These Cybils Middle Grade Fiction nominees all deal with families. These families might look like your own, or they might be quite different, but the dynamic plays out in a critical way to the plot of these novels, which are each different in tone as well. Calli Be Gold by Michele Weber Hurwitz I have…
Category Archives: Jennifer
Middle Grade Historical Fiction that Feels Timeless
Some kids might enjoy reading about a particular time. I was — and still am — drawn to 1920′s and 30′s history and literature, and of course homesteading prairie stories are always popular (actually can someone tell me if they ARE still popular? I’m not sure they are, and that makes me sad), but I…
Three Cups
We’ve had a lot of discussions about money in our household lately. I’ve been sort of consistent about giving an allowance lately to my kids, and on top of that my 13-year-old daughter has recently started earning some of her own money babysitting and pet sitting. The way we handle and think about money is…
Books on Screen — Thanksgiving Weekend
Thanksgiving weekend is the beginning of the big end-of-year push of movies, which are timed to coincide with times when people have more time off (and maybe more incentive to get out of the house and away from relatives — not me of course, but I’m just sayin’). The Muppets — November 23 Okay–this isn’t…
The Book of (Holiday) Awesome
I reviewed Neil Pasricha’s The Book of Awesome when it came out a year and a half ago. It really cracked me up, and most of his musings were just, well — awesome! When I found out that there was a new book: The Book of (Holiday) Awesome: When the Christmas Lights All Work, Successfully…
The Ultimate Cake Mix Cookie Book, with Giveaway
My young teen baker and I have had SO much fun exploring and creating with The Ultimate Cake Mix Cookie Book: More Than 375 Delectable Cookie Recipes That Begin with a Box of Cake Mix by Camilla Saulsbury. This is a nice big book full of recipes in three sections: drop cookies, bar cookies, formed…
On Reading: If Life Were Like Children’s Fiction. . .
Think back to what I sort of think of as the pinnacle of middle-grade reading — 4th or 5th grade. Think about what you were like. Remember who your friends were and what their families were like. Now think about children’s novels. I love children’s fiction (and YA too). Sometimes I enjoy it simply as…
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Jennifer Donovan
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