Reviews written by Kristie Lowry

YOGA BUNNY is a quiet book with simple illustrations that detail the poses Yoga Bunny does when he wakes up to a perfect day for yoga. Through the pages of the book,Yoga Bunny tries to entice his friends to join him, but Lizard is too grouchy, Fox is in too...

I’ve had Wake the Hollow by Gaby Triana in my TBR pile for two months, and happy circumstances led me to read this horror/thriller/mystery tale during the month of October as the air begins to become more brisk, leaves start to brighten the trees as they change, and people are...

SUPER BUGS by Michelle Meadows and illustrated by Bill Mayer is a rollicking fun look at a day in the life of various bug species. With fascinating facts on the inside front and back covers, the book offers gorgeous illustrations and a nice read-out-loud narrative. Although it’s never clear WHY...

MAKOONS by Louise Erdrich is the fifth book in a series about an extended family of Ojibwe. In this installment, the title character and his twin brother, Chickadee, join their family in a westward migration to follow the buffalo and to avoid living on the leftover land the US government...

In this second book of the Mabel Jones series, the eponymous heroine sets off on a quest to the Noo World to rescue her baby sister, Maggie. An evil witch has taken Maggie to lure Mabel to her. The witch wants Mabel’s body to replace her own so that she...

WELCOME TO THE SHOW by Frank Nappi is the third in the Mickey Tussler series featuring (you guessed it!) Mickey Tussler. Mickey is an autistic pitching protégé who has been called up to “The Show” to try to help the Boston Braves make their way to the World Series. Mickey’s...

GOING WILD is the first book in a middle grades science fiction trilogy by bestselling author Lisa McMann. In the book, Charlie Wilde is not happy at all when her mom accepts a new job in Arizona. Leaving her friends and Chicago, the city she loves, behind is difficult enough....

THE DRAWING LESSON by Mark Crilley is a wonderful approach to learning to draw. A graphic novel combined with an art tutorial, the author/illustrator does a fantastic job weaving his drawing lessons into the story of David and Becky and the time they spend together. David is a young boy...

AGE OF MYTH is the first book in The Legends of the First Empire, a new series by Michael J. Sullivan. It begins with an excerpt from “The Book of Brin” which sets the story in a land populated by Rhunes (men), and references the gods who live across the...

I love when a book can show me a whole new world, and WANDERING WILD did just that with it’s story of Talia, or “Tal” to those who know her, and her brother Wen. Tal and Wen are Wanderers – Gypsies – and the book begins with them arriving in...

James Salley is a talented sixteen-year-old who is bullied relentlessly and considering suicide. We first meet him as he sits atop the water tower in Stone Grove, Illinois and contemplates ending it all, but he fortunately decides not to take that path. Instead we are immersed in a interesting approach...

Rose Mannering has written a terrific retelling of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST that kept me flipping pages until I came to the end of the story in a breathless rush. As with most retellings, the story arc isn’t a surprise, so it’s up to the author to find a way...

Shane Woods is focused on baseball, writing and illustrating a graphic novel, and balancing time between his best friend and his new maybe-girlfriend. He’s a typical twelve-year-old boy in most ways, but when one of the other kids at his school learns something that Shane has been trying to keep...

Rory Swenson has been keeping a list of things she'll be allowed to do once she turns twelve, and although she's sure her parents have forgotten a lot of the things they've promised over the years, she has the documentation to prove that they agreed to a variety of things....

Phoebe Plumm and Micah Tanner return in the second book of an action-packed series by Cam Baity and Benn Zelkowicz. THE SECOND BOOK OF ORE: WAYBOUND has Phoebe and Micah primed for a quest. The two are asked to seek the Occulyth—something the Covenant hopes will be the key to...