Shenandoah: Daughter of the Stars by Nancy Johnson took me back to the days of the Civil War when fourteen-year-old Hannah Yeager, her thirteen-year-old brother Willy and their friend Charlie Richison find themselves growing up all too quickly because of the war raging around them....

To be honest, when I selected this book for review I was expecting a somewhat "been there-done that" book. Author Katie Sparks pleasantly surprised me with her well-written prose and spunky characters. Reality Natalie is about a young girl, Natalie Greyson, who has high ambitions...

Starting middle school is something completely new. There’s a lot that changes when you go from elementary school to middle school and that’s part of the reason it scares so many people. Unfortunately, the choices you make in middle school will follow you for a...

The Dry is a fantasy written for young adults and preteens by Rebecca Nolen. It's set in Jeffersonville, Virginia in 1895, and there's been an extended drought that's badly affected harvests. Elliot Sweeney is 12 years old, and he's been living with his uncle since...

Sir Licksalot and The Bay Fools is a preteen and children’s fantasy book written by D.L. Carroll and illustrated by Teri Cuneo. Blaze and his friends have figured out a way to travel through a fountain in Blaze’s backyard. When they’re gone, time stops so...

Maurpikios Fiddler: The Magical Amethyst of Spes is the second installment of a fantasy series by M.J. Logan. In the first book, The True Meaning of Magic, readers are introduced to young Maurpikios Fiddler with a mission to save his own life and those of...

The Purple Girl is a wonderful fantasy by Audrey Kane. Violet was born with purple skin, eyes and hair. Everything she touches turns purple, but the color eventually disappears. She lives with her parents in a cottage surrounded by a protective wall. Violet is shunned...

The world Anni lives in has always seemed so normal and straightforward. Being the orphan girl at an all-girl’s school hasn’t always been easy but she’s always had Lexi and Mabel to help her get through it. All of a sudden, however, things are starting...

The R.O.B.I.N. by PJ Dunn is an outstanding story packed with suspense and action. A scientist designs a special miniature device that can be remotely controlled to kill and to spy, among other interesting features. The device looks like the common household fly. It’s the...

Brendon and Carson’s Ninja Training and Adventures by Rod P. Stoner is an interactive puzzle book which not only tells the story of Brendon and Carson (B and C) as they begin their training in Ninjutzu, but also integrates word search puzzles, crosswords and a...