Reviews written by Angela Blount, Staff Reviewer

A memorable Middle Grade urban fantasy featuring a hidden subterranean world of "faerie" people, a female "cop" with a lot to prove to her own technologically advanced-yet-misogynistic people, a deadly and dedicated bodyguard, and one 12-year-old Irish prodigy with deviant aspirations for securing his family fortunes. ...

A beautifully illustrated sci-fi fantasy (heavy on the fantasy), seemingly aimed at the younger side of the Middle Grade audience. The story is told in past-tense third-person limited from the perspective of "Lucky," a young boy who lives alone with his mother on a human...

An eye-catching activity book that teaches the nuances of font topography—for the young aspiring graphic artist in your home. There are just 4 chalk colors included in the kit (orange, yellow, pink, and blue.) I personally think green and purple would have made nice additions to...

3.5 Stars A compelling concept with a lot of heart behind it. The book presents as a sort of counterpart to one of the author's other works, Heroes For My Son. Heroes For My Daughter is made up of 57 two-page spreads...

True-to-life heroes--real people who've accomplished attainable yet noteworthy things. This book holds a timeless and intriguing premise. (Particularly in a youth market so thoroughly saturated with fictitious super heroes.) While the title led me to expect said heroes would be derived from the male sex, sixteen women...

A refreshing, quality debut--meaningfully woven and beautifully engaging, from the first page to the last. Emilie Day's "normal" life ended one day in the middle of elementary school, when she suddenly had a seizure. The uncontrolled nature of her newly diagnosed epilepsy meant that homeschooling was...

Before Leia was introduced as a feisty captured courier for Death Star schematics, she was a well-loved adopted princess of Alderaan--a beautiful, arts-centric planet caught in the middle of a steadily corrupting galactic Empire. Ever out of place as a royal, Leia grew up preferring to spend her time learning...

An entertaining start to a graphic novel series fit for longtime fans of the Plants vs. Zombies game; appropriate for kids of all ages. All’s not well in the city of Neighborville. An eccentric zombie horde has been unleashed, and the only one’s seemingly able to...

Immersive, impactful and informative. This non-fiction account of World War 2 takes a somewhat more alternate angle than is usual—shedding light on those among the Danes, specifically, who resisted the Nazi invasion. Filled with black and white pictures of brave rebel Danes, newspaper pages, and historic...

An uncommon fairytale retelling, with an equally uncommon heroine—ideal for fans of Once Upon A Time. While tied to the first book in the Ravenspire series, The Wish Granter stands perfectly well on its own. It is told in a similar way--primarily dual POV in past-tense,...

A swift moving worlds-within-worlds urban fantasy, tinged with teenaged romance and insecurities aplenty. The tale is told from the first-person present-tense viewpoint of almost-18-year-old Eliyana. Eli is a New York City native (or so she thinks), who is reeling from the recent death of her mother… along...

An entertaining encyclopedic primer, ideal for knowledge-thirsty LEGO fans. Coming in at 175 pages, FACTASTIC is a sizeable, sturdy hardback with a unique and focus-engaging cover design. Topics lightly introduced have a huge range, and include: history and historical figures, geographical features, dinosaurs, ocean life, pirates,...

Once again LEGO and Star Wars team up to bring young fans a stellar activity book experience. Centering around The Force Awakens storyline, this 32-page book’s offerings include: comics, mazes, word puzzles, pattern matching, a comprehension quiz, and various visual and reasoning exercises. (And of course, the...

LEGO and Star Wars team up for a beginner chapter book experience that takes some cheeky and entertaining liberties with R2-D2 lore. This book is a playful, non-cannon collection of three droid-centric stories--taking place behind and between the scenes in episodes 4 and 5. It begins...

A collection of 14 middle-grade appropriate short stories, seasoned with varying whimsical degrees of the fantastical. The book in its entirety is a rapid, easy read with larger font, generous spacing, and some flavorful creative license taken with bits of standout typescript. The breakup suits the...