-
Fairy Books for Kids
Rainbow Fairies by Daisy Meadows
I believe every child has read at least once so there’s no need for fanfare, especially since they are still going. They must be at number 100 by now. Anyway, I love the cover designs, every fairy is unique and beautiful. But I will always have a soft spot for the first series that introduced the world to Rainbow Island and the dasterdly Jack Frost and the ever lasting friendship of Rachel and Kirsty.
Never Fairies or Tales from Pixie Hollow
I’m not quite sure since there are conflicting titles but this Disney series sports some beautiful watercolor illustrations. Plus some really well-done world building based upon Gail Carson Levine’s (of Ella Enchanted fame) Fairy Dust Trilogy. I love how every fairy has a unique personality with strengths and flaws, not as sanitized as the movie versions, and again, I really love the illustrations.
Fairy Chronicles by J.H. Sweet
This underrated middle school series by Texas writer, J.H. Sweet has amazing worldbuilding. IN fact you must buy her Fairy Handbook that details what she calls her “House of cards” each book built upon the next spanning seven years. There’s religious symbolism, Chinese elements, magical creatures, and more. It all features relatable girls delivering inspiring messages of what courage is, belief in growth and change, sacrificing yourself for love, animal extinction, enviromentalism, patience for wisdom and much more.
(more…)#avalon, #cicelymarybaker, #daisymeadows, #disneyhyperion, #eliseallen, #emilyrodda, #encahnatedworld, #fairybooks, #fairychronicles, #fairygodmotheracademy, #fairyrealm, #flowerfairies, #harpercollins, #janbozarth, #jhsweet, #kellymckain, #neverfairies, #penguinrandomhouse, #rachelreads&reviews, #rachelroberts, #rainbowfairies, #randonhousebooksforyoungreaders, #robertmandell, #scholastic, #sevenseas, #simon&schuster, #thefairybible, #thefairyhouse, #theresamoorey, #timelifebooks, #unionsquirecompany -
Summer ReReads P3
I’m sure many have read or at least seen the brand called Whitman Classics of which frequently can be seen in flea markets and antique shops. They are abridged, easily readable editions of classic literature like Heidi and such, with some originals sprinkled in as well. I have a whole collection of them for my summer reading and so I must impart my love for them.
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
I’m going to shock peopple by saying I like this novel of Alcott’s more than Little Women. While Little Women is a classic, I have read this over ten times and I just find it more homey. It follows a young twelve year old Rose a year after the death of her father. She lives with her aunts on the appropriately named Aunt Hill but is still ever so depressed. However, this year brings a change. She will be under the temporary guardianship of Uncle Mac, if he can brighten her spirits and bring her a healthier color, he can continue his guardianship. Through Uncle Mac, who’s a sailor and a doctor, Alcott introduces newfangled notions for her time like pajamas, no corsets, exercise and education for women while also praising the simplier pleasures like being able to do inventory and bake bread. As for the titular eight cousins, Rose learns to rough and tumble and play with her seven cousins, all boys and all full of personality. It’s a sweet story about family and very enjoyable.
(more…)#annasewell, #annettteandthedesertinnmystery, #annieoakleyintheghosttownsecret, #beautifuljoe, #beverelyhillbillies, #blackbeauty, #daleevansanddangerinthecrookedcanyon, #eightcousins, #ernesthompsonseton, #JacobIhaveloved, #katherinepaterson, #lassietreasurehunter, #lennonsistersmysteryatholidayisland, #louisamayalcott, #marshallsaunders, #morethancourage, #patricklarson, #pollyfrenchandthesurprisingstranger, #rintintintinty, #sanddunepony, #summerrereads, #thecuckoosister, #tobytyler, #troynesbitt, #vivianalcock, #whitmanclassics, #wildanimalsIhaveknown -
P.C. Hawke Mysteries
P.C. Hawke Mysteries was a middle school mysteries series by the late Paul Zindel, author of sci fi novels like The Pig-Man.
It is centers on two sleuthing high schoolers whose natural curiosity and ability to see things that adults miss allow them to solve more cases than the incompetent adults. Classic stuff.
(more…) -
Summer ReReads P2
In honor of International Women’s Day, I’ll go into another two of my favorite rereads with some great female leads.
I shall start first with a very underrated series, The Hollywood Sisters by Mary Wilcox.
Jessica Ortiz is so not on the trail for homicide. Not one bit. She is a self-proclaimed recovering shy girl whose greatest goal in life is to fade into the background since whenever she is put in the spotlight bad things happen. For example, accidentally running over George Clooney with a golf card. Or saying she was in an X-rated movie. (She meant extra in a movie.) Did I mention that she said that to a room full of new classmates and nuns.
(more…) -
Top 5 S.A.S.S. books
Oh this was really hard as it changes depends on. . . I don’t know what really. It just changes. So this is just my top 5 as of now, but all the books are good and I reread them a lot.
