The Emperor’s Ostrich, by Julie Berry (Roaring Brook Press), begins with a farmgirl looking for her runaway cow, and ends up as a story of growth, adventure and friendship. Tossed in with that set...

Thomas and the Dragon Queen, a lively middle-grade novel, has knights, castles, mighty war horses, princesses and dragons. The reader starts out thinking they know what they are getting from a book...

Everyone who writes has days when they wonder what they heck they are doing. On a good day you can move past that and put some words on a page. On a bad day, you binge watch Frankie and Grace on...

After reading Dragon with a Chocolate Heart and The Girl with the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis, I wonder that there aren’t more books that combine chocolate and dragons. That’s a winning and —...

Goodbye Stranger, by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books) is not a new book, but it is one of the most fully nuanced stories of middle school that I’ve read. The three main characters, Bridge, Emily and...

As a longtime fan of local author Patricia Hruby Powell, I’m pleased to review her latest book, Struttin’ with some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz (Charlesbridge). One...

It is not unusual for people to comment on my vocabulary. Although it is typically not critical, I feel squeamish. How can people not know these — to my mind — perfectly ordinary words and how can...

I don't remember how or where I head about this book, Performing Under Pressure. It's not the kind of book I typically am drawn to (give me a de-cluttering book any day!), but there were a few...

“It’s hard to talk to trees. We’re not big on chit chat. That’s not to say we can’t do amazing things, things you’ll probably never do. Cradle downy owlets. Steady flimsy tree forts....