Quick Kids’ Review: NIGHTBIRD by Alice Hoffman

April 4, 2015April 4, 2015 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I absolutely adored this middle grade novel which I got from Net Galley.

Twig and her family live in Sidwell, Massachusetts, but her life is far from ordinary. Her brother is kept hidden because he bears the effect of a curse put upon the family years ago by witchcraft. When two young girls move in next door Twig wants to befriend them, but doing so may put her brother at risk. Even worse, the girls are the descendants of the witch who first cursed Twig’s family. Can Twig and her friends reverse the curse before it is too late?

Loved loved loved this beautifully written story about love, family, and self-acceptance.

Highly recommended!

Thank you, Net Galley and Random House, for my copy.

BLOG TOUR == YA/Kids’ Review: ENCHANTMENT LAKE by Margi Preus and GIVEAWAY!

March 30, 2015April 21, 2019 / drbethnolan / 8 Comments

I grabbed this fun YA mystery off of Net Galley a while ago, but then was asked to take part in the blog tour for it!

In this story, seventeen year old Francie leaves New York to go to a remote part of Minnesota to help her elderly great aunts whose neighbors seem to be dying every time you turn around. Francie is an actress who once played a detective on television, so everyone refers to her as “that detective”. Eventually she gives up correcting them. She’s dealing with land developers, pushy summer people, legends of treasure, and some dark secrets from her family’s past that she never knew. While she works to figure out who is behind the sudden deaths, Francie realizes that she might be next!

This was a cute book – reminded me of Nancy Drew or something similar. Francie is a brave and intelligent young woman, but she had me laughing at times, too. Perhaps this is the start of a series? I can’t wait to introduce my daughter to Francie.

This book is published by University of Minnesota Press. Author Margi Preus is the New York Times bestselling author of books for young readers, including Shadow on the Mountain, West of the Moon, and Heart of a Samurai, which won a Newberry Honor.

Here’s a picture of Ms. Preus, credit to Shirleen Hieb Photography:

But wait — there’s more!

My friends at University of Minnesota Press is offering not one, not two, but THREE giveaway copies — SIGNED by Ms. Preus (hey – I want one!) to winners from the U.S. and/or CANADA. Yipee!!

Leave me a comment below (one entry per person) and I will use random.org to pick winners. Enter up until 12:01 am on April 19 – because that’s my birthday and this will be my gift to you!! 🙂

YA Review: WHEN by Victoria Laurie

January 9, 2015April 21, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I pulled this title from Net Galley a while back as I’m a sucker for a supernatural story!

In WHEN, Maddie Flynn is a typical teenager who has the unique ability to see dates on people’s foreheads. She comes to realize that what she is seeing is their “death date” – the day they will die. As Maddie grows, her somewhat destitute mother sets up shop to make quick money with Maddie seeing clients to tell them their (or a loved one in a picture) death dates. Unfortunately, Maddie’s predicting gets her in trouble when she predicts a child’s death and that seemingly fine child soon comes up missing. She and her best friend find themselves caught up in the police investigation of the missing boy and several others. With the police more than skeptical of her abilities and no other real suspects, Maddie has to solve the mystery before time runs out.

I really liked this book! Maddie was an interesting and strong character, and I found the whole concept of seeing death dates on people’s foreheads as a unique and clever twist. I would have loved this book as a teenager!

Kids’ Review: BLACKWATER BEN by William Durbin

January 2, 2015April 21, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I received a copy of BLACKWATER BEN a while ago from my friends at University of Minnesota Press. They do wonderful books for young readers (usually historical fiction) that are rooted in Minnesota history and I’ve loved everything they have ever sent me. I have to apologize in that I managed to lose this book TWICE – a record for me – and it has taken forever for me to finish and review it!

BLACKWATER BEN focuses on young Ben Ward, who, in 1898, joins his father at a lumbering camp in the Minnesota woods to work as a cook’s helper. The life of the lumberjack is not an easy one, and Ben has to learn to navigate the different personalities of the crew, along with the somewhat distant personality of his widowed father. Along the way, a scrappy young orphan boy, Nevers, joins them, and Ben has a friend to help him work (and play). Ben wants to know more about his mother, though, and his father is not very forthcoming; a friendship with one of the men at the camp, though, may give him more information.

I really enjoyed this book, which is a great pick for middle grade readers. Ben has various adventures, but throughout, the reader learns a lot about life in the camps at that time. I loved the differing personalities of the various men at the camp. That was a hard life!

I thank University of Minnesota Press for my copy. I think this would make a great book for a school library or to be used in class.

