This Makes Me So Happy!

This Makes Me So Happy!

This Makes Me So Happy! This review made me so happy because it begins with the premise I’ve always embraced; that the most interesting stories are not those of famous people but those people who fly under the radar but have had amazing lives.  It begins like...
So Many Books, So Little Space

So Many Books, So Little Space

So Many Books, So Little Space A Song From Somewhere Else and Summer of Lost and Found This week I’m reviewing two middle-grade books that, while very different, both have supernatural elements to them. The first one, A Song from Somewhere Else, by A. F. Harrold, is...
Do We Need Sensitivity Readers?

Do We Need Sensitivity Readers?

Do We Need Sensitivity Readers? This morning I was studying picture books. I read one about Bill Pickett, an African-American cowboy who invented bulldogging, one about Joy Chen, another about a famous singer and civil rights activist, Miriam Makeba. In each case I...
Reviewing Middle Grade Books

Reviewing Middle Grade Books

Reviewing Middle Grade Books Recently I got the opportunity to begin reviewing middle grade books for my local paper, the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. I leaped at the chance, not for the fame or fortune, but because it dovetailed with my desire to read more middle...