Ollie and the Starchaser by Tanya Southey takes children’s adventure into outer space in a delightful novel. Shy young Ollie lives in Australia with his loving, but busy parents and unfriendly, teasing sister. School is hard and lonely, and he’s often picked on. Ollie’s greatest...

"Be careful in what you pursue, lest you find yourself consumed by the object you desire." The Mirror Shop by Nicholas Bundock is about a middle-aged couple, Luke and Eve. They live an ideal life as he owns and operates a business, and she is...

Anne Frank House Amsterdam by Marko Kassenaar is a terrific guide book for any visitor to the Anne Frank House and Museum. For myself, having been to this historic site, this book enhances the experience. While other guide books give general highlights on this iconic...

Meet Harry, the kindest giraffe in the world, in the story Diary of a Giraffe: Harry and Bedtime by Jenny Mitchell and Eugenia Mitchell. This book is very appropriately subtitled Bedtime Story Picture Book Helping your Kids Overcome Fears before Sleep. All children are Harry’s...

Granny JJ Volume 2 by Joshua Cartwright is a delightful collection of stories detailing the adventures of a Guyanese grandmother. She is a detective with a strong sense of right and wrong, and she won’t let anyone get away with anything. This book contains three...

War Nightmares by Michael Montero is a memoir set in Madrid, Spain, in the midst of the bloody Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939. A seven-year-old boy is thrust into the struggle between the right-wing Nationals and the ruling left-wing Republican government that...

It was Halloween on the night Maddison was born ten years ago in the storybook Maddison: A Ten-Year-Old Witch with Magical Powers by Michael Montero. Maddison’s hair was shiny like a raven’s wings and her black eyes had the sparkle of diamonds. Maddison dreamed of...

The Silver Six is the second novel in the Uncanny Valley series by C.A. Gray. Readers are once again taken on an exciting adventure. Rebecca Cordeaux has learned that her mother is the mysterious leader M of the renegades. Considering that her mother had...

Arthur Strohmeier shares his childhood in the beautifully written book, Raising Arthur by Will Sherwood. This is a tale of a young boy born to German immigrant parents at a time when it was not easy to be of German descent. His father was already...

Despite the interference of her law enforcement ex-fiance, a pertinacious accountant attempts to solve a ghastly murder in the delightful sleuth mystery, So About the Money (Holly Price Mystery Series Book 1) by Cathy Perkins. When Holly Price's father skips out on his wife and...

Journey through the Island of Rügen: A Classical Journey by Arthur Strohmeier is a fresh rendition, a translation of the work of Johann Jacob Grümbke published in 1803, and a work of adventure with hints of sociology. In a collection of twelve letters, Grümbke describes...

The Wealth Elite: A Groundbreaking Study of the Psychology of the Super Rich by Dr. Rainer Zitelmann is a non-fiction book or rather a study on what makes some of the world’s wealthiest self-made millionaires stand out from other people, and what are their common...

Teenage angst, unreasonable parents, family secrets and ghosts – Lost on the Water by D.G. Driver has it all, and more. Fourteen-year-old Dannie is uprooted from her home in California and sent to spend the summer with her grandmother in rural Tennessee. Almost immediately she...

Journey to the Hidden Mountain by Victoria Heales is a fantastical tale that begins when young Violet spots what she believes is a colorful stone. When her older brother, Jude, almost steps on it, he realizes that it is an egg. They bring it into...

Winston, the tiger, and Henry, the bear, are looking for an adventure in Winston and Henry Do Art. Author Greta Von Szabo invites young readers to join the cuddly duo on their spectacular adventure. They decide to go see some art and ask their friend...

American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton by Lise Pearlman presents the trial of Huey Newton in a cleverly constructed style, filling readers in on the drama, the jury selection, and the outcome of the trial. Besides focusing on the Newton trial, the author makes...

Finding yourself in a whole new world would be a dream come true for most kids, particularly with the promise of adventure and missing school. Elizabeth Harding, however, would much rather stay at home or in the library. It’s hard enough dealing with the not-quite-there...

Unremembered: Tales of the Nearly Famous & the Not Quite Forgotten is a nonfiction collection of historical events and figures written by Ken Zurski. Zurski is a broadcaster, speaker and author whose books recreate the past. This book casts a spotlight on several dozen personalities...

The Boy Scout by Vanayssa Somers is a new kind of fairy tale. It has kings and queens and fairy wizards. And a shaman, with a magic carpet. Vanayssa Somers also uses time travel in a unique way. Another one of those...

Metaphase: Beauty in the Chaos by M Street took me by surprise. Metaphase is the second novel in M Street’s Mitosis series. In this installment, readers are given a flashback to Piper’s literal infancy and, soon afterward, it picks up where the first novel left...