You can find this book at an indie near you (I am an Indie Bound Affiliate):

Find Blackwater Ben at an Indie

YA Review: ENLIGHTENED by A.L. Waddington (The E.V.E. Series – Book 2)

December 12, 2014April 22, 2019 / drbethnolan / 1 Comment

I’m happy today to be part of the blog tour through Booktrope for ENLIGHTENED, Book 2 of the E.V.E. series, written by A.L. Waddington.

The E.V.E. series is a YA series about a teenager who exists in parallel dimensions. Jocelyn Timmons is a fairly typical senior in high school when she meets new neighbor and fellow senior Jackson. His presence throws her into a sense of vertigo and illness. Soon she realizes that she and Jackson knew each other in the 1800’s as well as now. See my review of the first book, ESSENCE, here:

https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/quick-ya-review-essence-by-a-l-waddington-book-one-of-the-e-v-e-series/

In Book 2, Jocelyn is still struggling with completely understanding her life in the past (or parallel, if you will). She and Jackson express their love for each other and decide to marry after her high school graduation. Not surprisingly, this is met with a lot of consternation and concern from her parents, especially her mom and brother, and her friends. Jocelyn insists that she will continue on to college and just do it as a married woman. Much of the book is focused on the upset and angst she feels over this decision, her battle with her family, and then her upset with Jackson. A photo album from the past, found in her uncle’s things, also adds to her knowledge of the past.

I enjoy reading this series and I know I would have liked it when I was in high school. That said, this book moved a bit slowly for me. Poor Jocelyn pretty much was miserable in both her lives. In her current 2009 life she was a lot more aware of her life in the past, which helped her to understand and not be quite so upset. I have to say, too, that I can understand her family’s distress over her announcing her marriage to a boy she’s hardly known for long. It wasn’t all that long ago that getting married at 18 or 19 was commonplace; however, by today’s standards, it is much more rare. In any case, Jocelyn struggles with her desires and her knowledge of her time travel (which her family doesn’t know about). I am reading the next installment now so that I can find out how Jocelyn ends up (and where!).

Thanks, Booktrope, for making me a stop on your blog tour and for my copy!

Three for Christmas — from the Ho Ho Ho Readathon

November 12, 2014April 22, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I had a great time reading and participating in the Ho Ho Ho Holiday Readathon this past week! I set a goal of three books for myself, and I easily reached it (I also finished two more to review and started a third – guess I had time to read!).

The first book I read was A NEW YORK CHRISTMAS by Anne Perry. In this novel (and apparently Anne Perry writes a Christmas novel every year) it is 1904 and Jemima Pitt has accompanied her friend Phinny to New York from England for Phinny’s marriage. Poor Phinny doesn’t have much family and her mother left her while she was quite young under what seems to be mysterious and unfavorable circumstances. Jemima is hardly there when a dead body shows up – Phinny’s long-lost mother – and Jemima appears to be the main suspect in her killing (though with little motive). Determined to prove her innocence, Jemima joins forces with local policeman Patrick Flannery to figure out who the real killer is.

This was a fun read – and very quick for me (a few hours – less than 200 pages). Call me stupid but I never could figure out exactly WHY the murder took place and what it served. It seemed to stir up a lot of trouble, that’s for sure.

This was my first Anne Perry book, but she has a legion of fans and several other Christmas stories.

Thanks, Net Galley, for my copy!

Next I read CHRISTMAS TRUCE by Aaron Shepard. This was a children’s picture book that I got a pdf of from Net Galley. It tells the story of the WWI Christmas truce in fighting between the front lines of British and German men. This was a beautiful (and true) tale, with lovely illustrations by Wendy Edelson. Great for a read aloud to children!

Finally, from Blogging for Books, I got The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith. I just loved this book. This author lost her husband unexpectedly in the fall of 1999. They had three children, aged 10 to 17. That Christmas was incredibly painful and difficult for them. This true story tells how some unknown “true friends” delivered to them small surprise gifts each day leading up to Christmas and, in essence, helped them to feel the spirit of Christmas again. Not only was this a heart-wrenching read, especially because the grief was so poignant on these pages, but it was so inspiring to read the end and how the whole 13 gifts tradition got started, why, and how. What a beautiful and inspiring story — truly a favorite Christmas read for me.

Quick YA review: Deadly Little Sins by Kara Taylor

November 4, 2014April 22, 2019 / drbethnolan / 1 Comment

I just loved this Prep School Confidential series! DEADLY LITTLE SINS is the third and final book in the series. This time Anne Dowling is once again chasing mysteries and killers at her Massachusetts prep school. Picking up where the last book left off, Anne is attempting to find to out where her beloved teacher, Ms. Cross, has disappeared to. Naturally, her sleuthing takes her into danger and she has to face the fact that Ms. Cross might not have been exactly who she said she was (which of course begs the question: who was she and why was she at Wheatley?).

