*Chapter book for 7 to 10 year olds, fantasy *Young (flat) boy as main character *Rating: Kids that are fans of Flat Stanley and/or love Ninja stuff will enjoy this book! Short, short summary: Flat Stanley loves ninjas, and so does his brother, Arthur. They especially love movie star, Oda Nobu, and they decide to [...]

*Young adult (tween) book, set in Steampunk Victorian London, sort-of a mystery *Young hunchback as main character *Rating: The Hunchback Assignments is a fascinating book with two lovable main characters, a fascinating setting, and evil villains who may keep you up at night! Short, short summary: Modo, a young hunchback, is rescued by Mr. Socrates [...]

photo by DeusXFlorida www.flickr.com *Nonfiction picture book about baseball *Rating: Baseball From A to Z presents a creative way to teach children baseball vocabulary with fun illustrations. Your baseball nuts will love it! Short, short summary: Michael P. Spradin takes each letter of the alphabet and finds a baseball vocabulary word to go with it. [...]

I am happy to be hosting sisters, Hilda and Emily Demuth, on my blog today to discuss their wonderful middle-grade, historical fiction novel, Plank Road Summer. Here’s a description of the book from Amazon.com: ” Welcome to the adventures of two 13-year-olds, Katie McEachron and her friend Florence Mather, who experience an exciting summer in [...]

photo by chefranden www.flickr.com *Chapter book, contemporary fiction *Elementary-school aged girl as main character *Rating: Amber Brown Sees Red by Paula Danzinger is a terrific book for children in first through third grade who love a series and love a quirky character like Amber! Short, short summary: Amber Brown is seeing red! She’s mad–she’s madder [...]

*Picture book for preschoolers through first graders *Three fun and adorable children as main characters *Rating: Don’t Grown-Ups Ever Have Fun? will make you wish you could stay young forever and remind you to be young-at-heart! Short, short summary: In Jamie Harper’s first picture book, she tells the story of three children who cannot understand [...]

photo by carrera911e *Picture book for preschoolers through anyone who loves dogs! *A very loyal, little dog as the main character *Rating: Always by Alison McGhee is such a cute book for dog lovers. Perfect for kids–but also a good gift book for dog owners. Short, short summary: In Always, a small dog tells “his” [...]

photo by mrbill www.flickr.com On Saturday, April 24, I am involved in a very exciting event in St. Peters, Missouri with a writing group I belong to–Saturday Writers. Every year, we sponsor free writing contests for kids and teens; and this Saturday, we hand out the awards. Basically, we have a short story/poetry contest for [...]

photo by pink sherbert www.flickr.com Clara Gillow Clark is holding a writing contest for students in grades six through ten. The contest goes until April 9. To enter the contest, you write a 250-word entry to one of these prompts from a book called Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter: Writing Prompt #1: [...]

photo by shoshanah www.flickr.com *Picture book for preschoolers through second graders *Princess Bess as main character Rating: Little girls who love princesses will love Princess Bess Gets Dressed, especially little girls who love princesses and underwear! (Now, I’ve peaked your interest, right?) Short, short summary: Princess Bess has a busy schedule. She has to dine [...]