In case you’re wondering, there is not a lot of sass in this book. It stands for Students Across the Seven Seas. It follows each girl on a foreign exchange semester where they find themselves capable of more than they thought, expanding their horizons and a lovely romance. Cuz how can you go to a foreign country without a cute foreign fella.
Heart and Salsa by Suzanne Nelson
This one got top spot since it was the first one I bought and so I’ve read many many times. Cat travels to Mexico not only because she loves the Spanish culture and language but also to escape life in New England with her stepfather and mother whom she believes got together too quickly. Clearly her heart is overshielded while her best friend with whom she is eager to reconnect with is too loosely in love with her shady boyfriend. Friendship, and love abounds in this tale as it also gets into the heart of Mexican culture.
The Great Call of China by Cynthia Liu
This was such a good adventure as Cece travels to China against her mother’s wishes for the purpose of finding her birth parents. However, that’s a bit difficult as the internet is less reliable and there’s almost no paper trail to them. Will Cece leave without finding what she is looking for. Also goes into the differences between Cece’s Americanized life compared to her Chinese-American roommate, Jessica who feels stifled by her more traditional parents and that of her cute crush, Will whose parents are bitterly divorcing. There’s a lot more threads and history and Chinese anthropology too.
(more…) -
Top 6 Little Mix books
Best friends (Untill I find someone better) by Erin Downing
I love a good anti heroine or at least morally questionable mean girl. At summer vacation, Izzy lets down her queen bee meanness but can she do the same when she gets back at school and her losery friends end up following? Well you can figure out how it goes, but I enjoy Izzy’s snarky point of view.
Trauma Queen by Barbara Dee
This was such an interesting premise as Marigold is a girl who is embarassed by her mother. More so than other embarassed daughters as her mother is a performing artists whose pieces often leave others giggling. She desperately wants to seperate herself from that. It’s a great piece on mother daughter relationships that I’m sure you’ll laugh and cringe with her.
Plastic Polly by Jenny Ludquist
This is a book for all those Mean Girls Karen fans. Not that Polly is dumb. She just tends to be more passive, but when her bff and mean girl extraordinaire (not that Polly realizes it) puts her in charge of dance committee, she finds herself having to lead. Having to make decisions. And finding out the nickname everyone has dubbed her. It’s time for her to step up and decide if she wants to be Plastic Polly for the rest of her middle school life.
Front Page Face Off by Jo Whitmore
I love the newspaper reporter angle here as Delilah seeks to cement her place as head honcho in journalism. However, her usual professional demenour is ruffled when her best boy friend seems to have a crush on the new foreign exchange student, just as she starts realizing her own crush on him. It also has a great underlying thread about an arsonists, a snooty school clique the Debs vying for her to keep good press on them and former school bullies. Very compelling read.
Rules for Secret Keeping by Lauren Barnholdt
Another unique premise following a young entepreneur who makes her business trading notes for people. No, Samantha Carmichael does not use it for malicious blackmail purposes. She takes her business very seriously. However, when a rival tries to edge on her turf and ruin her reputation, well then watch out. Not to mention a little secret admirer thread. Compelling for at least one read.
-
Top Candy Apple books
Does anyone remember this imprint? It was tweenage drama and fun, which I sadly think it’s defunct now, but it was all the rage in scholastic bookfair mags and my mom bought them by the bundle. So in honor of those sparkly apples, here are my faves.
1. Wish you were here, Liza/See you soon, Samantha/Miss you, Mina by Robin Wasserman, Laura Bergen and Denene Milner
I used to read this trilogy every summer because as you can guess it, it was all about summer vacay. Liza’s was my favorite as it is a road trip across the US to all the corniest tourist traps because her parents insist on finding the ‘real’ America. With that premise, there are plenty of cool adventures as Liza learns to embrace her weird and stop being so self-conscious enough to find her thing. Sam was my second fav as the boy-crazy girl learns to embrace a summer of singledom at the beach, finding ways to make do on her own. Finally Mina gets to go to an art camp in NY with her beloved aunt but it is not as she dreamed it would be as she gets critiques and deals with a girl who won’t play fair. They’re all really fun adventures and nice to see how they get interconnected knowing how each are spending their summer apart.
(more…) -
Summer ReReads P1
I don’t know about anyone else but I am the kind of person who likes to reread and rewatch my favorite things once a year. That being during the summer because I have a lot of time to relax and enjoy.
Why I chose these specifically, I don’t know really. Nostalgia probably. Also that I bought them all at the summer book sales so I just automatically associate it with summer. In general I think these series’ are underrated and more kids should know of these series.
Disney Girls by Gabrielle Charbonnet
This was done in the early 2000s just for the purpose of hyping up their own brand I suppose but I found it cute. It’s about a group of friends who each relate to a certain Disney princess whether it to be in personality or familial circumstance and just follows their adventures. It has the requisite moral lessons about growing up and such, it’s just quaint.
