Reviews written by Jan Farnworth, Digital Manager/Blog Assistant and Staff Reviewer

When I first saw the cover, I was immediately captivated by its stunning design! As soon as I read the synopsis, I was hooked. A girl disguising herself as a man to enter an engineer's guild trial and solve her father's murder? As I started this book, the vibes I...

Even when we crash, we intertwine, and so goes the relationship between Inan and Zélie in this very fast-paced, moving story. The story is laid out from 3 points of view: Inan, Zélie, and Amari. Magic has returned, but unintended consequences have occurred as a result. Not only did the...

Something unusual for a YA fantasy novel- Spin of Fate has a complicated magic system with complex world-building and focuses heavily on philosophical ideas about morality. Based loosely on the law of karma, the world is separated into four segments based on the "spin" of a person's soul and morals....

The Witching Wind is a middle-grade magical realism novel based around a magical wind that blows in with a monarch butterfly as the only warning to batten down the hatches. The story follows two girls, one who is disabled and a foster child, the other who is just trying...

Jaden Powers and the Inheritance of Magic would be perfect for fans of The Marverllers and the Night Brothers; this magical middle-grade fantasy celebrates a shy boy who must become his hero—reeling from the death of his best friend, discovering a note from his friend asking desperately for help and...

Blood and Fury is the second book in the two-book series that started with Chaos and Flame. The worldbuilding of this story is incredibly unique, and that is what kept me reading the most. The love story is cute, and I root for it in both books; the...

The Wishkeeper's Apprentice is a beautiful chapter book combining fantastic characters, imaginative detail and action, and a glimpse into a magical world. Felix is a typical boy from an ordinary family who deals with feelings of hope, longing, frustration, and feeling out of place everywhere. Rupus, the wish keeper of...

Dally Peteharrington is a Biracial preteen who discovers a map left as an inheritance by her late grandfather. The map leads her to a library, not just any library, but a secret library. The hidden library holds family secrets, little white lies, and minor transgressions. The book's themes focus on...

If you have a mystery lover who wants more in-depth information about their middle-grade mystery novels, I highly recommend James Ponti. Every book I have read by this author has been thoroughly filled with factual details woven into a fictional middle-grade mystery. James Ponti takes the mystery of what happened...

Pie Rats is an adorable read-aloud rhyming tale of rats on the sea looking for pie. Pie rats would work well in kindergarten for 2nd graders during a circle time read-aloud. The illustrations are colorful and will engage young readers to talk about all the treats they see....

The Last Zookeeper is the perfect book for young children as there are no words printed on these pages, but beautiful watercolor illustrations will help fuel a child's imagination to create a story. From the pictures, you can tell that a robot has encountered a zoo that needs a...

The Storyteller is a beautiful children's book that takes the magic of the elderly generation, the stories they tell, and how they can empower us to share with the next generation. Beautiful illustrations and a touching story of a grandmother who inspires bravery, imagination, and wisdom with the tale...

Penny Lu Porcupine is the story of a porcupine and shares that they can't see very well unless the object is appropriately in front of them. Porcupines have to ever be on guard for predators, but they have a natural armor of 30,000 razor-sharp quills that will surely stop any...

A Whisper in the Walls, the captivating sequel to A Door in the Dark, is a revenge story about Ren, a dirt poor character seeking revenge for age-old familial reasons. With a second book about the same topic, I was worried the story would fall flat, but it in no...

A Door in the Dark is a book I read the blurb of many times but kept passing on as I wasn't sure about it, as Dark Academia can be hit or miss for me. I have read the author's Ashlords series, so I knew what to expect from...