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Though the story line of A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning may dampen an otherwise bright day, author Snicket’s style of writing is so much fun, the book refuses to let you go. A horrible fire has taken the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Beaudelaire, leaving Violet, Klaus, and Sunny with their new…

Henry and his doggie companion, Mudge, are inseparable, but a trip to Grandma’s house may change that. Grandma’s house is small. Mudge is not, and outside he goes. Will Mudge be able to sleep without Henry? Will Henry be able to sleep without Mudge? Curl up with your favorite animal friend and enjoy Cynthia Rylant’s…

God With Skin On Halloween. Glow sticks flash and plastic pumpkins swing, heavy with the weight of rustling candy. Nighttime transforms the kid in jeans and sneakers into a superhero or a fairy princess. Skeletons, football players, and dinosaurs roam the neighborhood. It’s a night to step out of the normal, everyday you and become…

For English school children, the legend of Saint George and the dragon has been recounted for ages. For Simon St. George, it is legend and legend only, until his absentee father arrives and hustles Simon off to take his place in the family business. And just what is this family business? Dragon fighting. Yes, dragons exist…

Zuno and I love word games and I’m betting author Peggy Parish does too. In Good Work, Amelia Bedelia, Parish takes her loveable character, Amelia Bedelia, through another day of work and play, word play, that is. Rising dough, potted plants, and chicken dinners challenge our heroine, but it’s Amelia’s baking skills rather than her…

Across the street from my daughter’s dance studio, a small shop named Cross your Heart Cupcakes creates the best cupcakes ever. When it’s my birthday, their cupcakes are what I’m craving. Now, we also make cupcakes at home. With a box mix and a store-bought tub of frosting, semi-homemade cupcakes work in a pinch. But for special…

Padraic Colum’s The Children’s Homer brings the classic tales of the battle of Troy and the adventures of Odysseus to a young adult audience. My hard-to-please youngest son enjoyed this classic as well as Greek  mythology long before Rick Riordan’s Percy and the Olympians series made them popular. His familiarity with the mythological characters contributed greatly to…

Dav Pilkey is just doggone funny. Zuno loves his Big Dog, Little Dog series and Pilkey’s Hallo-wiener is a treat. The long and short of it is that Oscar doesn’t fit in. “Half a dog tall and one-and-a-half dogs long” doesn’t cut the mustard with the gang at obedience school. On Halloween night, Oscar is…

Hold On Turnovers are deadly. Whether the game is soccer, basketball, or football, when you give up possession, you lose the advantage. Let’s look at the prophet, Samuel, as we seek to “maintain possession” of spiritual truth. “Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed…

In Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven, Mom and Dad dump siblings Kendra and Seth at their grandparents’ house and head for their cruise. Locks, keys, and hidden compartments fill their attic room. When a mysterious journal instructs them to “Drink the milk.”, secrets begin to unfold. Reminiscient of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Fablehaven whisks the reader to a…