2008 middle grade fiction

Tag: 2008 middle grade fiction

December 31, 2008 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: Healing Water by Joyce Moyer Hostetter

Healing Water: A Hawaiian Story By Joyce Moyer Hostetter Calkins Creek (an imprint of Boyd Mills Press) $17.95 ISBN: 978-1-59078-514-0 Ages 10-14 On shelves now Leprosy just isn’t the hot topic of children’s historical fiction it could be. I mean, walk up to a kid and ask them what their primary associations with leprosy (today […]

December 18, 2008 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: Stella Stands Alone by A. LaFaye

Stella Stands Alone By A. LaFaye Simon and Schuster $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4169-1164-7 Ages 9-14 On shelves now There is nothing in this livelong world that I hate more than a dishonest historical novel. I mean it. Thumbtack the words “dishonest historical novel” to a dartboard and watch my aim fly true. I’m sure you know […]

November 18, 2008 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

Every Soul a Star By Wendy Mass Little, Brown and Company $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-316-03313-8 Ages 8-14 On shelves now Natural phenomena lend themselves to children’s literature. Picture books, for example, are filled with fireflies, rainbows, and shooting stars. Then the child readers get a little older and the phenomena get more complex. The death of […]

Review of the Day: Boots and Pieces by Emily Ecton

October 23, 2008 by Betsy Bird

Boots and Pieces By Emily Ecton Aladdin (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $5.99 ISBN: 978-1-4169-6167-3 Ages 8-12 On shelves now Straight-to-paperback works of fiction do not tend to win great and prestigious literary awards. The term “paperback writer” has never been a term one strives to attain (unless you happen to find yourself in […]

Review of the Day: The Mystery of the Fool and the Vanisher by David Ellwand and Ruth Ellwand

October 11, 2008 by Betsy Bird

The Mystery of the Fool and the Vanisher By David and Ruth Ellwand Candlewick Press $18.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-2096-7 Ages 8 and up On shelves now Sometimes I’ll give a speech at events or conferences about children’s books that break barriers. I’ll talk about titles that don’t neatly slot into award categories and, as a result, […]

Review of the Day: Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

May 9, 2008 by Betsy Bird

Diamond Willow By Helen Frost Farrar Straus Giroux $16.00 ISBN: 978-0-374-31776-8 Ages 8-14 On shelves now Poetry Friday, lovelies. Check out Writer 2b for the round-up. The sentence “I told you so!” is deeply satisfying. Granted, the satisfaction you feel when you say it only lasts a minute or two, but for a little while, […]

Review of the Day: Monster Blood Tattoo – The Foundling by D.M. Cornish

April 26, 2008 by Betsy Bird

Monster Blood Tattoo – Book One: Foundling By D.M. Cornish G.P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin imprint) $18.99 ISBN: 0-399-24638-X Ages 11 and up On shelves now By this point I think the nation’s readers of children’s fantasy novels have hit a kind of boredom plateau. You get a new fantasy on your desk and you have […]

Review of the Day: After Tupac & D Foster

February 19, 2008 by Betsy Bird

After Tupac and D Foster By Jacqueline Woodson G.P. Putnam’s Sons (division of Penguin) $15.99 ISBN: 978-399-24654-8 Ages 10-17 (though honestly I’m just spitballing here) On shelves now Some authors make writing reviews easy. You pick up their book, glance at the cover, and the words pour out of you like a hard spring rain. […]