• Reviews

    Book Review: Race to the Bottom of the Sea

    Synopsis: Fidelia loves nothing more than spending time with her marine biologist parents, Dr. and Dr. Quail on the water tagging sharks, gathering new specimens and inventing new machines. But, when her parents die in a tragic accident in Fidelia’s own submarine invention, she is racked with guilt and grief. Soon,…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: Orphan Island

    How do I even begin? Every year a mysterious boat lands on the island with a young child. The young child gets off the boat, the oldest child on the island gets on the boat and disappears into the midst. The nine children on the island don’t ask questions –…

  • Reviews

    Beholding Bee

    Beholding Bee written by Kimberly Newton Fusco is about orphaned “Bee” who lives and works in a traveling carnival.  She was born with a birthmark on her face in the shape of a diamond and is often faced with the taunts and jeers of the children (and adults) who come…

  • Reviews

    A Tangle of Knots

    A Tangle of Knots written by Lisa Graff is a mysterious puzzle with just a touch of magic that is told in multiple viewpoints.  The reader is introduced to 11-year-old Cady, an orphan with a special Talent for baking (especially cakes).  She soon becomes mixed up in a lost luggage emporium,…

  • Reviews

    The Great Unexpected

    “I had big thoughts to match the big wind. I wondered if we find the people we need when we need them. I wondered if we attract our future by some sort of invisible force, or if we are drawn to it by a similar force. I felt I was…

  • Reviews

    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…

  • Reviews

    The False Prince

    The False Prince written by Jennifer A. Neilsen is an exciting new book, the first in a trilogy ( The Ascendance Trilogy), that stars characters so well written, it feels like you know them in real-life.  The book is described by Booklist as a action-oriented fantasy, but it’s less fantasy and…