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,…

The hero of Fly on the Wall hatches a daring scheme to remake his self-image. Fly on the Wall by Remy Lai. Henry Holt, 2020, 329 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-14 Listen up, fellow kids: in your hands you hold the secret manual of Lone Wanderer Henry Khoo, age 12, whose family still thinks he’s a WAH WAH WAH baby and “hovers over him so much he’s like a heliport.” But he’s out to prove them all wrong by embarking on the greatest adventure everrr, just like the heroes of those Chinese martial-arts dramas his grandma is always watching on DVD. That is, all…

Picture book biographies are one of my favorite categories of picture books. Today, I have three new ones for you: a childlike look at Beatrix Potter, a thorough look at the first men to climb Everest, and a horse whose claim to fame is how many races he lost. Saving the Countryside: The Story of Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit by Linda Marshall and illustrated by Ilaria Urbinati. little bee books, 2020. 40 pages. Most biographies of Beatrix Potter focus primarily on her stories, how she invented Peter Rabbit. This biography spends more time on Beatrix’s desire to do something important despite the strictures of her Victorian society. For instance,…