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Book Review: Wishtree
Synopsis: “It’s hard to talk to trees. We’re not big on chitchat.” And so begins a story that will make you look at trees differently. Written from the perspective of Red Oak – a tree that has lived in the neighborhood for over 200 years, this is the story of…
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Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want My Future Children to Read
There are so many amazing books available to kids in this day and age. It was hard to pick just ten, but I focused on ten titles that show a wide diversity in terms of culture, gender, race, ability, socioeconomic status and more. It’s important for kids to see all…
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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 11/13/17
I must say, I kicked butt reading this week and boy does it feel good! Work has slowed down a little bit and with few evening commitments and a cell phone sitting in a bag of rice (phones + toilets don’t mix), I read more than I have in a…
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Book Review: The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
Synopsis: The large Vanderbeeker family has only known life in a brownstone on 141st Street, so the five kids (and their parents) are heartbroken when they find out their mysterious and cranky landlord who lives upstairs will not be renewing their rent after Christmas. The kids take on the challenge and…
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Resource: Diverse BookFinder
Check out this great new resource for getting diverse picture books into the hands of readers. The Diverse BookFinder “is linked with a circulating collection of picture books published since 2002, housed at Ladd Library on the Bates College campus.” And although not as extensive as maybe this diverse list from…
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Book Review: Sparrow
The story opens in a white hospital room after Sparrow’s apparent suicide attempt. The custodian found Sarah on the edge of the school’s roof, but no one will believe that she wasn’t up there to jump. She was up there to fly. When the world on the ground gets to…
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Book Review: Love, Hate and Other Filters
Have you ever read a book that you liked, but it just took you forever to get through? Well, this isn’t one of those books. I read this book in about a 12 hour period and loved every minute of it even when it was tearing out my heart and…
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Back to School – Middle Grade Edition
Back to school is always exciting and slightly scary time for kids and you can find gobs and gobs of picture books discussing the new school year, but it’s a lot more difficult to find titles for middle grade students getting ready for a new school building, a new school…
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Importance of Fairy Tales
Fairy tales are one of my favorite genres to read, I love the magic, the mystery and the thought that these stories have been passed down through the generations. I love reading fractured fairy tales, different spins on old classics and modern re-tellings. I came across a few articles on…
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Top Ten Tuesday: Ten YA Book Recommendations For Empathy
It’s been a rough weekend of news and it’s heartbreaking that we live in a world where this type of thought and action still occur. So, now that we’re back to official Top Ten Tuesdays, I wanted to create a list that could teach, or at least, show students how…