The days are getting shorter and the wind is getting cooler, meaning it's time for a bumper crop of fall book releases! Here are just a few of my faves, as seen on my CTV Your Morning segment on September 17, 2020. Big thank you to host Anne-Marie Mediwake and her shout-out to my YA … Continue reading As Seen on CTV: Fresh Fall Reads for Kids
I read a LOT of fab YA this year, some of which I won't go into here but you should definitely pick up (A Torch Against the Night! Empire of Storms! The Sun is Also a Star!). This list is by no means exhaustive, but here are some YA titles that made me think, slipped … Continue reading What I Read in 2016: YA
Last week I got to talk to one of my favourite people, Ann Foster, about middle grade fiction. When not working at the Saskatoon Public Library recco-ing kids and teen books, she is writing about fashion in TV over at You Know You Love Fashion (currently chronicling the enviable wardrobe of Phryne Fisher) and spearheading a … Continue reading Middle Grade Gift Suggestions 2016
Canadian author Anna Humphrey first came across my radar when I read (and loved) her funny, charming, Sarah Dessen-esque YA novel Rhymes With Cupid. Anna is now the author of four books for YA and middle grade readers and despite the range in age, the one thing they all have in common is Anna's deft, light … Continue reading Middle Grade Monday: Q&A with Anna Humphrey
Cat is not at all excited to be moving to foggy, seaside Bahia de la Luna, particularly when she learns that it is a sort of capital for ghosts. But doctors have agreed that it is a better place for her sister Maya, who has Cystic Fibrosis. Cat is torn between wanting to make new … Continue reading Middle Grade Monday: Ghosts
It's awkward enough watching your parent date, but the situation is much, much worse when the daughter of your parent's new SO is not only the same age but has the same name as you. Such is the premise for Two Naomis, a charming story about Naomi E and Naomi M (who ends up taking … Continue reading Middle Grade Monday: Two Naomis
This has already been a staggeringly good year for middle grade (don't call it a comeback), with personal favourites such as Raymie Nightingale, The Wild Robot, Look Out for the Fitzgerald Trouts, and Pax garnering all sorts of buzz and attention. Here is a sampling of the new kids on the block this fall: Ghosts … Continue reading Middle Grade Monday: Fall 2016 Preview
All over the country there are debates about whether the needs of transgender children are being met in our school systems. I'm thinking particularly of this recent case in Edmonton, in which the mother of a seven year old transgender girl is fighting for her daughter's right to use the girls' washroom. The Catholic school … Continue reading Some Book: George
A Rebecca Stead book is always unexpected and always a delight. I very much enjoyed her Northern fantasy First Light and remember hand-selling the heck out of it to die-hard City of Ember fans in my bookseller days. Then I read When You Reach Me and was struck by how timeless it felt, despite being … Continue reading Middle Grade Monday: Goodbye Stranger
This is one of those deceiving middle grade novels that seems straight forward and charming but is so deeply layered that the minute you try to examine it you are left with the conclusion that Jenni Holm is a genius and mere mortals should not try to dissect her work. Ellie does not know what … Continue reading Middle Grade Monday: The Fourteenth Goldfish
