Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! surprised me. First of all, it's not fiction--at least, not exactly. It's a series of brilliant, connected, historical, one-person monologues. Apparently, it came out of a research seminar that a library was doing for young people on middle age life. The final project was meant to be…
Clare Vanderpool's Moon over Manifest immerses readers in a small town where a new girl is discovering herself and her roots all at once. Abilene Tucker wants to ride the rails with her father. Unfortunately, he has sent her to Manifest for the summer (or maybe longer). He seems to…
Jack Gantos's Dead End in Norvelt is a funny middle-grade book about a young man growing up in a town founded by Eleanor Roosevelt. Jack gets in trouble with his parents and spends the rest of the book grounded. His only amusement is helping the eccentric neighbor woman, Miss Volker.…
Mazie, the newest book by Melanie Crowder, is a great story about one young woman’s journey toward Broadway.As a small town girl from Nebraska, Mazie doesn’t know any professional performers (unless you count her dance teacher). In many ways, she’s aiming for something that seems utterly unreachable. It’s a powerful…
Marie Lu’s The Kingdom of Back surprises with its mix of fantasy and historical fiction. I expected a fantasy, but at first, got nothing but a tale of Mozart’s forgotten sister.As a historical tale, this story immerses me in a world of rich detail, patriarchy, ambition, and music. Then, just…
The Captain’s Boy is the newest release from one of my critique group members–Don Callaway.This story follows a Pennsylvania farm boy from the period of the American Revolution. When Isaiah and his father return from a supply-gathering trip, they find that Hessians have looted and burned their farm.With the rest…
I’ve often heard that Sarah, Plain and Tall is a very good book, but somehow I hadn’t read it before.It’s a deceptively simple story, short, with easy-to-read language. Despite its simplicity, the story packs a big emotional punch.Sarah, who is in fact plain and tall, comes from her home near…
I became interested in Enola Holmes when I saw the movie (on Netflix) titled with her name. I loved it, and her, and so did my husband and daughter, who watched it with me.But, of course, Enola Holmes lives in a book, too. A set of books, really, by Nancy…
As you can probably see from the picture, Boxers & Saints is a graphic novel. (Really, two graphic novels.) Now, I’m not usually a graphic novel person, but every so often I run across something amazing. This is one of those things.This is a story ripped from the pages of…
Wow.Sometimes I read a book, and it’s so good, that I’m a bit in awe. This one is like that.I didn’t know what to think, at first, of a book narrated by death. But it grew on me. And seemed so appropriate–Death telling a story about World War II–a time…