Fast-paced and fun, with a tough heroine who is smart and clever, this series is one of my favorite, fun YA reads. Yes, you have to suspend belief a bit (it’s a story, people!) but somewhere in my travels I saw this series compared to the Gossip Girl books. Um, no. Those books deal with some over the top, ridiculously nasty teens in NYC. They paint the “rich kids as evil” picture in bright colors, and the adults are all but nonexistent. While I can see why some teens love them, this book is more of the Veronica Mars variety. Anne is not a nasty person and her friends aren’t either. Yes, these kids are wealthy, but they are also (wait for it — ) normal. As someone who has spent 25 years teaching in schools like Wheatley, I think Kara Taylor does a good job in portraying teens accurately.

I thought I also saw that this would be made into a movie, but maybe I imagined that as I couldn’t find that info again. That would be fun, though!

I got mine on Amazon (as I must have been whistling in the wind and missed it on Net Galley).

Historical Fiction Blog Tour Review: A LITTLE WICKED by Janet Macreery

November 2, 2014April 22, 2019 / drbethnolan / 1 Comment

Hello! I’m happy today to be part of HFVB tour’s A LITTLE WICKED blog tour, hosting Janet Macreery’s YA novel about a young, resilient Scottish girl in the 1600’s.

In A LITTLE WICKED, young Dory’s clan is murdered by a rival clan, and she is sent by her uncle to America. Dory first poses as a boy in order to get passage on a ship (where she works as the bird boy). Upon arriving in Massachusetts, she finds her uncle and aunt and joins their household – in Salem. It is 1692 and that is definitely NOT a year to be living in Salem, Massachusetts! Dory is drawn in to the hysteria over witchcraft. Will she have the wits to once again survive?

I enjoyed reading this short and entertaining book. I loved the character of Dory, who was resourceful and strong and sensible. This poor girl had one tough time after another, yet she never gave up. I also liked the little twist at the end!

Recommended for older elementary readers and middle school, it should also be engaging for reluctant readers.

Thank you, Amy of HFVBT and Ms. Macreery, for my review copy!

Here’s a You Tube book trailer (love the bagpipes!):

YA/Kids’ Review: STEALING THUNDER by Mary Casanova

October 30, 2014April 25, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I love books by Mary Casanova, so I was thrilled when my friends at University of Minnesota Press sent me a few of her books to review.

In STEALING THUNDER, young Libby loves the horses at the stable next door. She’d like one for her own, but her parents can’t afford it. One day her friend and riding teacher, Jolene, is not there, and the owner tells Libby not to come back. Libby discovers that he is cruel and heartless with the horses and other animals and she fears for the safety of her beloved horses, especially Thunder. Libby decides to save Thunder by stealing her, but can this possibly lead to a happy solution?

Mary Casanova is a wonderful writer and her books should be in all classroom libraries. They often take place in Minnesota and always portray realistic and strong protagonists.

Thank you for my copy to review!

YA Review: REVOLUTION by Deborah Wiles

October 21, 2014April 25, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I read Deborah Wiles’ COUNTDOWN a while back and loved it

see review here: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/?s=countdown&submit=Go

so I was thrilled to find REVOLUTION, part two in the Sixties Trilogy, in my favorite local indie (The Concord Bookshop).

In REVOLUTION, it is the Summer of ’64 – Freedom Summer – and volunteers have come to Greenwood, Mississippi to register black voters. Twelve-year-old Sunny has enough going on at home with a new stepmother, stepbrother and stepsister, and a new baby on the way. Her world has always been neatly separated into black and white, and Sunny has never really questioned it, or thought about it. However, things start to change when Sunny and her stepbrother sneak out to the whites only pool one night and surprise a young Black boy who is there. Soon they see demonstrations in their town and the young teen they saw at the pool is involved. Sunny is drawn to the Freedom worker volunteers, especially one who reminds her of her mother. The summer of ’64 becomes a summer for Sunny to grow up and come of age, and to understand that she has decisions to make in life that will guide her future.

I really enjoyed this “documentary novel”, which, while lengthy, is full of pictures, excerpts, and lyrics from the summer of 1964. Sunny’s portrayal is so well crafted. Her ability to see the prejudice in her small town from the perspective of a child is perfectly portrayed as she tries to reconcile adults’ racist actions towards the Black townspeople with their kind actions to her as a child growing up. She sees the ugliness and the hatred and it is greatly unsettling. However, that is one of the messages of this book – especially as it is for young readers – that prejudice and racism are all around us and we must not be blind to them.

This is a superb choice for a middle school classroom and to introduce students to the civil rights movement. To be honest, I haven’t read or seen too much about the summer of 1964 (outside of the movie Mississippi Burning) and it should not be something that fades from our collective conscience.

I can’t wait for Ms. Wiles’ next book in this trilogy!