earth and inspired her further, and finally Colin, who, like her, had been neglected. They healed each other as they revitalized the garden, experiencing the joys of mother earth.

It reinforced my own faith in mother nature, who also supported me whenever I grappled with my reality. 

By Claire Freedman, Shaw Davidson (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Secret Garden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Rediscover the magical story of Mary Lennox, who arrives in the wild and windswept Yorkshire a sickly and miserable girl - until she discovers a forgotten, Secret Garden.

As Mary works hard to bring the garden back to life, its magic begins to work on her too . . .

This classic and beloved story has been beautifully retold by Claire Freedman and brought to glorious visual life by new illustration talent Shaw Davidson


Book cover of Some Kind of Happiness

Carla Kessler Why did I love this book?

Finleyā€™s divorcing parents send her to live with her grandparents and she struggles to fit in.

Her battle to find her place worried me as I dove into her story. Unlike Finley, I had a library of books where I could escape. Instead, she wrote about a fantasy world in a journal, to feel sane. When she discovers her fantasy world is real and right next door, this magical forest becomes her salvation, and things begin to make sense.

The trees were my friends as a child as well, and in both our cases, the magic of the forest helped us find our footing in the real world. Finleyā€™s journey supported my belief that a trust in magic and the trees can help guide you in your real world.  

By Claire Legrand,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Some Kind of Happiness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Reality and fantasy collide in this heartfelt and mysterious novel for fans of Counting by 7s and Bridge to Terabithia, about a girl who must save a magical make-believe world in order to save herself.

Things Finley Hart doesn't want to talk about:
-Her parents, who are having problems. (But they pretend like they're not.)
-Being sent to her grandparents' house for the summer.
-Never having met said grandparents.
-Her blue days-when life feels overwhelming, and it's hard to keep her head up. (This happens a lot.)

Finley's only retreat is the Everwood, a forest kingdom that exists in theā€¦


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Book cover of Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade

Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade by Kimberly Behre Kenna,

Artemis Sparke has had it with humans. She heads to the nearby salt marsh to hang out with the birds, plants, and mollusks who don't make a big deal of her stutter. The shoreline sanctuary is predictable, unlike her family and friends, and the data in her science journal provesā€¦

Book cover of Hour of the Bees

Carla Kessler Why did I love this book?

Carolina walks a fine line between reality and magic, a state of mind many a struggling child understands.

Stuck with her grandfather, whose mind is failing, she finds a special connection to the fantastical stories he tells of a lake and bees and a tree, all connected with love of family and oneā€™s roots. She forms a special bond with her ā€œcrazyā€ grandfather.

His stories about the tree with the magical power to bring people back together especially rings true. Who doesnā€™t believe in the magic of trees, especially old trees with deep roots (I still do). When Carolina rescues her grandfather from the old folks home and convinces her parents not to sell the family ranch, everything comes together.

Reality and magic really do belong together.

By Lindsay Eagar,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Hour of the Bees as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

A beautifully written debut novel that weaves together magic and reality, about a girl's relationship with her mentally ill grandfather.

This powerful debut novel delicately blurs the line between truth and fiction as Carol unravels the fantastical stories of her mentally ill grandfather. When she and her family move to his deserted ranch in order to transfer him to a care home, Carol struggles to cope with the suffocating heat and the effects of her grandfather's dementia. Bees seem to be following her around, but the drought means this is impossible. She must be imagining things. Yet when her grandfatherā€¦


Book cover of The Benefits of Being an Octopus

Carla Kessler Why did I love this book?

Zoey doesnā€™t have the time or the status to be a normal kid.

She wishes she could be an octopus as she needs the arms, eyes, camouflage skills, and protective defenses of such a creature just to survive the responsibilities of her family world. She doesnā€™t realize how valuable it is to have a teacher who believes in her, pressuring her to join the debate club in spite of the fact she does not feel like she belongs, until she finds her voice.

How many of us have had that one event or person push us to find our true potential. In spite of all the family responsibilities that tie her down, Zoey learns she can make a difference in the wider world around her.

Zoey, you inspire me!

By Ann Braden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Benefits of Being an Octopus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

One of Edutopia's "25 Essential Middle School Reads from the Last Decade," NPR Best Book of 2018, Bank Street List for Best Children's Books of 2019, Named to the Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher List, Maine's Student Book Award List, Louisiana Young Reader's Choice Award List, Rhode Island Middle School Book Award 2020 List, 2020 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Nominee, 2021 South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee, 2020-2021 Truman Award (Missouri) Nominee, Middle School Virginia Readers' Choice Titles for 2020-2021 , Charlie May Simon Award 2020-2021 List, 2021-2022 Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee, and 2023 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Awardā€¦


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Book cover of Wagnificent: The Adventures of Thunder and Sage

Wagnificent by Bethanie Deeney Murguia,

Discover a new early middle-grade graphic novel series full of humor and heart about a lovable dog, her favorite human, and their pawsome pack in this unforgettable friendship story. Though Thunder wants to be good for Sage, sheā€™s having a rough time stopping herself from doing things she knows areā€¦

Book cover of The Thing About Jellyfish

Carla Kessler Why did I love this book?

Suzyā€™s sense of isolation grows dramatically as she enters her tweens, and the rejections of her best friend Franny, who seems to just want to be popular, stings hard.

Suzy tries to get her friend back but when Franny dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is filled with guilt for the tricks sheā€™s pulled. Meanwhile her own family is falling apart. No wonder Suzy feels she must find the reason for Fannyā€™s death.

Growing up is hard enough but when a friendā€™s death seems beyond comprehension, creating your own fantasized beliefs can feel like the best solution. I believe that fantasy gives us relief but we only land on our feet once we recognize the difference between fantasy and reality.

I loved reading how Suzy figured it out! 

By Ali Benjamin,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Thing About Jellyfish as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

It's peculiar how no-words can be better than words. How silence can say more than noise, or a person's absence can occupy even more space than their presence did.

Suzy is twelve when her best friend, Franny, drowns one summer at the beach. It takes two days for the news to reach Suzy, and it's not something that she can accept: Franny has always been a strong swimmer, from the day they met in swim class when they were just five. How can someone all of a sudden, just no longer be there?

Suzy realizes that they must have gotā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Terracolina: A Place to Belong

By Carla Kessler, Richard Kessler (illustrator),

Book cover of Terracolina: A Place to Belong

What is my book about?

A forest is being devoured, a magical garden smothered. Can one quiet boy save them from disaster?

Thomas Smithers is grappling with the death of his grandpa. When the twelve-year-old finds an old note from Grandpa his struggles find a purpose. The note outlines plans for the two of them to save their favorite forest from a vicious parasite. He heads to the forest where he discovers a portal to a magical world that he yearns to share with Grandpa. When its inhabitants are attacked, Thomas becomes the key to their survival, but he battles with his loyalties, fearful for both worlds. Can Thomas save this magical world and still protect his cherished forest, or will saving one mean the extinction of the other?

Book cover of The Secret Garden
Book cover of Some Kind of Happiness
Book cover of Hour of the Bees

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