• Lists

    Pairing Classics with Contemporary Titles

    classics to contemporary

    About five years ago I created a book list of classic middle grade titles and included a contemporary option that had a similar theme or feel. I loved the idea so much, I thought I’d expand the list by adding eight more classics paired with their own contemporary titles. Classic…

  • Lists

    Top Ten Tuesday: Romance Books Involving Food

    Top Ten Tuesday

    Feeding people is my love language. I love to cook, I’ll bake, but I truly love to cook and love to spend time in my kitchen. I’m the type of person that (tries) to meal plan every week with well-loved recipes and new options that make both my partner and…

  • Lists

    September Read Alouds

    September Read Alouds

    It’s time for another month’s read alouds to celebrate wacky, silly, important, and historical holidays! This list combines not only great fictional read alouds, but some nonfiction and biographies as well to teach kids about fun and interesting facts and people. I’m not taking all the credit, as the blog…

  • Lists

    Historical Fiction for Middle Grade Readers

    historical fiction for middle grade readers

    Today I’m sharing a list of books that are probably one of my favorite genres. And this has been a favorite genre since I was little. I grew up in the era of the original American Girls – Felicity, Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly. And I even remember when the company…

  • Lists

    Top Ten Tuesday: Great Families in Middle Grade

    Top Ten Tuesday

    Today’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is a relationship freebie – friendship, romance, family, etc. And so, today I’m sharing all about great families that you’ll find in middle grade novels. Many of these stories have large immediate families which reminds me of growing up with my own family. I am…

  • Lists

    15 Audiobooks for Teens

    Audiobooks for Teens

    If you have a teen who used to be an avid reader and has fallen out of the habit of reading because they are super busy with school, extracurriculars, a job, and more – have them try audiobooks! Audiobooks are a great way to read while also doing something else…

  • Lists

    Top Ten Tuesday: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

    Top Ten Tuesday

    My first instinct with this post was to head straight to picture books, after all, transportation-themed picture books are some of the most popular books available. But, I decided to take this theme in a little bit of a different direction and focus on road trips in middle grade novels.…

  • Lists

    18 Wordless Picture Books for Families

    Wordless Picture Books header

    I adore wordless picture books! I think they’re so fun and imaginative, but I also know that they can also be a little intimidating to families. How do you “read” a wordless book? How do you get the story to your kids and are you “reading” it correctly? But, I’m…

  • Lists

    Top Ten Tuesday: Middle Grade Series I Want to Read

    Top Ten Tuesday

    Today’s theme: Favorite Book in a Series was just too overwhelming for me to consider! I’m also extremely horrible at finishing series. One of two things happens – I either get super frustrated by one of the books in a series because it just doesn’t feel as strong as the…

  • Lists

    Audiobooks for Middle Grade Readers

    audiobooks for middle grade readers

    There are some wonderful benefits to listening to books being read aloud to us. I mean, let’s be honest, oral storytelling was a tool used for hundreds of years to share stories across generations. Check out this graphic to see all the amazing benefits that exist when stories are read…