Kat the Time Explorer by Emma Bradford
I also enjoyed this book as another sort bit of historical fiction for kids. As the tagline says, “Sometimes history needs a little help” which is what Kat and her Aunt Jessica do after figuring out their grandfather’s mysterious contrapation can take them back to the past from Mongolian Empire to Renissance Italy. Seeks to inform and entertain and has little related crafts at the back of the book. Also just look at the cover illustration, it and the others inside, are gorgeous.
(more…)#annie'sattic, #annmmartin, #bscinusa, #callahancousins, #creativegirlsclub, #disneygirls, #disneyhyperion, #elizabethdoylecarey, #emmabradford, #friendshipsrings, #gabriellecharbonnet, #girlhoodjourneys, #historicalfiction, #janfields, #jillianbrooks, #katthetimeexplorer, #kidsbooks, #littlebrownbooksforyoungreaders, #macmillan, #maggicatticclub, #magicatticpress, #magicfiction, #nostalgia, #pocketbooks, #puffinbooks, #rachelreads&reviews, #rachelveil, #realisticfiction, #scholastic, #sgayle, #sibylmiller, #simon&schuster, #stardustclassics, #summerrereads, #vcandrews, #wildlflowers, #winddancers, #wondergirls -
Mysteries and Supernatural series
Mysteries
Codename: Dancer by Amanda Brice
What happens when you mix Dance Academy with murder, you get snarky ballerina sleuth Dani Spevak series. I like how it tries to keep it realistic like a modern day Nancy Drew, and Dani’s voice was very fun to read. Good YA mystery series.
The Lying Game by Sara Shepard
I’m one of the few who haven’t seen or read the infamous Pretty Little Liars series (yet) but I did read her shorter six book series, The Lying Game and I can see why Shepard is so good. All the twists and turns kept me at the edge of my seat and I wasn’t able to guess who the killer was at all. Yet the reveal made so much sense, I couldn’t believe I didn’t figure it out in the first place. Nice series if you want to start small before getting into the 21 book series that made her famous.
The Postcard by Tony Abbot
A funny yet bittersweet mystery as Jason heads down to Florida to sort through his grandmother’s things after her sudden death. But as it’s wont to happen in mysteries, Jason finds a mysterious postcard among her belongings and decides to follow where it leads. Of course there’s murder attempts, crocodiles and twists as Jason runs around Florida for clues, and then. . . well you’ll just have to find out yourself.
Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
(more…)#agathachristie, #amandabrice, #badgirlsdon'tdie, #bantamdoubledaydellbooksforyoungreaders, #candencefleming, #carolineb.cooney, #danispevakmysteries, #dialbooks, #enolaholmes, #faceonthemilkcarton, #gemmadoyletrilogy, #harperteen, #hexhall, #impossible, #jamespatterson, #katiealender, #kierstenwhite, #lauraruby, #lilysghosts, #littlebrown, #littlebrownbooksforyoungreaders, #loisduncan, #mysteries, #nancymartin, #nancyspringer, #nancywerlin, #paranormalcy, #penguinrandomhouse, #rachelhawkins, #rachelreads&reviews, #sarashepard, #scholastic, #simon&schuster, #supernaturals, #theblackbirdsisters, #thedayIdied, #thelyinggame, #thepostcard, #tonyabbot, #warnerbooks, #williammorrowbooks, #womensmurderclub -
Women’s History Month Books P6
Dynamic Dames by Sloan DeForest
This is a great addition to any TCM or feminist library going into 50 iconic female roles from Jane Eyre to The Bride and the actresses that portrayed them, showing how their characters influenced and widened the scope of how women can be portrayed in film and make a difference in public perception.
The Book of Awesome Women by Becca Anderson
If you want to add to your collection, this is a solid book that gives snapshots into the lives of 50 boundary-breaking women. It is spread across time and the world giving some boosted diversity as one of the only books that mentioned tribal leader, Wilma Mankiller. However, the tone of the book is hard to take seriously, using the word “shero” a lot and making puns with their names like Jane Goodall, not monkeying around. Better for middle schoolers.
Modern Herstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History by Blair Imani
As the title says, this book doesn’t delve too much into the past, but into the present role models and ruler breakers that are chaning the world. This book is one that mainly delves into women who have been excluded from the lists of activists, focusing prominantly on women of color, and/or part of the LGTBQ community and/or being nonbinary. Additionally, their causes range from sexism to other less-talked about ones such as disabilities and body positivity.
Nevertheless, We Persisted
This anathology of essays range from teen activists to US Senator, Amy Kloubacher to actress, Alia Shawkat and more. All focusing on a moment where they’ve been held back, be it by race, gender, sexuality, religion etc. and how they overcame. The message is clear that even in the face of rejection, you can persist and achieve. It can be hard to read especially if you relate to some of the slurs/obstacles/prejudices that are in this book, but it is meant to be inspiring that while life may throw difficulties in your way, you cannot give up.
For a similar anathology of essays about feminism, empowerment and injustice read Our Stories, Our Voices from the experiences of 21 of the top YA authors in the field.
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Rachel Reads & Reviews 