If you visit here regularly, you know that I mostly review middle grade sci fi and fantasy.  This does not mean this is all I read--today&...

As far as I know, I'm the only professional archaeologists who has a children's book blog. So I was delighted when I was offered a ...

We Are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changes the World , by Todd Hasak-Lowy (April 2020, Abrams Books for Young Readers), is a great read...

An Encyclopedia of Tolkien: the History and Mythology that Inspired Tolkien's World , by David Day (Canterbury Classics, October 2019)...

I was one of the participants in Multicultural Children's Book Day who was matched with World Wisdom, and I received two books to review...

The Science of Science Fiction , by Matthew Brenden Wood, from Nomad Press' Inquire and Investigate series (Feb. 2017) is a really fas...

Mossby's Magic Carpet Handbook , by Ilona Bray, subtitled "A Flyer's Guide to Mossby's Model D3 Extra-Small Magic Carpet&...

The Time Traveler's Handbook , by Wyllie, Acton, and Goldblatt (Harper Design, May 2016) is designed to prepare the traveler for eight...

Hades Speaks! by Vicky Alvear Shecter (Boyds Mills Press, Sept. 2014)  is the second installment of a series revealing the Secrets of the...

This is not a review, but more a note to say that there's a new Ripley's Believe it or Not out in the world -- Reality Shock!  (Sep...

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia , by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade, YA, July 8, 2014), is a...

When I was offered a review copy of Micronations: Invent Your Own Country and Culture (with 25 Projects) by Kathy Ceceri (Nomad Press, Ma...

I am so glad that the 48 Hour Reading Challenge bumped The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , by Rebecca Skloot, to the top of my reading ...

My mind has been distracted and confused (more so than usual) by the busy-ness of organizing the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction...

Cool Creations in 35 Pieces , by Sean Kenney (Henry Holt, Sept. 10, 2013), is exactly what the title (and subtitle) promise--it's a ho...

Happy Earth Day! By Happy Chance I got three new picture book non-fiction books for little kids last week, all of which are great picks fo...

Writing Children's Books for Dummies , by Lisa Rojany Buccieri and Peter Economy (John Wiley and Sons, 2013). (Thanks all who entere...

I am fascinated by the workings, and not workings, of the brain--for instance, Oliver Sacks' newest book, Hallucinations, is on my Chr...

Home Front Girl: A Diary of Love, Literature, and Growing Up in Wartime America (Chicago Review Press, November, 2012, Young Adult) is th...

Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future , by Kathy Ceceri (with 20 projects) (Nomad Press, August 2012, 128 pages) is a...