Reviews written by Angela Blount

Middle grade mystery with an amnesic twist—a friendship-centric tale of lost-and-found. Readers are introduced to a cruel boy who sustains brain trauma and loses his memory; a bitter girl who’s missing her twin brother after he was run out of town; and a sassy old veteran...

A colorful collection of short-stories offering a variety of DC LEGO characters and their mini-adventures. Featuring prominent pictures, large font, and roughly a single paragraph on every page, the stories within this sturdy hardback are ideal for early readers. The estimated 5-minute length also caters well...

At turns captivating, intense, amazing, and terrible. Told in first-person present-tense from the perspective of young Darrow, a subterranean-dwelling slave who thinks he’s toiling away to make the surface of Mars livable for future generations of his people. Darrow might very well have settled...

A brave and elaborately imagined tale—laden with unforgettable imagery. One thing I can say for certain about Luminous… I’ve never encountered anything quite like it. Metcalf fuses an eloquent knack for description with a unique blend of urban-fantasy, cultural mysticism, and horror. The basic premise alone is...

Ideal for beginning readers and avid young fans of the LEGO Ninjago Movie. Lord Gamadon is about as lousy of a father as you might expect. It comes as a shock to him when—at the end of a fight with the Ninjago—the green ninja reveals himself...

The fourth book, and conclusion to The Raven Cycle series. The cycle is ending. Glendower is nearly found, and the evil awoken in book #3 is on the move. Not everyone is making it through this alive. What I Liked: The...

A fresh new story the Ender’s Game universe—this smart military-esque sci-fi is appealing to longtime fans, without alienating new explorers. With the Formic Wars behind them and exploration/colonization now at the forefront of humanity’s drive, Battle School has been converted into Fleet School—a softer, less competitive version...

A solid sci-fi/urban fantasy adventure premise, ideally targeting the mid-to-upper Middle Grade demographic. It’s a quick read—overall fun and fast-paced. While Gaiman’s name is on it, I tend to agree with those who are asserting it doesn’t feel like a Gaiman book. It lacks a certain air...

An adventurous, accessible YA fantasy—with likely appeal for fans of An Ember In The Ashes. Based loosely on an Arabic folktale called The False Prince, this stand-alone book centers on the kingdom of Akram—with interwoven references to the kingdoms and characters from The Shadow Queen and The...

A candid, comprehensive, and thoroughly researched look at the long fight for women’s rights—spanning nearly a century of history while following select figureheads of the Suffrage movement through their varied efforts, missteps, divisions, and triumphs. To be up-front honest, let me just say that this was...

Inarguably valuable—an inspirational and world-expanding children’s book. Having read I am Malala (the adult version of Malala Yousafzai’s memoir), I was eager to share a more age-appropriate version of her life’s story with my 7 and 9-year-old. Not only has she become a figurehead for promoting children’s...

Utilizing plain language and a kid-friendly presentation, Growing Friendships examines and addresses a wide range of socially detrimental issues such as: isolation, bragging, oversharing, negativity, clinginess, stubbornness, possessiveness, mind-reading, overreacting, passivity, grudge-holding, and bossiness. The book is made up of 15 chapters, and the text is...

A remarkable work of dark YA fantasy—beautifully crafted, and laden with Arabian mythology. Told in alternating dual POV from the perspectives of spy/slave Laia and unwilling soldier Elias, readers experience this alternate history-feeling dystopian fantasy from two very different sides of society. Ember In The...

Eight different author/illustrators bring to life (and panel) eight different stories told via sequential art, with the uniting theme of one of the more dreaded of school time punishments: Detention. The message content ranges from meaningful to humorous to benign. Coming in at 160 pages, this collection varies widely...

The Murray twins take the spotlight for the first time in this book, which actually seems to be taking place somewhere between book 2 and 3 (as Meg isn’t yet married, and Sandy and Dennys are supposed to be in high school during this installment.) After accidentally interrupting an experiment,...