Reviews written by Kristie Lowry, Promotions Manager

In Lorie Langdon’s GILT HOLLOW Ashton Keller has been released early from juvenile detention where he’s been serving time for a murder that happened when he was 14 years old. He returns to his former hometown and hopes to find out what really happened to Daniel, the boy who Ashton...

Similar to Janet Yolen and Mark Teague’s original book in this series, HOW DO DINOSAURS GO TO SLEEP is awesome from the outset. The first page shows the image of a large pachyrhinosaurus trying to hide from bedtime by crawling under his bed while an angry mom looks on. As...

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 had to wait far too long for THE UNTIMELY DEATHS OF ALEX WAYFARE, and although I pre-ordered the book the instant it was available, I haven’t had a chance to read it until now. It was definitely worth the wait. I loved the first book by...

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...

The fourth book in the Waterfire Saga, SEA SPELL is a merfolk action/adventure fantasy novel filled with intrigue, magic, friendship, and love. As we join the Serafina, Astrid, Ava, Becca, Ling, and Neela in SEA SPELL, they are finishing their quests from previous books and gathering for...

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...