Chess Rumble by G. Neri and illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson is one of those books that I hope people don’t judge based on the cover. I don’t think it’s the best representation of the book. It’s a book that I would have walked by without a second glance. But then of course, I’m a [...]
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson, a 1979 Newbery Honor, is such a sweet book with wonderfully sweet characters. Gilly Hopkins is going to stay with me for a long time. Gilly’s transformation that takes place between the opening and closing pages of this book is bittersweet. I felt happy and sad for [...]
Reading Hush by Jacqueline Woodson further confirms to me that she is one of my favorite authors. I think that some authors are storytellers but not good writers. Others may be good writers but not good storytellers. And it’s a beautiful thing when an author is both a talented storyteller and a writer. Woodson is [...]
I have only heard great things about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows and have been wanting to read it for some time. In all honesty, I must admit that it didn’t grab me right away. It took me more than three weeks to get past [...]
With a title like First Comes Loves, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third-World Adventure Changed My Life by Eve Brown-Waite I had no idea what I was expecting from this book. I had skimmed just enough of the reviews to know that other bloggers loved the [...]
