Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan — Book Recommendation

By Beth | September 24, 2018

Title: Amina’s Voice Author: Hena Khan Publisher: New York: Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster Children’s, 2017 Genre: Middle Grade Fiction Audience Age: 9 to 12 Themes/Topics: empowerment, racism, feeling comfortable with who you are, lifting up your voice Opening Sentences: Something sharp pokes me in the rib. “You should totally sign up for a solo,” Soojin…

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Finding Grace, by Becky Citra — Middle Grade Book Recommendation

By Beth | September 18, 2014 |

Title: Finding Grace (A Gutsy Girl Book) Author: Becky Citra Publisher: Toronto: Second Story Press, 2014. Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, set in 1954 Audience Age: 8-12 Themes/Topics: Friendship, secrets, families Opening Sentences: Dear Grace, I have been accused of a crime! Someone stole Nancy Collier’s brand-new glow-in-the-dark yo-yo today. Miss Noonan did a desk check.…

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Moving Forward — By Asking Questions

By Beth | May 25, 2014 |

If you’re on Facebook at all regularly, you’ll no doubt have seen more than one of the plethora of quizzes and questionnaires that are so popular there. I admit I have fun with them. You may be interested to know that if I were a children’s book character, I’d be Max from Where the Wild…

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Under One Roof by Barry Martin (with Philip Lerman)

By Beth | May 22, 2014 |

When I brought this book home from the library, and even as I read it, I didn’t realize until I got to the last pages that I was not reading a work of fiction. It seemed too incredible to be true, but Under One Roof: Lessons I Learned from a Tough Old Woman in a…

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In the Spotlight — Teresa Robeson and Fiction for a Cause

By Beth | April 3, 2014 |

My friend Teresa Robeson is multi-talented. She’s a homeschooler, a homesteader, and a writer in several genres. And you should see her sketches of birds! I got to know her because of her interest in writing for kids, and particularly writing picture books, but the books we’re focusing the spotlight on today are collections of…

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Jean Little, Great Canadian Author

By Beth | October 20, 2013 |

Doing the research for this post was a joy. Jean Little is one of my favorite authors, a widely acclaimed author of both picture books and middle grade novels. She was born in Taiwan of Canadian parents in 1932, which makes her 81 — a fact which boggles my mind just a little. The family…

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