Books to Inspire, Thrill and Engage Children
The cover illustration of children riding stone winged lions through the air caught my attention. It looked interesting - and unusual. And Through the Skylight by Ian Baucom certainly was both interesting and unusual. Set in modern-day Venice, siblings Jared, Shireen and Miranda are stuck exploring every. single. art. exhibit. in this Italian city. Their... Continue Reading →
If you have only heard of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but haven't read any of their stories, please do! You don't need to read the original stories in the ancient English. Gerald Morris has done a great job of retelling the old stories for modern ears. The stories are a... Continue Reading →
Emily lives a very quiet life. She never runs, never shouts, and hardly plays. She lives with her mother and the wealthy Miss Luella Nash, who doesn't like noise at all. But then, Emily finds herself alone in the world, after a horrible carriage accident. And suddenly, everyone wants to make decisions for her -... Continue Reading →
I so thoroughly enjoyed The Cay by Theodore Taylor that when I discovered Timothy of the Cay, I pounced on it. "Kids, look!" I cried. "Remember The Cay? Here's a prequel-sequel." "What does that mean?" they asked. Good question, I thought. What is a prequel-sequel? It's a masterfully-written story, telling Timothy's story before he ended... Continue Reading →
We first met Rosalind in Small Acts of Amazing Courage, also by Gloria Whelan. In All My Noble Dreams and Then What Happens, we are back in India with Rosalind, her parents and her aunts during the turbulent times of the 1920's. Rosalind's 'adopted' baby is doing well in the orphanage, where her Aunt Louise... Continue Reading →
I almost squealed with delight when I discovered Hattie Ever After, the sequel to Kirby Larson's Hattie Big Sky. Of course, I immediately came home and devoured it, I was so anxious to find out what happens to Hattie after she leaves Montana. I appreciated Larson's treatment of Hattie - even though she loves a... Continue Reading →
Children ready for short chapter books will enjoy the I Survived... books by Lauren Tarshis (the author of Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree). These action-packed adventures tell the story of a child, usually a boy, who has survived a catastrophe - like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, 2005 Hurricane Katrina, etc. The stories... Continue Reading →
When I read this book aloud to my children, they were on the edge of their seats, begging me to keep reading. Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Barbara Cohen and Bahija Lovejoy tells the story of Buran, the daughter of a poor merchant in Baghdad. She has six other sisters, and her family despairs... Continue Reading →
Like every other 12-year-old, Jim Davis longs for thrills and adventures. And unwittingly, he finds it when he comes across a ring of pirates. These pirates aren't friendly, swash-buckling type. They are serious smugglers. At first, Jim finds them to be friendly and interesting. But his 'friend' Marah turns out to be more dangerous than... Continue Reading →
Eastern legends tell the story of Princess Shahrazad, who told the sultan a story every night for a 1,000 nights to prevent the Sultan from killing a new wife every night. What stories did she tell? Where did she find her stories? These questions are explored in Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher. Marjan catches Shahrazad's... Continue Reading →
Cultivating Readers 