In a debut novel reminiscent of Maud Hart Lovelace and Laura Ingalls Wilder, a young girl discovers new friends, family, and hope. *The Star that Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson. Holiday House, 2022. 224 pages. Reading Level: Teens, Ages 12-15 Recommended For: Ages 12 and up Living on Beaver Island wasn’t always easy for Norvia or her family. A flashback to 1910 and later memories recall that life was often laced with worry. But it was also full of stories and wonder and the beauty of nature. Norvia misses that life, living in Boyne City, Michigan. She misses her grandfather and his stories. But it is 1915. Her grandfather is…

Though not for every reader, The Rat Queen effectively exposes the harm caused to individual souls by hiding or excusing their own sins. The Rat Queen by Pete Hautman. Candlewick, 2022, 390 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 11-18 The Sin eater Annike (Annie) Klimas has been homeschooled ever since third grade, when she got into an argument with her teacher about her home country. Mr. Jackson insisted Litvania was not an actual country, but Annie knew it was. Both her parents emigrated from there! After a visit to the principal’s office her father withdrew her from the public school: “We have plenty of books at…

A Rover’s Story employs an unusual protagonist to celebrate science, space exploration, and humanity. A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga. Balzer+Bray, 2022, 294 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-15 The Mission “I awake to knowledge. My circuits fire. The room cheers. A loud sound, but it does not startle me.” In some ways the “birth” of a robot is like the birth of a child in a hospital: Bright lights, sudden loud voices, a crowd of sensations that will later be sorted into knowledge. Otherwise, the Mars Rover (soon to be named Resilience, or Res) is a collection of parts and circuitry made for a…

Home for Christmas is a lovely, literary collection of stories, old and new, that highlight the “spirit” of Christmas. Home for Christmas: Stories for Young and Old, edited by Miriam LeBlanc and illustrated by David Klein. Plough Publishing House, 2021. 339 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: Ages 10 and up An unknown carpenter built a miraculous staircase for a chapel in the Southwest. A curmudgeonly cribmaker had a Scrooge-like vision one night and changed his ways. Three young men helped a town see the true meaning of the three kings’ gifts. A young man opened his home to the poor and destitute. This lovely anthology includes…

Editor’s Note: I hope everyone enjoyed a happy Thanksgiving with family and good food. Everybody knows what happens next: Christmas! And, as it’s still Picture Book month, we’re sharing thoughts from Gladys Hunt on picture books to give and to keep. Some are actually better appreciated by adults than by kids. Read on . . . Picture books for adults? Originally published on the Tumblon website October 25, 2009 Picture books for adults? Yes, these are the books grown-ups keep on the coffee table or bring out to show at dinner parties. One of my friends charmed all her dinner guests by reading Kevin Henke’s Chrysanthemum, a story about the…