By:
On:
In: Sweepstakes
With: 8 Comments

We’re giving away two copies of The Future of Us ARC! Learn More About the Book: A new book from Jay Asher, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Th1rteen R3asons Why, and Carolyn Mackler, Printz Honor winning author of The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. It’s 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the internet. Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM. Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on–and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what their destiny will be.Read More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Middle Grade Reviews, Multicultural, Mystery & Suspense
With: 0 Comments

Love Nancy Drew? Enjoy stories with a multicultural flair? Like smart tween girls whose spunk shines through?  Is so, you’ll really enjoy debut author Sheela Chari’s Vanished.  It’s full of music, mystery, coincidences, deception and fun.  11 year old Neela dreams of being a famous musician, playing her antique Indian instrument, the veena, but in reality when she’s in front of an audience, she’s full of stage fright.  When her grandmother in Indian mysteriously sends Neela an heirloom veena- the one she plays most often that’s intricately carved with a strange dragon – Neela feels that she may finally have the instrument that will help her get over her stage frightRead More →

By:
On:
In: Book Trailers, Elementary Book Reviews, General Book Reviews, Picture Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Substitute Creacher– the latest book from Chris Gall– doesn’t disappoint. Substitute teacher days mean goofing off and wreaking havoc, right? Well the students in Mrs. Jenkins class are about to be schooled. Meet the Substitute Creacher! His lesson plan isn’t one the students are bound to forget soon. He tells tales of kids with unfortunate habits (glue-eating, desk-stuffing, and the like) who have met with sad (and funny) tales of woe. But is anyone prepared for the creacher’s story?? Beautifully illustrated in rich jewel tones, every page of this fun new picture book pops. The rhyming speech and lots of action make this book idealRead More →

By:
On:
In: Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Multicultural, Multicultural (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Padma Venkatraman’s newest work for middle grade readers, Island’s End, is both a coming of age story and an homage to a way of life that has almost disappeared in our 21st century world.  Set in the Indian Andaman Islands off the coast of Burma, a fictional tribe of aboriginals exists in harmony with the ebb and flow of the jungle and sea of their home.  Uido has lived her life apart from the modern world and is deeply connected to both the natural world of her island and the spiritual world of her tribe’s belief system and so is called upon to train as the spiritual leaderRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Mystery & Suspense, Mystery & Suspense (YA), Supernatural & Horror, Supernatural & Horror (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Will curiosity kill the Cat? A shadowy “Game” played on the fringes of normal society where everyday people gamble for life-changing magical prizes and losers may pay the ultimate price – to 15 year old Cat, it sounds like a kooky pass-time for nerds and dorks who still live with their moms.  Cat’s used to being on her own – her parents died when she was three and she’s grown up fending for herself both because of and despite her aunt’s “parenting” style – and she’s most comfortable on the fringes, observing and being invisible.  But when a crazed, breathless businessman asks for her help hiding fromRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Middle Grade Reviews, Mystery & Suspense, Supernatural & Horror
With: 0 Comments

Jane Kelley’s The Girl Behind the Glass is a scary book.  Lovers of scary movies and scary stories told in the dark at sleepovers will devour this book about a haunted house, a horrible act, and an unsuspecting family. The Zimmers have moved to the suburbs of New York City from Brooklyn. While they’re waiting for the completion of their new home, they hastily rent a huge old house on Hemlock Street that’s been derelict and mouse-infested for years.  The children of the town used to come and throw rocks at the windows and dare each other to run up and touch the front door andRead More →

By:
On:
In: What's Happening at PBC
With: 0 Comments

Dumpling Days, Lin, Grace Pacy is back! The beloved heroine of The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat has returned in a brand new story. This summer, Pacy’s family is going to Taiwan for an entire month to visit family and prepare for their grandmother’s 60th birthday celebration. Pacy’s parents have signed her up for a Chinese painting class, and at first she’s excited. This is a new way to explore her art talent! But everything about the trip is harder than she thought it would be–she looks like everyone else but can’t speak the language, she has trouble following the artRead More →

By:
On:
In: What's Happening at PBC
With: 0 Comments

Clockwork Prince (Infernal Devices), Clare, Cassandra With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himselfRead More →

By:
On:
In: What's Happening at PBC
With: 0 Comments

Witch & Wizard: Fire, Patterson, James Whit and Wisty Allgood have sacrificed everything to lead the resistance against the merciless totalitarian regime that governs their world. Its supreme leader, The One Who Is The One, has banned everything they hold dear: books, music, art, and imagination. But the growing strength of the siblings’ magic hasn’t been enough to stop the One’s evil rampage, and now he’s executed the only family they had left. Wisty knows that the time has finally come for her to face The One. But her fight and her fire only channel more power to this already invincible being. How can sheRead More →