13 year olds: ready to be done with middle school, but not yet in high school. Officially “teenagers,” but plenty of maturing still to do. 13 year olds straddle the “middle grades” and “young adult” line, not quite ready for some of the more mature content in many YA books but anxious to move out of the more childish stories of the broad middle grades label. It’s a stereotype, but true: girls at this age have an easier time than boys do when it comes to finding books to read. Why? For one, many classics that are accessible to this age group simply appeal more to girls than boys (Jane…

My Pencil and Me by Sara Varon. First Second, 2020, 34 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8 Recommended for: ages 5-7 Every writer knows the terror residing in a blank page. “It’s always so hard to get started,” our nameless protagonist laments. Fortunately, she has a secret weapon: her pencil. This cheerful chap oozes encouragement right out of the can: “C’mon, you can do this! You and I are a team!” Since this writer is also an illustrator, she starts with sketching ideas. Real characters at a baseball game are soon joined by imaginary characters. Nice start, but where’s the conflict? A dispute leads to a broken pencil, and…

Feinstein’s Sports Beat Mysteries are great fun for teen sports lovers. Sports Beat Mystery Series by John Feinstein. Yearling. Last Shot: Mystery at the Final FourVanishing Act: Mystery at the U. S. OpenCover-Up: Mystery at the Super BowlChange-Up: Mystery at the World SeriesThe Rivalry: Mystery at the Army-Navy GameRush for the Gold: Mystery at the OlympicsReading Level: Teens, ages 12-15 Recommended For: Teens, ages 12-15 Teen sports journalists Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson meet after they both win a prize for young journalists that brings them to the Final Four. But when they uncover a plot to throw the championship game, the two sleuths are mired in a mystery—and…

Three illustrated non-fiction books share fascinating information about ancient cultures, unusual wordsmiths, and careers you might not have considered. Ancient Romans and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide by Simonetta Carr. Chicago Review Press, 2019, 150 pages. Reading Level: ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-12 The ancient Romans, Etruscans, Celts, and Carthaginians left a rich record of their history and culture woven through stories, artifacts, and architecture. It is remarkable how much we can know about their daily lives. Ancient Romans and Their Neighbors consists of four parts, each containing brief chapters on history, architecture, clothing, writing, art and music, religion, government and warfare, daily life, and food. Carr has done…

The Vanderbeekers are back, with all the humor and good-heartedness that makes their family so loveable. The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found by Karina Yan Glasser. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020, 347 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 8-14 How happy we were to find the Vanderbeekers four years ago! The five siblings living with their parents in a comfortable, if slightly crowded, brownstone apartment in the heart of Harlem, were a happy yet realistic picture of love that triumphs over conflict. They’re back for an autumn story of more challenges. Twins Jessie and Isa are now 14, baby Lainey is 6, Oliver is 11 and shy Hyacinth…

Premeditated Myrtle introduces a precocious 12-year-old Victorian detective with a trusty governess sidekick. Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth Bunce. Algonquin Young Readers, 2020, 355 pages. Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 Introducing Myrtle Hardcastle, age 12, daughter of a prominent public solicitor (and eligible widower). Myrtle loves her father’s profession: “the way he pierced together individual bits of evidence into a clear, undeniable picture. It was like the way the planets fit together in the heavens, or the sixty-six elements in the Periodic Table. A natural order to the universe, life and death, good and evil, law and order.” Obviously not the typical well-bred young lady of…