Goosebumps, the movie, released in 2015 by Sony Pictures. There are a few things that I need to say before I get to this movie. The first is that I do not allow my kids to read Goosebumps or watch the show, because they are too scary (and possibly I have some other reasons). That…
The Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel, which we read in Harper’s Frog and Toad Storybook Treasury, which includes all four Frog and Toad books: Frog and Toad Are Friends Frog and Toad Together Frog and Toad All Year Days with Frog and Toad Arnold Lobel, 1933-1987, was a children’s book illustrator and writer.…
Woah, this list took me a long time to scrape together. Please don’t make too much of it (as I have not read the vast majority of the books), but I wanted a place to start with titles that didn’t appear in my largely American- and Western European-heavy best books lists. This list is not…
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg. I read the copy pictured here, a paperback from Atheneum Books. From the Mixed-Up Files won the Newbery Medal in 1967. This childhood classic had flown completely below my radar for my whole life until my daughter read it for school. Then it just…
The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, by junior biographer Catherine Reef, and published fairly recently by Clarion Books in 2012. When I ordered this book with pretty good reviews and a charming cover, I had no real idea what it was. I mean, I guess I knew it was a…
The Land of Stories series, by Chris Colfer, published from 2012-2015 by Little Brown. The series consists of four books so far, and Colfer says the series will end with the fifth book, assumed to be published in 2016. I read the series because my daughter–and just about every other kid her age–is in to…
Continuing to list the Best Books and breaking it up by genre, we have now made our way to nonfiction and journalism. (Then later I added science, because honestly I love to read in this nonfiction category more than most the others.) Actually, I compiled this one long ago, but the length of the list…
I have long been intrigued by graphic novels. I have many times wandered to their section in the bookstore and run my finger along their spines, wondering which one I might like, pulling them out and flipping through the intense illustrations. But I have so little exposure to them, I really wouldn’t know where to…
Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee. I read a Kindle copy given to me on the day the book was released, in July 2015. For further comments and articles on this book, Harper Lee, and the hype surrounding all of it, see these blog entries: Haven Kimmel Month Postponed; What? Harper Lee Is Back…
This review is for two books by Charlotte Bronte: The Professor and Villette. I read them in the Wordsworth Classic version (with a blue cover, not black) and the Bantam Classic version, respectively. The books were originally published in 1857 and 1853. Although The Professor was written before Charlotte Bronte’s other novels, it was repeatedly rejected and…
Yes, I absolutely had to combine the three into one post. It was just too hard to find lists that accurately distinguished between children’s, middle grades, and young adult reads. In fact, there may be no accurately distinguishing between them. See post HERE to get an idea of what I mean. And on top of…
The middle grades Secret Series by Psuedonymous Bosch: The Name of This Book is Secret (2008); If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late (2009); This Book is Not Good for You (2010); This Isn’t What It Looks Like (2011); and You Have to Stop This (2012), in order. Illustrated by Gilbert Ford. Published by Little,…
The Total Money Makeover (2003, Thomas Nelson) and Complete Guide to Money (2011, Lampo Press), both by Dave Ramsey, the Financial Peace money guru. Let’s just do this up front: you either love the Dave Ramsey system or you hate it. You either jump in with both feet and hang on for dear life, or…
“Come on ride that train, and ride it! Woo-woot! Come on ride that train, and ride it! Woo-woot!” An oldie and a… ah, well. The point is, now you’ve got a dancing song in your head and you’re ready to celebrate the launch of The Night of One Hundred Thieves with me by boarding The…
The Sale Is Here. The Pre-order Is Here. The Reading Is Coming. The Festival Is Coming. The Launch is Here! Whew! No wonder I have hives. (Actually, I think that’s seasonal allergies.) The Night of One Hundred Thieves is a fantasy/medieval magic realism novel about thirty-two thieves and one magical ring. They all want it.…
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. First published under the pen name Ellis Bell in 1847. Widely considered one of the best novels in the English language, it is Emily’s only novel; she died the following year at age thirty. I read it in conjunction with the other Bronte sisters’ novels. See previous reviews here: Jane…
Another Best Books list, this time for the best history books of all time. This is one my husband and father-in-law would really enjoy. Personally, the titles are about to put me to sleep, so I think I’ll keep this list tucked away for when I need to do some research or am traveling somewhere.…
A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd and published by Scholastic Press in 2014. I loved this book. Going in I had absolutely no expectations, but was very, very pleasantly surprised. I liked it from the first and all the way through the end. Between the combination of magic and word-loving, the prose was light…
The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, by Jennifer Trafton and published in 2011 by Puffin Books. Illustrated by Brett Hellquist. So, this book has great reviews. On Amazon, it maintains five stars. On Goodreads, four. The truth is, I want to give it at least four stars, but I just don’t think I can.…
Well, not really. She just happened to write a sequel (back in the day) to To Kill a Mockingbird which she thought little of. She, and the world, believed the manuscript was lost and Lee decided to quit the writing life, all in the 50s. Sure enough, some sixty years later, her lawyer finds the…
the starving artist 