Beth Mitchell @bmitchellbooks-blog - Tumblr Blog

Book Review: All the Impossible Things

Larrabee told me three things about All the Impossible Things by Linsday Lackey:

It has lots of awesome animals, including a giant tortoise named Tuck (after Tuck Everlasting).

It would make me cry.

I would find it impossible to put down.

All were true.

All the Impossible Thingsis the story of 11-year-old Red. She’s been in foster care since the death of her grandmother and the arrest of her…

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#animals #book review #foster child #magical realism #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #Raising readers

Book Review: The Revenge of Magic

The Revenge of Magic is the first book in a new series by James Riley, author of the Story Thieves books. It’s action-packed and highly entertaining.

Fort Fitzgerald and his father are touring the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC when a giant monster bursts from the ground and attacks the city. Fort gets away safely, but his father is not so lucky.

A few months later, Fort is invited to a…

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#book review #fantasy #magic #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #Raising readers

Book Review: Over the Moon

Over the Moon by Natalie Lloyd is a hopeful and heart-warming fantasy. Larrabee and I both really liked it.

Dust is a fact of life for twelve-year-old Mallie. It covers the sky in the town of Coal Top and makes everyone feel sad. Gone are the days when weavers used to make cloth out of starlight and the people used to sing and dream of happy things.

All the mountain families are poor, but…

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#book review #fantasy #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #Raising readers

Book Review: The Dark Lord Clementine

The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horowitz is a charming and original fantasy for middle grade readers.

Twelve-year-old Clementine Morcerous is the only child of the Dark Lord Elithor. She lives all alone with her father in Castle Brack and spends her days learning dark magic and tending to the fire-breathing chickens and the poison apple orchard on the silent farm.

Then, her father is…

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#book review #fantasy #magic #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #reading with kids

Book Review: The Size of the Truth

The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith is an (excuse me) surprising book. It’s a surprisingly funny and surprisingly touching coming-of-age story. Larrabee and I both enjoyed it.

Sam Abernathy is an 11-year-old 8th grader (having skipped both 6th and 7th grade).

When he was four years old, he fell in an abandoned well, and it took three days for him to be rescued. As a result of that experience,…

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#book review #coming-of-age #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #middle school

Book Review: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia is a must-read for mythology fans. Mbalia draws characters from West African legends (such as Nyama and Anansi) and African-American folk tales (such as John Henry and Brer Rabbit) to create an exciting quest adventure story.

Seventh grader Tristan Strong doesn’t feel like a hero. He feels like a disappointment. He couldn’t save his best…

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#book review #fantasy #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #mythology

Book Review: Homerooms and Hall Passes

Tom O’Donnell’s Homerooms and Hall Passes has a hilarious premise. Five young adventurers from the realm of Bríandalör meet once a week to play H&H, a role-playing game set in J. A. Dewar Middle School.

Vela the paladin plays Valerie the Overachiever. Devis the thief plays Stinky the Class Clown. Thromdurr the barbarian plays Doug the Nerd. Sorrowshade the gloom elf assassin plays Melissa the…

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#book review #fantasy #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #middle school

Book Review: Maximillian Fly

I’d heard good things about Maximilian Fly by Angie Sage, but I didn’t expect that it would be my kind of book. It has a person-sized cockroach on the cover after all. Eww.

But I’ve been proved wrong. Maximillian (who is actually a person with cockroach DNA) is a gentle and charming character, and I highly recommend his story to fans of dystopian fiction, unusual narrators, and suspenseful…

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#book review #dystopian #fantasy #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade

Book Review: Love Sugar Magic

Anna Meriano’s Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble is a delightful fantasy full of family, friendship, magic, and baking.

Eleven-year-old Leonora Logroño is the youngest of five sisters. Her family owns a bakery, Amor y Azucár Pandadería, in Rose Hill, Texas.

Leo wants to help with the preparations for Dia de los Muertos, but her family insists that she wait until she’s fifteen. She sneaks into…

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#baking #book review #fantasy #magic #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #middle school

Book Review: Tunnel of Bones

Kids who are looking for a haunting read this week should check out Tunnel of Bones, the second book in Victoria Schwab’s City of Ghosts series.

Twelve-year-old Cassidy almost drowned last year. Ever since then, she’s been able to pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead and help restless spirits move on. And Jacob, the ghost who saved her life, has become her best friend.

Now…

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#book review #fantasy #ghost #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #Paris

Book Review: We're Not From Here

Book Review: We’re Not From Here

We’re Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey is a quick, funny read, and at the same time, it makes you think. It’s the story of a kid named Lan, who has to convince the aliens of Planet Choom to accept a spaceship full of human refugees.

At the beginning of the story, Lan and his family are living on Mars. Life on Earth is no longer an option. Life on Mars isn’t so great either. Lan and his friends try…

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#book review #humor #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #science fiction

Book Review: Small Spaces

When Halloween approaches, the kids at the library always start looking for spooky books. This year, I have a new recommendation for them: Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. It’s a quick read that combines chilling action sequences and a satisfying supernatural mystery.

One day, Sixth grader Ollie Adler sees a woman preparing to throw a book in the creek. She can’t bear to see a book destroyed, so…

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#book review #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #middle school #spooky

ARC Review: Race to the Sun

Listen up, Percy Jackson fans. You’re going to want to put Rebecca Roanhorse’s Race to the Sun on your wish list. It’s an action-packed quest adventure that draws on the Navajo legend of the Hero Twins.

Seventh grader Nizhoni Begay dreams of being a middle school superstar. But her one special talent is that she can recognize monsters. Unfortunately, no one believes her when she tells them that…

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#book review #fantasy #middle grade #mythology #NetGalley #RaceToTheSun

Book Review: Dragon Pearl

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee combines Korean mythology, science fiction, and mystery in a terrific adventure story. Larrabee and I both loved it.

Min is a 13-year-old fox spirit living on a poor planet with her mother, aunts, and cousins. When her older brother, a cadet in the Thousand Worlds Space Forces, is accused of deserting his post to search for the fabled Dragon Pearl, Min runs away from…

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#book review #fantasy #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #mythology #Raising readers #science fiction

Cybils Nominations Open

It’s time to nominate your favorite children’s and young adult books published in the past year for a Cybils Award!

The Cybils Awards are given by bloggers to recognize books that combine literary merit and kid appeal.

Anyone can nominate one book in each category between today and October 15.

The finalists will be announced on Jan. 1, and the winners will be announced on Feb. 14. (Pro tip: The…

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#Cybils

Book Review: The Reckless Club

In The Reckless Club by Beth Vrabel, five students arrive at an assisted living home on the last day of summer. They’ve all been invited by the principal to do a day of service instead of serving a suspension for their bad behavior on the last day of school.

At the beginning of the day, they know each other only by reputation. Lilith is the Drama Queen. Wes is the Flirt. Ally is the Athlete, Rex…

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#book review #Marvelous Middle Grade Monday #middle grade #middle school

Book Review: The Lost Girl

The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu has a terrific beginning: “The two sisters were alike in every way except for all the ways that they were different.”

Iris and Lark, we learn, are identical twins. They look alike, but they complement each other in personality. Iris is rational and organized. Lark is creative and intuitive. Iris speaks for Lark when she feels anxious, and Lark calms Iris down when she…

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#book review #fairy tale #fantasy #middle grade #sisters

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Beth Mitchell