Prolific author for both children and adults, Ridley Pearson has written another edge-of-your-seat, action/adventure book in his Kingdom Keepers series. Book V of the series, The Shell Game, takes the five Kingdom Keepers–Finn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philby–on a Disney cruise infiltrated by Disney villains. Disney World is under seige and it’s up to the Kingdom Keepers to save the day. I’m not quite finished reading the book, but true to form, Ridley Pearson takes...
Take Charlotte’s Web, Carl Hiassen’s Hoot, and toss in a dash of The Frog Prince, and what do you get? The charming middle grade novel The Hop (Disney Hyperion 2012) by Sharelle Byars Moranville. The story begins with young Tad the toad: “The loamy tunnel had fallen around Tad during the long night of winter and padded him like a brown blanket. But now the earth was stirring. And even three feet down, the...
Maile Meloy’s (pronounced MY-lee like Miley Cyrus) middle-grade novel The Apothecary is a bit like Harry Potter meets the pharmacy meets the Cold War. Instead of wizards and spells you have apothecaries and magical elixirs, and instead of evil Voldemort you have governments bent on nuclear domination. The year is 1952. The place is London. Janie Scott has been forced to move from Los Angeles with her screenwriter parents who have been blacklisted. Soon she...
I heard Linda Sue Park speak at the Kansas City, KS SCBWI conference a few weeks ago. A Long Walk to Water is a great example of how great children’s literature changes lives. Beyond a moving story (about which I knew almost nothing–and I consider myself well-versed in current events), Linda Sue Park’s novel does an incredible job weaving together two separate story strands. Here’s her book trailer:
Who is the sage of the universe? Who can you go to for wisdom when all around you is confusion? Who can you trust? Yoda, of course. Tommy knows it, and his fellow sixth graders know it. Maybe Yoda appears as an origami puppet on the finger of uber-nerd Dwight, maybe Yoda talks in a weird voice that is the worst Yoda impression ever, maybe Dwight isn’t channeling the Force, whatever. The point is,...
Wouldn’t it be awesome to discover you had magical powers? Like Harry Potter—one day living a completely normal, nothing special kind of life, and the next day—poof! Off to Hogwarts. That’s exactly what happens to eleven-year old Abby Carnelia in Abby Carnelia’s One and Only Magical Power, a middle-grade novel by David Pogue (Roaring Brook Press, 2010). It’s another regular old evening helping mom make chef salad for dinner. Abby happens to pull her...
