Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Ashley Herring Blake Reviewed by Alisun Meet Hazel Bly. Hazel watches her little sister Peach like a hawk, doesn’t like risk or danger, and carries a first aid kit with her wherever she goes. Hazel suffers from crippling anxiety and worry. This is made painfully clear in […]
Tag: Middle Grades Novel
The Harlem Charade
Written by Natasha Tarpley Reviewed by Melody Falleur-Fettig (2021-2022) From the acclaimed author, Natasha Tarpley, comes a book about the city of Harlem, its rich cultural history, and the modern capitalistic forces that threaten to destroy it. The Harlem Charade is a chapter book best suited for middle grade but an acceptable read for grades […]
Sal & Gabi Break the Universe
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe By Carlos Hernandez Guest Review by Sally Castillo (Lewis & Clark MAT 2021-2022) Sal and Gabi Break the Universe starts with an ordinary “new kid at school” plot device. Sal Vidón, who recently moved to Miami from Connecticut, gets sent to the Principal’s office on his third day […]
Starfish
Written by Lisa Fipps Reviewed by Erin Healy (2021-2022) “But every time I try to stand up for myself, the words get stuck in my throat, like a giant glob of peanut butter. Besides, if they even listened, They’d just snap back, ‘If you don’t like being teased, Lose weight.’” If you have ever lived […]
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Written and Illustrated by Grace Lin Reviewed by Julia Marlin Minli and her parents live in a village in the Valley of Fruitless Mountain where everything is dry and faded brown. All day, Minli and her parents work in the fields, trying to “coax rice out of the stubborn land.” Minli’s only escape from the […]
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Woodson reflects on her childhood in the south in the 1960’s and 70’s. The food, the family, the culture, the weather. Though she lives in a community where her family often lives in fear and faces degradation at the hands of those living in neighboring white neighborhoods, she learns to feel immense pride and strength […]
Out Of My Mind
Out Of My Mind Written By Sharon M. Draper Out Of My Mind is a beautiful fictional story from Sharon M. Draper about the life, triumphs, and struggles of an almost 11 year old Melody Brooks, a bright young girl with Cerebral Palsy. This 33 chapter long story paints a very clear picture of Melodys […]
Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World
Gone is not a word Ivy thought she would ever use to describe a house. A person, maybe. Summer vacation. The last of the chocolate cake. But not a house. And certainly not her house.
The Might Heart of Sunny St. James
Written by Ashley Herring Blake Reviewed by Nicolina Hansen (2019-2020) Sunny St. James is a 12-year-old girl who hasn’t had her first kiss yet–and she’s due for a heart transplant any day. Among other items on her list of new life activities once she gets her new heart is to find a boy to kiss. […]
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia
I love middle grades novels and I am used to reading the very best ones. I don’t read them as books for children, I read and enjoy them the way I do any book — because they tell good stories, because they introduce me to characters that I want to know, and because they make […]