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Crazy Horse and Custer: Born Enemies by S. D. Nelson
Crazy Horse and Custer: Born Enemies addresses the bloody and complex history of the U.S. Indian Wars with honesty and clarity. Crazy Horse and Custer: Born Enemies by S. D. Nelson. Abrams, 2021, 119 pages plus notes, index, and timeline. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 11-15 Two Men of Destiny George Armstrong Custer knew from boyhood that he was destined for greatness, and with good reason. Handsome, spirited, with boundless courage and even more boundless luck, he succeeded at everything he tried. His valor during America’s Civil War earned him admiring newspaper coverage and the rank of brigadier general at the age of 23—the youngest general…
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The Shelter and the Fence by Herman H. Finkelstein
The Shelter and the Fence relates the heartening history of how nearly 1000 Jewish refugees found welcome in America during World War II. The Shelter and the Fence: When 982 Holocaust Refugees Found Safe Haven in America by Norman H. Finkelstein. Chicago Review Press, 2021, 151 pages plus notes, index, and bibliography. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 9-12 “Causal Baggage” The US Transport ship Henry Gibbins, docking in New York Harbor on August 4, 1944, was half full of wounded servicemen returning home. The other cargo, callously labeled as “US Army Causal Baggage,” was just as human: 982 refugees from Italy. They were actually from all…
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Pets Are A Pleasure by Malcolm D Welshman
Hilarious Pets Are A Pleasure by Malcolm D Welshman is the wonderful fourth book in the Pets In A Pickle series but can be read as a stand-alone. Once more we follow the exploits of newly qualified vet Paul. We hear of his interactions with the animals within the practice and with their owners and […]
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At The Captain’s Table by Gervase Phinn
Witty, Engaging, Delightful At The Captain’s Table by Gervase Phinn is the most delightful contemporary novel giving the reader the taste of life on a Mediterranean cruise ship. This is the latest offering from Gervase Phinn and I enjoyed every minute of it. I found myself torn – wanting to read on, but not wanting […]
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The Life We Almost Had by Amelia Henley
Love Will Find A Way The Life We Almost Had by Amelia Henley is the most beautiful contemporary story about love.There are many types of love. We witness a romantic love between a couple. Life is not always plain sailing but we see that love goes deep. We see a marriage that is strained at […]
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Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatramen
When Kabir leaves jail at age nine, he enters a world unknown to him: the free world. A delicate and sensitive novel for middle grades. Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatramen. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2021. 272 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended For: Middle grades, ages 8-12 (note considerations below) My voice sticks in my throat like the wrong key in a lock. I can’t get any words out.~p. 56 Kabir learns, on his ninth birthday, that he’s now too old to stay in jail with his mother. Born behind bars, Kabir has never known any other home. How can he leave his Amma? She didn’t even commit…
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Dreaming Of Flight by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Sowing And Reaping Dreaming Of Flight by Catherine Ryan Hydeis the most delightful contemporary novel that completely warmed my heart. It is a hug in a book. The novel looks at the topic of grief. We all handle grief differently. There is no right or wrong way, you just have to get through it. Our […]
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My Own Lightning by Lauren Wolk
My Own Lightning follows the author’s previous Newbery-honored novel, Wolf Hollow, with a more hopeful conclusion. My Own Lightning by Lauren Wolk. Dutton, 2022, 307 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 The Trauma Last Year Annabelle McBride’s life is just now settling down to normal after the psychotic bully Betty Glengarry disturbed her family and rural community. Betty’s gone, but the memory of her aimless cruelty remains—especially what she did to Toby, the traumatized Great War veteran whom Annabelle befriended, now buried in Wolf Hollow. And someone else remains: Andy Woodberry, Betty’s accomplice in many of her mean schemes. These memories are not far from…
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Rip to the Rescue
Rip to the Rescue is a true-to-life World War II adventure featuring heroic teens and one heroic dog. Rip to the Rescue by Miriam Halahmy. Holiday House, 2022, 194 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 10-14 London Under Fire For 13-year-old Jack, there’s one good thing about the London Blitz: it’s given him a purpose. He’s tall for his age and Air Raid wardens haven’t questioned him too closely about it, so when German bombers are flying overhead and incendiary bombs splintering all around him, he’s pedaling messages from one fire station to another. The half-deafness that made him an outcast at school is a positive…
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*Watership Down by Richard Adams
Richard Adams’ classic tale employs noble themes of vision, courage, and sacrifice among some of the most humble and ordinary of animals in their quest for a home. *Watership Down: a Novel by Richard Adams. Scribner, 2005 (reprint). 476 pages. Reading Level: Teens, Ages 12-15 Recommended For: Ages 12 and up The scene is shocking: a peaceful meadow, once green with rolling hills, now churned up with mud and covered with blood and mangled fur. Is it a dream, or a vision of things to come? Fiver, the runt of his rabbit clan, is known as a dreamer. The larger rabbits don’t take him very seriously, but Hazel, Fiver’s older…
