Publisher: Scholastic Press

#IMWAYR & #MMGM: Bite-Sized Reviews of Ollie In Between, Ghost Scout’s Honor, River of Spirits, Story Spinners, and Werewolf Hamlet

I’ve joined up with the IT’S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING? kid-lit edition, hosted by Unleashing Readers and MARVELOUS MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY hosted by Always in the Middle… I realized that I haven’t shared reviews on the blog of all the Middle Grade Escapades books that have released so far! So, today I’m catching up! This book was written as an homage to Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, and it encapsulates […]

Posted June 2, 2025 in Reviews / 8 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Throwback; Goth Girl, Queen of the Universe; Ellie Engle Saves Herself; and Perfect Villains

Today, I’m reviewing two YA reads and two MGs. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Perfect for fans of Back to the Future, this book sends the MC on a quest back in time, where she has to fix the relationship between her mom and her grandma… and maybe meet the boy of her dreams? Sam has a fantastic bond with her halmoni (her grandma), and she’s never understood […]

Posted June 14, 2023 in Reviews / 2 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Two Degrees, School Trip, The Guardian Test, Global, and The Stranded

Today, I’m reviewing four MG reads and a YA dystopian. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Two Degrees is a heart-pounding climate change adventure, perfect for kids who loved the I Survived Series and are ready for a read that takes them to the next level. The story follows four kids caught up in three different climate change disasters. Akira is trying to escape a wildfire, while Natalie is swept […]

Posted May 12, 2023 in Reviews / 4 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Good Different, The Last Mapmaker, Answers in the Pages, Momo Arashimo Steals the Sword of the Wind, How Do Meerkats Order Pizza? and Welcome to Monsterville

Today, I’m reviewing six MG reads. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Good Different is a poignant novel in verse about a girl who learns to advocate for herself and finally let go of her quest to be “normal.” Selah has always felt different than her peers. She realizes that she doesn’t experience the world the same way they do, and she has created a list of rules […]

Posted March 23, 2023 in Reviews / 2 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, Valentina Salazar Is Not a Monster Hunter, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, and I Cannot Draw a Horse

Today, I’m reviewing two MG fantasies, a YA contemp (or recent historical, I guess?) set in Syria, and a picture book. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Skandar and the Unicorn Thief is an exciting middle grade fantasy adventure, filled with elemental magic, dangerous unicorns, and backstabbing betrayals. First off, I thought the worldbuilding in this book was really interesting. I loved the concept of the unicorn races […]

Posted October 27, 2022 in Reviews / 3 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: Red, White, and Whole; Muted; Dear Ugly Sisters; and Rez Dogs

As my regular readers know, I’m a round-one judge for the Cybils Awards in the Poetry category. Because of that, I’ve been reading tons of verse lately! I’m not allowed to share any details about our process for choosing the finalists, but I am allowed (and encouraged) to review the books as I read, so I figured I’d share four of them with you today. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed […]

Posted December 30, 2021 in Cybils, Reviews / 8 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: Dragon Assassin, The Girl Who Speaks Bear, Mulan: Before the Sword, Bones in the Wall, and The Barren Grounds

The Cybils Awards winners have been announced, and you should definitely check them out! Congrats especially to Rival Magic, which won in the MG spec fic category, which is the category I judged for round one. Even though the awards have been doled out, I still want to feature some very quick reviews of the nominees I read since there were so many good ones. It will take me quite some time to get to […]

Posted February 18, 2021 in Cybils, Reviews / 3 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, Mañanaland, The Copycat, & Shuri

As my regular readers know, I’m a round one judge for the Cybils Awards in the Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category. Because of that, I’ve been reading LOTS of books lately! I’m not allowed to share any details about our process for choosing the finalists, but I am allowed (and encouraged) to review the books as I read, so I figured I’d share four of them with you today. I hope these bite-sized reviews will […]

Posted November 12, 2020 in Cybils, Reviews / 4 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: Race to the Sun, Skunk and Badger, The Dragon Thief, and The Forgotten Girl

Posted October 23, 2020 in Cybils, Reviews / 0 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: A Wish in the Dark, Ghost Squad, Scritch Scratch, & Midnight at the Barclay Hotel

Posted October 17, 2020 in Cybils, Reviews / 13 Comments