Reviews written by Angela Blount, Staff Reviewer

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,...

With a memorable duo-chromatic cover and shadowy charcoal sketches, this little hardback is an effort to combine artistry and emotion. The style is very reminiscent of a simple children’s book. Depression is depicted as a dragon, a smoky fog, as a blinding and suffocating personification of darkness. The goal is...

>“Let us be elegant or die!” I’d like to confess up front, I avoided reading this book for most of my life simply because of the title. It sounded so… painfully feminine. And as someone who’s struggled to make peace with their biological gender, I...

“I don't understand it any more than you do, but one thing I've learned is that you don't have to understand things for them to be.” Beautifully peculiar. I missed this one in my childhood. (I heard it mentioned now and then as...

I sincerely think this book is better than the first one. (I suspect the 11-year release gap between book 1 and 2 may have positively contributed.) The writing, the cohesion, the clarity, the emotional conveyance... everything is taken up a notable notch. Not to mention, the focal idea of the...

Time-travel, evil dictators, Unicorns, and impending nuclear doom. Oh my! When you break it down to it’s basic parts, it doesn’t look like this story could possibly work. And yet, somehow, it does. Not perfectly or without some name-related confusion. But what it sometimes lacks in clear...

"Stay Strong. Love endlessly. Change lives." --Amy Bleuel This suicide and mental illness awareness collection is made up of both survival testimonials and memorial accounts of those enduring the pain of a lost loved one. The range of writing length and ability here is widely...

In this second installment of the series, Thomas ward is now 13 and has been the Spook’s apprentice for 6 months. An unfortunate occurrence involving his estranged priest brother leaves the Spook an opening—a reason to revisit Priestown. There he hopes to tangle again with an ancient being...

A contemporary YA romance—heavy on the romance—with an Indian-American take on the attraction of opposites. The story is told in alternating dual POVs, from the very different perspectives of two recent high school graduates: Rishi and Dimple. Both are highly intelligent and highly motivated, eyeing tech-oriented careers....

A charming gift idea for young Wonder Woman fans, with plenty of additional DC universe appeal. This Wonder Woman ultimate sticker collection isn’t merely that (although it does deliver on the more-than-1000-sticker promise.) The first 31 pages are actually more guide-like, dedicated to introducing children to the...

The year is 1943. The setting locations are England, and Nazi-occupied France. The book is told in a split first-person point of view (which occurs halfway through the book), between Queenie (“Verity”), and her best friend, Maddie. Queenie is a bold, German-speaking Scottish aristocrat who has...