One of my favorite books as a child was Snow Treasure, about children in Norway who smuggled millions of dollars worth of gold out of the country under the nose of the Nazi invaders. Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus is also about Norway after the Nazi invasion, but it's not as innocent as... Continue Reading →
Greenhorn
Greenhorn by Anna Olswanger is a deceptively small, short book. Although it has pictures on almost every page, and the story is short, it's topic is rather heavy. Aaron is a student at a yeshiva in New York in 1946. His classmates and he are asked to welcome nearly two dozen boys from Poland who... Continue Reading →
Found
Jonah has always knows he's adopted. It's never been that big of a deal, until now. Jonah discovers that he and his new friend Chip have both been getting strange messages, the first of which says "You are one of the missing." The quest to decipher the meaning of these messages involve Jonah, Chip and... Continue Reading →
The Castle in the Attic
My family first discovered The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop as an audio book. We listened to it in the van, as we drove to church, on errands or trips. We all loved it. William does not want Mrs. Phillips to leave. His British housekeeper is going home to England after living with... Continue Reading →
The True Gift
In The True Gift by Patricia MacLachlan, Lily and Liam are glad to be at their grandparents' farm, preparing for Christmas. They are looking forward to reading lots of books, visiting the "lilac library" in town, and baking Christmas cookies. But then Liam spots the White Cow in the meadow at Gran and Grandpa's farm. ... Continue Reading →
An Orange for Frankie
In the modern age of consumerism and materialism at Christmas, Patricia Polacco's An Orange for Frankie tells a beautiful story of gratefulness and generosity. Based upon Polacco's own family history, the picture book tells the story of Frankie, the youngest boy in a large family. It's close to Christmas during the Great Depression, and the... Continue Reading →
Little House Christmas
Generally, I am not a fan of repackaging beloved stories for marketing purposes, but I make an exception for the Little House story books. (See my review of other Little House story books here.) For the holidays, HarperCollins Publishers pulled out all the Christmas's Laura Ingalls Wilder described in some of her Little House on... Continue Reading →
Grandfather’s Journey
Author Allen Say takes readers on a very personal journey in Grandfather's Journey. Say recounts his grandfather's journey from Japan to America, the wonders he saw and the adventures he had wandering America's vast and differing land. Say's grandfather ended up moving to California. But as he grew older, he missed his homeland more and... Continue Reading →
My Little House books
When I first came across the My First Little House Books series, I was disgusted. Is there no end to repackaging, marketing and otherwise destroying my favorite books? But curiosity overcame my disgust and I picked up a variety of them and brought them home to read and evaluate. I was pleasantly surprised at... Continue Reading →
Death Cloud
The world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, is experiencing a resurgence in popularity - multiple TV shows, movies, and books. Now author Andrew Lane has delved into Holmes' teen years with his book Death Cloud, the first in a new series Sherlock Holmes: The Legend Begins. The 14-year-old Sherlock Holmes is forced to spend the... Continue Reading →
Cultivating Readers 