Four series I love came to an end this year. Two I’m okay with; one I’m uncertain about, ONE I AM IN COMPLETE DENIAL ABOUT YES JESSICA DAY GEORGE I AM LOOKING AT YOU. Although I am very sad (and in denial, DON’T LOOK AWAY WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU, JESSICA), fortunately for me [...]

There are some questions that children’s booksellers get asked over and over and over again, and one of them is “Do you have anything else like THE DOLL PEOPLE?”.
Beginning in February, my answer will be to hand them THE SIXTY-EIGHT ROOMS.
In the Art Institute of Chicago, there is a collection of sixty-eight miniature rooms called [...]

Reviewer: Sarah
Middle school, for many of us, was a time of great confusion.  There were training bras, and zits, and oops I forgot my deodorant, and oops the boy who used to be my friend is now my crush, and what do you mean I need glasses and braces and STIRRUP PANTS (why, early nineties, [...]

In addition to my fascination with camp books, I’ve always loved books about twins. Real-life twin sisters DeVillers and Roy have crafted a heap of fun with their novel TRADING FACES. The twin protagonists of this book couldn’t be less alike – we have Payton, the klutzy, overexcited fashionista dreaming of popularity and boys during [...]

Here’s the sad truth of it:  I am in the second round of braces.  I suffered through the first round while in middle school, and now, years later, I found myself back in the orthodontist’s chair with some wayward bottom teeth.  (Why couldn’t they have behaved as well as the top teeth?  Why?)  I’m currently [...]

I was thrilled to receive links to great trailers for two books the Kidliterate staff loved – MY ROTTEN LIFE and KILLER PIZZA. Take a look!

I’ve been a David Lubar fan from way back, and I’m always impressed by his ability to shift from genre to genre without missing a beat.  Contemporary teen novel?  DUNK.  Sci-fi teen novel?  HIDDEN TALENTS and its sequel, TRUE TALENTS.  Quirky early reader?  PUNISHED.  Bizarro middle-grade short stories that go from funny to creepy?  The [...]

I loved this book, and I think it’s mostly been missed. I am fairly sure it hasn’t been reviewed on any other blog, and I haven’t seen it talked about anywhere.  It’s one of those quiet little books that often slips through the cracks – just the kind of book that an independent bookseller will [...]

(Note from Melissa: this review is the first of what will be occasional reviews of graphic novels from my husband Greg, a lifelong comics nut who still picks up his books every Wednesday.)
In the past year, Neil Gaiman’s Coraline has become a cross-media extravaganza.  By now, most readers of this site should be [...]

Pay attention closely, because I am going to tell you the only thing that you need to know to make this book walk out of your store by the pile (or create a huge waiting list for it in your library):
It is about kids who figure out how to download superpowers on the internet.
That’s [...]