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Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Defied My Expectations
All of these middle grade books surprised me in the best way possible! They are all books that defied my expectations when I read them, in that I liked them more than I expected to. Many on the list lean toward the fantasy and science fiction genres. Both genres, which…
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Top Ten Tuesday: Water
I’ve been doing Top Ten Tuesday for years and this is probably one of my most favorite topics ever! I love being around water – I’m not even picky, a creek, river, pond, lake, ocean, I’ll take whatever I can get! Water really grounds me and destresses me in a…
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18 Middle Grade Books Featuring Cats
I’m going to start with a statement that might seem a little sacrilege as a librarian – I am much more a dog person than a cat person. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy cats and will always give pets to any of my friends’ cats, but personally,…
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Top Ten Tuesday: Middle Grade Inspired by Folk & Fairy Tales
With a genre freebie this week, it took me a minute to figure out which direction I wanted to go in. I’ve recently created lists based on some of my favorite genres – historical fiction and mysteries. So I wanted to give you something different. And while fantasy and science…
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12 Books About Chess for Kids
We’ve been lucky enough to have an amazing volunteer willing to help us at my library by offering chess classes for our kids! Thankfully, we have a volunteer because my staff and I know a little bit about chess, but not enough to offer a series of classes for beginner…
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Top Ten Tuesday: Characters from Different Books Who Would Be Friends
This was a tricky theme and rather than choose ten different groups of characters, I made my life just a little bit easier and only chose five groups based on interests! I’m excited to see what characters other bloggers choose because it’s such a fun way to bring books together…
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Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want to Read Because of Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is an amazing blogging group to be a part of because you will never be lacking in book recommendations! With 80+ people linking their blog over to That Artsy Reader Girl each week, you’ll find a little bit of everything. Today, I’m sharing ten books that are…
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9 White Bird Read Alikes
R. J. Palacio’s White Bird is being adapted for the big screen, but with several delays, I hope that it becomes available later this year. Based in the same world as her hit book, Wonder, White Bird is the story of Julian’s grandmother. As a young Jewish girl, she was…
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Top Ten Tuesday: Forgotten Backlist Titles
With so many books being published each year and sometimes each month, it can be hard to remember all the amazing forgotten backlist titles that also exist. Browsing a used bookstore or public library is a great way to discover some of these older titles that amazing stories you don’t…
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15 Books for Reluctant Readers (Grades 3-5)
As kids transition into longer chapter books with fewer illustrations and more emphasis put on the text, it can be difficult to encourage already reluctant readers to try something new. Below, I’ve pulled together a rather wide range of titles from early chapter books to a handful of middle grade…
