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Tag: middle grade realistic fiction

September 1, 2022 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: Undercover Latina by Aya de León

Ms. de León takes a learning opportunity for kids and couches it in enough chase sequences and fistfights to almost make you forget how much information is crammed into this little package. Prepare for exciting nuance!!

August 5, 2022 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: The Kaya Girl by Mamle Wolo

From the food to the clothing, the weather to the history, this is a book worth discovering and adoring. Go on. Read it. You’ll feel lucky that you had.

July 14, 2022 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone by Tae Keller

Typical bully books lack nuance. This book? A deeply nuanced take, unafraid to declare loudly that when it comes to human nature, there are no easy answers.

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Review of the Day: Losers at the Center of the Galaxy by Mary Winn Heider

June 10, 2021 by Betsy Bird

In an era of information overload, Mary Winn Heider is the author who will lead us through the pandemonium into the light. Hand this to the kid that wants something smart and funny with a side order of turmoil for spice.

31 Days, 31 Lists: Great Middle Grade Novels of 2020

December 30, 2020 by Betsy Bird

The penultimate list. Maybe, with lists like this one, we can all try to end 2020 on a slightly less terrible note.

Review of the Day: King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

November 6, 2020 by Betsy Bird

I’m late to the party in celebrating this book, but now that I’m here, let’s dance until dawn! This is one book that kids and adults alike will read and never ever forget.

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Review of the Day: Wink by Rob Harrell

May 28, 2020 by Betsy Bird

They say, write what you know. And if what you know is how to lie on a steel table, your head screwed into place, a laser pointed at your face, that might be a good place to start. We live in dark times. How dark are they? SO dark that a book about a kid with a potentially deadly eye cancer is the bit of lighthearted levity we all need and crave.

Review of the Day: Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

May 7, 2020 by Betsy Bird

Not every 12-year-old is going to be ready for the abuse and pain addressed in Bradley’s latest. But for those kids that want a book can be honest with them about the world, written at their age-level, with funny parts and a happy ending where things get better, this is that book. It ain’t easy but it’s there for you.

Review of the Day: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

November 1, 2019 by Betsy Bird

It’s kind of gratifying to know that the story has been finding its audience. And what child wouldn’t find the notion of living on a school bus, tricked out like a long, yellow mobile home, enticing?

Review of the Day: The Usual Suspects by Maurice Broaddus

October 5, 2019 by Betsy Bird

You know why you haven’t heard more people talking about this book? Because nobody knows how to sell it. Well, sorry folks, but the secret is out now. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read for kids, and maybe the best school rated children’s novel I’ve encountered period. This, right here, is the book of our times.

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