Today’s fiction list jumps all over the place: fantasy, sci fi, historical, contemporary and multicultural titles; graphic novels, imported novels, books in translation. Reading a variety of genres is refreshing and full of surprises. Some books usher me into the …
Category: chapter/middle grade
The 150th Birthday of Little Women
In 1868, two thousand copies of a book called Little Women were printed. It sold like hotcakes. Demand for the book was so high the publisher could not keep up, leading him to plead with its author, Louisa May Alcott, …
awesome August options
August is a transitional month for many of you. Still full on summer, yet school routines hover just around the corner. The titles I’ve chosen for this month’s batch of books range the spectrum: some rejoicing in make-believe and fresh …
just right for July!
How’s the summer treating you? Taking a mostly-break from my blog has definitely been revitalizing for me. For one thing, it’s freed me for a bit of gardening. I am entirely a novice gardener. So, small things feel monumental: tomatoes …
simply smashing: fiction imports for a wide age span
Today, three short chapter books to suit a variety of readers coming to us from Sweden and the UK. These books were all a joy for me to read, and I am hardly the target audience! So think outside the …
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50 more chapter books, 100-ish pages or less
As I mentioned last week, here is a sequel to my list from a couple years ago featuring about 50 books that are 100-ish pages or less. Today’s list features 50 more, most of which are part of a series so …
a second batch of fantasy!
Earlier this year I decided to devote some time to reading a bit more fantasy, looking for gems to recommend. In January, I posted one batch of titles which you can find here. Over the past months I’ve tackled quite a …
butlers, betrayals, and the gentlemanly game of cricket
Gary Schmidt wrote a couple of my favorite ever middle-grade novels, The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now, both richly human, honest, painful, and redemptive stories that get my highest recommendation for ages 13 and up — which is not …
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fancy some fantasy?
One of my goals for Orange Marmalade in 2019 is to delve a bit into fantasy — which sounds very dwarf-like, this delving. Partly in order to keep expanding my own reading menu; partly because I recognize that for many …
a Dickensian tale of golems and chimney sweeps
Presenting another piece of middle-grade fiction that I couldn’t put down 🙂 Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster, by Jonathan Auxier published in 2018 by Amulet Books 344 pages + Author’s and Historical Notes Masterful storyteller Jonathan …
