This week's time travel book, Throwback, by Maurene Goo (YA, April 2023, Zando Young Readers), sends Samantha, the daughter of Korean immigrants, back in time to the 1990s, where she has to play the role of an ordinary high school kid until she figures out what she needs to change back in the past in order to get home again. Sam is kicking hard against her mother's expectations and aspirations.  We first met her when she's deliberately being obnoxious during her parents' country club membership interview (and yes, I share Sam's views about country clubs and their grass maintenance i ..read more

 a combination of eclipse viewing in Vermont (utterly magical.  Clear skies, snow on the ground making the weird light effects even more so, mountain views, and three minutes of mind-blowing totality) followed by the worst traffic of my life leaving VT--10 hours at 11 mph, got off the highway at 2 to find a hotel) and house guests has left no time for blogging.  Here's the world beginning to grow dim at Sentinel Rock Park, northern Vermont (where we actually sat we were surrounded by six inches of less trodden snow....) see you next week ..read more

Good morning all!  Here's what I found this week-- The Reviews Alyssa and the Spell Garden, by Alexandra Sheppard, at Book Craic The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, at Susan Uhlig ChupaCarter and the Screaming Sombrero, by George Lopez and Ryan Calejo, at Mark My Words The Clockwork Conspiracy, by Sam Sedgman, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books The Color of Sound, by Emily Barth Isler, at Charlotte's Library The Deadlands Series, by Skye Melki-Wegner, at The Story Sanctuary Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo, at The Book Muse   The First State of Being, by ..read more

Here's what I found this week; please let me know if I missed anything! The Reviews Ace Adler and the Pendulum of Doom, by John H. Matthews, at  Mark My Words Amari and the Great Game, by B. B. Alston, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads Amari and the Night Brothers, by B.B. Alston, at Novels Alive Dragon Force: Devourer’s Attack, by Katie & Kevin Tsang, at Scope for Imagination Festergrimm, by Thomas Taylor, at Puss Reboots  The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly, at Charlotte's Library Into the Witchwood, by Méabh McDonnell, at Book Craic The ..read more

The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly (March, 2024, Greenwillow Books) is a delightful and heartwarming middle grade time travel book that I enjoyed lots. In August, 1999 (which will seem very strange and far away to the target audience), 12-year-old Michael prepares for the potential disaster that is Y2K.  When we first meet him, he's shop lifting a can of peaches to add to his survival stash kept under his bed--his mom is working three jobs and can't give him the money he'd like to spend getting properly prepared.  Though money his tight, his mother insists on paying 1 ..read more

Hi all, and greetings from a cold spring morning here in Rhode Island (a good day to read by the fire....) Please let me know if I missed your post! The Reviews Bubba and Squirt's Shield of Athena, by Sherry Ellis, at Bookworm for Kids  Cloudlanders, by Christopher Mackie, at Mark My Words The Deadlands: Survival (The Deadlands #3), by Skye Melki-Wegner, at The Story Sanctuary Enchanted Glass, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Staircase Wit Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo, at ReadWonder and Redeemed Reader The Island at the Edge of Night, by Lucy Strange, at Scope ..read more

Sona and the Golden Beasts (March 5, 2024, Quill Tree Books) is Rajani LaRocca's first other world fantasy, and having read and enjoyed many of her other books (especially Midsummer's Mayhem) this was a must read for me with no languishing on the tbr pile as soon as I got my hands on it!  The alternate world is a fantasy version of India under British rule. Devia is a place where music calls forth magic, now forbidden by the conquering and exploiting Malechians.  They grow rich from Devia's gems, mined at great cost to its people.  Sona has lived relatively sa ..read more

 It's end of spring break, which means me about to set to take my kid back to college....see you next week ..read more

Today's Timeslip book is The Other Place, by Nancy L. Robison (1978). Mine, happily picked up at a booksale, turned out to be a review copy (very cool to see the retro promotional info, shown below), but I don't think I'll send in two clippings as requested. I'm making no effort to hold back on spoilers here with this whacky 1970s sci fi story for kids, so if you are a little kid who's never read any science fiction (which you aren't), go read the book and see if you agree with the two Goodreads readers whose first sci fi it was, and who loved it before I ruin everything. The Other Place st ..read more

Here's what I found this week, please enjoy and let me know if I missed anything!  I had good intentions to read and review lots this past week, which got derailed when I found out I would not just be getting my kid home from college this week, but lots of friends too, so instead of reading I cleaned and decluttered... The Reviews Closet of Dreams, by Mark Ukra & Tara Mesalik MacMahon, at Mark My Words:  Creepy Creations, by Jennifer Killick, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads    Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo, at Cracking the Cover, Fuse #8, and Log Cabin Libr ..read more