The beleaguered 2021 Summer Olympics are set to begin on July 23rd. There have been many quirks and setbacks in the history of the modern Olympics, but the devastating pandemic, year-long delay of the games, and debate over whether or …
Category: chapter/middle grade
summer-set novels and chapter books
Hi all! I meant to get this post out earlier this summer… …and then it slipped right off my plate. However, summer solstice was just yesterday so there’s lots of warm days ahead for these summer-set novels. I’ve got a …
fiction fancies
Recently I’ve been burrowing back in the library catalog, searching for fiction gems I’ve missed through the years. Today I’ve got a first sampling of what I’ve discovered, four delightfully different fantasies — check them out for reading aloud or …
spiffy & short — fiction for young readers and listeners
Today’s books deliver wonderful stories that are nicely suited to reading aloud to young children or handing to sturdy young readers. They’re too long to qualify for my 100-pages-and down lists yet they are fairly short and their style and …
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the persecuted Uyghur, art, and female empowerment…read your world
The Uyghur people, a predominantly Muslim people located in far northwestern China, have been spotlighted internationally in recent years due to their persecution by the Chinese government. In addition to repressive police surveillance, more than a million Uyghurs have been …
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the bird in me flies…a stunning portrait of an artist
The Bird in Me Flies, written and illustrated by Sara Lundberg, translated by B.J. Epstein first published in Sweden in 2017; English edition 2020 by Groundwood Books 120 pages This ravishingly beautiful, fictionalized biography of Swedish artist Berta Hansson has …
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the fierce urgency of now…Black History reads for teens
In Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech he presses the American people to confront racism, to recognize “the fierce urgency of now” at that juncture of history. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of …
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transported by fiction…middle grade reads to take you new places
Fiction is magical. It can transport us to distant lands or fantastical worlds. It can take us inside others’ minds, into lived experiences utterly distinct from our own. It can fling us into wild adventures providing a dash of spice …
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a winter’s tale…frosty favorites for all ages
Welcome to January, a month of fresh starts, frosty weather, and candlelight. Especially this year, it’s a great month to hunker down and protect others by staying cozy at home. To that end, I’ve got a blizzard of books set …
curl up with a good read!…fiction for all ages
It’s time for some transportive, stay-at-home reading!! Little by little my librarians are valiantly making their way through the process of prepping and distributing the tremendous backlog of 2020 titles that made their debut in the middle of a global …
