Are you looking ahead to a Christmas that doesn’t involve extra family and friends as much as previous years’ celebrations? Perhaps you usually travel, but this year you’ll be home. We know that Christmas vacation may look a little … empty this year. We spend a lot of time before Christmas meditating on Advent and looking ahead to celebrating the Incarnation. But the days just after Christmas? What will you do when you are stuck at home and the “weather outside is frightful”? When the hubbub of Christmas preparation has died down, the presents are opened, the feast consumed? Bookish Christmas Fun The 12 Days of Christmas, Book-Style is one…

In Bee Fearless, Mikaila Ulmer tells how she grew a multimillion-dollar business out of a lemonade stand–but not by herself. Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid by Mikaila Ulmer with Brin Stevens. Putnam, 2020, 219 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 8-16 Mikaila was only four and a half when she got her big idea. The stimulus was a bee sting—actually two stings, within a week! They made her paranoid about going outside, but her parents sensibly suggested she face up to her fears by learning about bees. She gained more than she bargained for, mainly a real sympathy for the tiny creatures whose numbers were…

The Silver Arrow and The Popper Penguin Rescue, two brief novels for middle-graders, offer cozy thrills and a safe return home. The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman. Little, Brown, 2020, 259 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 6-12 as a read-aloud, 8-11 independently “Kate knew only two things about her Uncle Herbert: He was very rich and totally irresponsible.” She knows only these two things because that’s all her parents have told her. But she can’t help wondering, especially since her parents don’t seem to have much time for her and her brother Tom. It’s not that they don’t care; they’re just too busy to notice…

Wilson’s Outlaws of Time series is intense, time travel fun with plenty of action and philosophy thrown in. Great for young teens. Outlaws of Time Series by N. D. Wilson. Katherine Tegen Books. The Legend of Sam Miracle (2017)The Song of Glory and Ghost (2018)The Last of the Lost Boys (2018)Reading Level: Teens, ages 12-15 Recommended For: Teens, ages 12-15 Sam Miracle has strange dreams, dreams of other times and places. But they feel so real, and he dreams them while still awake! Turns out, they are real, or could be. Since time is relative, anything can happen—and does, sometimes more than once. Sam ends up an outlaw in the…

Looking for a new Christmas picture book to share with your own littles or give as a gift? Here are three to consider. A Night of Great Joy by Mary Engelbreit. Zonderkidz, 2020. Board book. A very child-friendly pageant presents the story of the nativity. Some details are delightful and amusing, like the shepherds “caring” for their sheep on a hillside (with two robed girls fighting over a stuffed sheep). Most of the key points are there: Mary and Joseph, the birth in the stable in Bethlehem, shepherds, angels, wise men, and worship. (Mention of the virginity is omitted, and we don’t learn the significance of this birth until later,…

In Chance: Escape from the Holocaust, a Caldecott-winning illustrator recalls his harrowing wartime childhood. Chance: Escape from the Holocaust by Uri Shulevitz. Farrar Strauss Giroux, 2020, 327 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: Ages 12-up Uri was only four on the first day of September, 1939, when “Nazi planes burst into the Warsaw skies.” The first time he and his mother attempted to leave their apartment after that, there was a gaping hole in the middle of the stairway, and only by crawling across is on a plank at every floor could the little boy reach street level. His father had already left Warsaw ahead of the…

The second book in a series faces a lot of pressure; here are two YA fantasy sequels that satisfy. Starsight by Brandon Sanderson, Delacorte Press, 2019. 480 pages. Reading Level: YA, ages 15-18 Recommended For: Ages 15 and up A new mission and more danger threaten Spensa and her home. While Spensa isn’t spewing quite as much sass in this sequel, the action and drama are high. Also, the alien world expands, with an array of interesting species and cultures though the gender fluidity of some of these species may be a consideration for some readers. Perfect for fans of sci-fi or futuristic fantasy such as the Lunar Chronicles. Sequel…

Picture books aren’t just for little kids! Picture books are every bit as enjoyable—and beneficial—for middle school kids. Use one (or all) of the books below to bring the Middle Ages to life for your middle schoolers. Check your local library for titles; you might need to get some of the older titles through inter-library loan, but all should be available in some form. Unless otherwise noted, these books really are best reserved for middle school students (ages 10 and up). These books contain more material—and more mature material—than your average picture book. Medieval Picture Books for Middle School The Adventures of Marco Polo by Russell Freedman and illustrated by…

Iggy learns not all bad deeds are created equal in this humorous tour of relative morality. The Best of Iggy by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sam Ricks. GpPutnam’s Sons, 2020, 125 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 7-11 “All of us do things we wish we hadn’t done.” So true—but you may never have realized that there are categories of those things, in ascending order of badness. To wit: 1) things we mostly just wish we’d never got in trouble for, 2) things we wish we hadn’t pushed as far as we did, and 3) things we really, completely, honestly wish we hadn’t done. Iggy Frangi,…