Olive’s Ocean has a wistful, nostalgic ambiance. On the day before her family leaves for summer vacation, Martha is visited by the mother of a girl in her class who recently died. With Olive on her mind, Martha sees things a little differently. The Dagger Quick is a fast-past adventure of the swashbuckling variety. Vivid and thrilling. And Bliss is a family-centered story of the magical bakery variety. Recipes awry and heartwarming moments.
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When Zane’s nose leads him to a sweet-smelling town, he, Jovan, and Brielle encounter WARNING signs everywhere. Something Wild is in the woods. We’ve taken a peek behind the Byways header on several of books in the series. In the case of Byways Book #9, Through the Notches: A Zane Johns Adventure, the header hides a special secret. Continue reading BYWAYS: Behind the Header
Drizzle
Kathleen Van Cleve
Polly Peabody’s family lives on what can only be called a magical farm. Their house is a castle. Nobody can drown in their lake. The insects are surprisingly intelligent. And it rains every Monday at 1:00 p.m., without fail. Continue reading Drizzle
Through a series of autobiographical poems, Jacqueline revisits her childhood in Brown Girl Dreaming. Yes, it’s a peek into the civil rights moment, but even more, a celebration of family and beginnings and cherished things and stories. Beautiful. The Poet’s Dog is a short story about two lost children who are led to safety by a dog. And Inside Out & Back Again is the story of a Vietnamese family who leaves behind their war-torn home in Saigon. Poetic snippets give us glimpses of the home Ha loses, the fear and uncertainty, the hunger and grief, the desperation and frustration … and everything else that comes with the total displacement that allowed her, her mother, and her three brothers to survive.
Every one of the Byways Books includes beautiful full-color art by my illustrator, Hannah Christenson. Here’s a sampling from Book #1, On Your Marks: The Adventure Begins.
The Evil Wizard Smallbone
Delia Sherman
Neil runs away from the uncle who beats him and the cousin who bullies him and finds himself at the door of the Evil Wizard Smallbone. Getting away proves impossible Continue reading The Evil Wizard Smallbone
Rules was impossible for me to put down. It’s a sibling story & a friendship story. (Two of my favorite things!) Catherine makes a new friend in the waiting room at the office where her little brother David (who is autistic) goes for occupational therapy. Jason can’t talk, but Catherine steadily adds words to his vocabulary. In The Wednesday Wars, Holling Hoodhood is pretty sure that his teacher hates his guts. Especially when she decides to introduce him to Shakespeare. (Set during the Vietnam War.) And Mission Typhoon will prepare young readers for the rigors of surviving in the jungle during a typhoon. (Umm, do not make the mistake of reading this while eating. My bowl of rice coincided with the ant larva scene and … eww.)
Personal Touch. In the land of Liberty, citizens add their seal to official documents. A design’s seal is unique … and usually of personal significance to the person who carries it. Do you recognize this seal?
The Jacket turns a simple misunderstanding into one boy’s wrestling with his understanding of race, equality, and bigotry. The Cat Who Went to Heaven is a picturesque historical piece about a Japanese artist. It includes many simplified versions of stories about the life (and reincarnations) of Buddha. Drizzle is a delightful save-the-farm story that includes a magical rhubarb patch and regularly scheduled rainstorms.
C. J. Milbrandt 