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Summer Book Discussion Group for Middle School Students (Grades 5-8)
The job of a children’s librarian is never done. Just as I’ve finally caught my breath with a number of programs and projects, the summer planning is looming ahead of me. Each year we offer our rising 5th – 8th graders two different book discussion opportunities. The first is called…
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Seraphina
I had heard a lot about Seraphina before I picked it up to read. I really enjoyed the cover art with little color bust so much detail in a simple ink drawing. I do have to say that I’m quite particular about the fantasy books I read. They can’t be…
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Seeing Cinderella
Seeing Cinderella by Jenny Lundquist is fun, entertaining read – perfect for middle school girls, especially those who enjoy their fiction mixed with just a little fairy tale magic. When Callie Anderson, a sixth grader who already has frizzy hair, freckles, and finds that she has to…
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Starry River of the Sky
Starry River of the Sky is written by Grace Lin and is considered a companion novel to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. In both of these stories, Lin takes the Chinese folklore that she so desperately did not want to hear as a child and creates her own spin…
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What Came From the Stars
What Came From the Stars by Gary Schmidt is a high-fantasy story about a young boy, Tommy, who finds a magical necklace from another planet in his lunchbox and what ensues can only be explained as chaos. I had a really hard time with this book – I’m not much of…
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Splendors and Glooms
I’ve seen a number of reviews about this book and they piqued my curiousity because it seemed like from what I read people either really enjoyed the story or were not a fan. I could find very few reviews of the story that were in-between the two extremes. So I was…
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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
I picked up Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs after hearing about it from a number of fellow librarians and friends. When I started reading it, I had no idea what it was about, but really enjoyed the book. There are fanatastical characters, a suspenseful plot, and historical references…
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Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs written by Anne Ursu and illustrated by Erin Mcguire is a modern-day fairy tale based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen. This retelling is about two best friends Hazel and Jack who do everything together even when it’s deemed uncool by the other kids at school. They have wonderful imaginations,…