The Bookshelf – Page 15

The healing power of Savvy

14AprilSuzanne12 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf

It felt appropriate for me to spotlight Ingrid Law‘s Savvy now, because for me the reading of this beautiful book will always be linked with my sobbing through the story several years ago, as I healed from losing my brother in a car accident. Â Since the 15th of this month (yes, I know…crazy anniversary, eh?)

Stranded…who would you want with you?

7AprilSuzanne16 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf

How well would you share your island if you didn’t really like who you were sharing it with? Â That’s the underlying question I picked out of Chris Tebbetts and Jeff Probst book, Stranded. The four kids who find themselves stranded on an island in the South Pacific would almost certainly NOT have picked each other!

Spotlight on Hatchet…and what it means to survive.

31MarchSuzanne7 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf

I’ve been doing survival research of late, and especially enjoyed tapping into the psychological impact of people thrust into a natural disaster or emergency situation. Â And since everything in research should be sprinkled with a bit of fiction love if it possibly can, that meant re-reading Hatchet and also diving into Stranded, which I’ll discuss

What would you do with an Eighth Day?

24MarchSuzanne29 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf

The Eighth Day has a fascinating concept–there are people, called Transitioners, who get an extra day each week between our regular Wednesday and Thursday. Â If that weren’t cool enough, these people are descended from King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table! Of course the possibilities of what folks would do with an eighth

Happy MMGM! Spotlight on The Year of Billy Miller

17MarchSuzanne13 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelfbooks, cat, fiction, humor, kids, marvelous middle grade monday, reading, review, spotlight, the year of billy miller

I honestly wasn’t sure how much I’d like this book when I first started it. Â Part of that was because I grabbed it on a whim and didn’t read the back cover blurb carefully enough, so when it mentioned Billy standing at the giant’s feet…I thought there’d be giants. Â And that sounded cool. Note: there

The Holy Bagumba-ness of Flora and Ulysses

10MarchSuzanne17 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelfbooks, cat, flora and ulysses, humor, joke, kids, laugh, marvelous middle grade monday, newbery winner 2014, reading, review, spotlight

I think it should be obvious by now that I love books. Â If it isn’t, you might want to open the little door at the back of your brain, reach in until your fingers find the gear marked ‘observation’ and give it a little nudge to the right. Â You may also want to flick your

How Much For That…Wig in the Window?

3MarchSuzanne8 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf

How much? Â Well, let’s see. Â You’ve got one friendship on the line, and a budding middle school romance, too. Â You have a humiliating afternoon involving the police, the confiscation of a cell phone, and time spent with the scariest counselor on earth. Â And then you have the risk of possible death and the unsolved mystery

Happy MMGM! Spotlight on the amazing Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder

24FebruarySuzanne5 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf#mmgm, book, Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, humor, joke, laugh, marvelous middle grade monday, Norway, reading, review, spotlight

Some spotlights are easier to write than others–the books are of a kind people nod their heads over and feel wise for having read. Â Other books are just as enjoyable and perhaps better written, but most people will feel a guilty pleasure for having read them and worry that their wise-quota took a hit. Â I

MMGM: Spotlight on ‘How Tia Lola Came to Stay’

17FebruarySuzanne11 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf

This warm and hilarious book is the perfect antidote for winter-weather blahs. Â I loved it, truly loved it, and challenge anyone to read it without feeling warmer! At the beginning of the book the main character, Miguel, is adjusting to country life in snowy Vermont after his parent’s divorce and the move from New York

Marvelous Middlegrade Monday, er, Tuesday: May B

11FebruarySuzanne5 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelfcaroline starr rose, cat, may b, novel in verse, review, spotlight, twitter how to

Have you ever read a book in verse? Â I hadn’t, and wasn’t sure what to expect. Â Truth…I wasn’t sure I’d like it. Â Poetry has always seemed to me something best suited for shorter forms, though I love Dr. Seuss of course and that’s a bit longer. Â If you’re like me and wondering if it can

Suzanne Warr

Narrative designer, game designer, author

Category Archives: The Bookshelf