Strong Female Characters. Yea, Girls! Did you love Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series and C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Then Winterling should be your next read. Fer’s the kind of girl who’d rather be out in the woods than stuck in […]
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The Seventh Wife by T. Kingfisher Strong female characters! A dastardly villain! A sidekick who’s a talking hedgehog. Dead black birds squawking warnings. Previous wives turned into creatures like a golem, a clock, and a corpse. Poor Rhea’s promised in marriage to the sorcerer Lord Crevan, who’s in need of a seventh wife. No, this
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The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands It’s 1665 in merry old England. Actually, it’s not so merry. Christopher’s master, an apothecary, is murdered and the authorities think he’s done it. Christopher knows he’s in danger, if not from the authorities, then from the cult of Archangel, the likely murderers. The cult wants the secret of
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GREAT stories with STRONG female heroines from Nancy Schimmel’s “Just Enough to Make a Story: A Sourcebook for Storytellers.” WITH THANKS to Nancy Schimmel Just Enough to Make a Story: A Sourcebook for Storytellers (Sisters’ Choice, 1992) Ashpet, in Grandfather Tales by Richard Chase. Houghton, 1948. A Cinderella variant in which Ashpet is a
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Remember what it was like to play pretend? If you’ve forgotten, read The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh. The Mennyms are rag dolls who live on a quiet street somewhere in England. They’re like any family, except they live a life of pretend. The rag doll Mrs. Quigley stays in the hall closet until it’s time
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Ever want to know what a six-year-old thinks? Read the Dory books by Abby Hanlon. Dory, aka Rascal, lives in a world of imaginary friends and monsters. There is Mr. Nuggy, a fairy godmother who communicates by banana, and there is Mary, a cross between a Sendak wild thing and a puppy, (or is it
A book for 5,6,7 and up! Read More »
I have a new category of books: COZY YA. There’s no mayhem or murder. My first pick is The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz (Newberry Award winner). It’s the 1900’s in America. Joan runs away from the farm and her brutish Father. Through luck and pluck, Joan gains a position as a hired girl
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Summer of the Gypsy Moths By Sara Pennypacker It’s might be the worst summer vacation, ever, for Stella. It’s not because her irresponsible mother wanders off, again, and leaves her with her aunt Louise. Or that Stella and her aunt’s foster child, Angel, loathe each other. Maybe it’s because Stella will have to help her
Questionable parents, mystery and a lovely old lady who… Read More »
Leroy Ninker Saddles upBy Kate DiCamilloIl. By Chris Van DusenPick this for an early chapter book and predictive reading.There’s Perfect comedic timing,punchline funny charactersHilarious artworkAnd a tender story.Tiny Leroy Ninker wants a horseHe can’t be a cowboy without one.The fact that he has no money, no ranch, doesn’t stop him.
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