Category: brief reviews

The Bellwoods Game by Celia Krampien [MG Review]

5 January 2024 / brief reviews / 6 Comments
The Bellwoods Game by Celia Krampien [MG Review]

The Bellwoods Gameby Celia KrampienSource: Hardcover/libraryPublished: July 2023Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (S&S)Length: 305 pages Genre: HorrorTarget Age: +9Representation: Supporting characters incl Black boy and Hispanic girl coded autistic Summary 💬 Everyone knows Fall Hollow is haunted. It has been ever since Abigail […]

The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa [Fiction Review]

5 December 2023 / brief reviews / 2 Comments
The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa [Fiction Review]

Source: ebook/NetGalleyPublished: 10 Oct 2023Publisher: Berkley (PRH)Length: 256 pagesI received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Series: The Travelling Cat Chronicles companionGenre: FictionTarget Age: Adult (suitable for 13+)Translator: Jay Gabriel How do you feel about anthropomorphized animal stories? Do […]

Kiki Kallira Breaks A Kingdom and Amari and the Night Brothers [MG Reviews]

15 January 2023 / brief reviews / 4 Comments
Kiki Kallira Breaks A Kingdom and Amari and the Night Brothers [MG Reviews]

Here are a couple more reviews that have been languishing in drafts for almost a year. Both of these were Cybils 2021 finalists. My memory’s falling short here, so these are mostly point form reviews based on the notes I […]

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy and The Last Cuentista [MG Reviews]

21 December 2022 / brief reviews / 9 Comments
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy and The Last Cuentista [MG Reviews]

These two middle grade speculative fiction titles had me thinking “Did I read the same book as everyone else??” Read on for some grumbly reviews. Click through the additional reviews for more positive takes! The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy […]

Medieval Middle Grade: The Beatryce Prophecy, Healer & Witch, and The Green Children of Woolpit [Summer Reading Recap]

20 November 2022 / brief reviews / 4 Comments
Medieval Middle Grade: The Beatryce Prophecy, Healer & Witch, and The Green Children of Woolpit [Summer Reading Recap]

Brief reviews of medieval middle grade novels Kate DiCamillo’s The Beatryce Prophecy, Nancy Werlin’s Healer & Witch, and J. Anderson Coats’ The Green Children of Woolpit.