I have been focusing my reading the past few months on middle-grade literature addressing the crisis of refugees and asylum seekers. It has been tough, frankly. Emotionally tough. My goal in doing so was to offer you an array of …
Tag: book clubs
fiction favorites…Breakout
Breakout, by Kate Messner published in 2018 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books 448 pages I flew through Kate Messner’s most recent middle-grade novel last week, and loved it for so many reasons. It’s an excellent story starring a believable, flawed, likeable …
wishes, wartime, and music as real as jam
The Orphan Band of Springdale, written by Anne Nesbet published in 2018 by Candlewick Press 435 pages Gusta Neubronner, age 11, has just had the rug pulled out from under her slightly-blurry feet. It’s 1941. For some reason Gusta …
the past is a good teacher…resources for talking about neo-Naziism
Neo-Naziism is not new in America. Yet the Charlottesville rally compelled us as a nation to grapple once again with this reprehensible brand of evil. Certainly to debate our responses to it. My dad was a young soldier in World …
Read More "the past is a good teacher…resources for talking about neo-Naziism"
a lollapalooza of a gift for young bookworms
Today I’ve got one more gift idea, a lollapalooza of a gift, one that makes Christmas happen all year long. It’s a children’s book-of-the-month club and, well, who wouldn’t want a present in the mailbox every month?! Terribly exciting. But also…not cheap. So …
