Two #OwnVoices Indigenous Novels [MG Review]
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Biref thoughts on two debut #ownvoices Indigenous middle grade novels – I Can Make This Promise (contemporary) and The Ghost Collector (speculative fiction).
Category: brief reviews
Cybils 2018 Finalists: Sweep and Stone Girl [Review]
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Yup, I’m finally clearing this post out of my drafts… Sweep by Jonathan Auxier For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on “climbing boys”–orphans owned by chimney sweeps–to clean flues and protect homes from fire. The work was hard, thankless and brutally dangerous. Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived–and a girl. With her wits and will, she’s managed to beat the deadly odds time […]
March 26 MG Releases: The Size of the Truth + The Rambling [Review]
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The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith When he was four years old, Sam Abernathy was trapped at the bottom of a well for three days, where he was teased by a smart-aleck armadillo named Bartleby. Since then, his parents plan every move he makes. But Sam doesn’t like their plans. He doesn’t want to go to MIT. And he doesn’t want to skip two grades, being stuck in […]
Divergent Dungeons in Two Middle Grade Novels [Review]
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Both of these books were shortlisted for the 2018 Cybils award in the category middle grade speculative fiction. Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain by Zac Gorman In the absurd land of Nth, Thisby Thestoop can be found within the forlorn walls of Castle Grimstone, down the precarious steps of the Black Mountain dungeon, up to her nose in griffon toenails, gnoll spittle, and troll meat (to give to them, […]
Spooky Sequels: The Island of Monsters + A Festival Of Ghosts [Review]
![Spooky Sequels: The Island of Monsters + A Festival Of Ghosts [Review]](https://i0.wp.com/fallingletters.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/island-of-monsters.jpg?resize=245%2C150&ssl=1)
The Island of Monsters by Ellen Oh The follow up to 2017’s Spirit Hunters, The Island of Monsters takes Harper and her multiracial family on a Halloween vacation to a tropical island with a gruesome past. Harper must use her newly developed skills in Korean shamanism to resolve the island’s mysteries and protect her little brother. New friends – ghosts and humans alike – help her with this task. I […]