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In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Mystery & Suspense, Mystery & Suspense (YA), Sci Fi & Fantasy, Young Adult Book Reviews
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Twice in as many weeks I’ve found myself embroiled in intriguing detective mysteries inspired by Allen Pinkerton, the first Private Eye.  The Case of the Deadly Desperadosis set in the lawless mining town of Virginia City, Nevada Territory, where the presumed nephew of the famous detective, P.K. Pinkerton, uses his wits, cunning, and pokerface to outwit some ruthless villains and set up a detective agency of his own.  P.K.’s hope was to get to Chicago to meet, and perhaps work for, the legendary detective and his famous agency, but when the first book in The Wild West Mysteries series ends, P.K. decides to try his luck and honeRead More →

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Last Apprentice: Grimalkin the Witch Assassin, by Joseph Delaney Provides insights into the life of Grimalkin, one of the deadliest witches in the country, if not the world, whose uneasy truce with the Spook’s apprentice, Tom, unites them against the ultimate evil of the Fiend.Read More →

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In: Grants and Fundraising, Ideas You Can Use
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From: kinf.org/elmers Attention Teachers! The Kids In Need Foundation and Elmer’s Products Inc., an industry leader in adhesives, arts and crafts, office and educational products, offer the Teacher Tool Kit Grant Program. You can apply for an Elmer’s Teacher Tool Kit grant that can range from $100 to $500. The grants will be given to teachers who wish to conduct classroom projects selected from a catalog of more than 500 projects. There is also a link to this application on the Elmer’s website, www.elmers.com, and X-ACTO website, www.xacto.com. This year, approximately 250 grants sponsored by Elmer’s will be provided to teachers nationwide for projects to be completed during the upcomingRead More →

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In: Multicultural (YA), Realistic Fiction (YA), Sports (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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Two young men, one white and one black, are coping with  life shattering events in the only ways they can.  For Finley, basketball has been his life-saver; he lives in a run down neighborhood ruled by drug violence, the Irish mafia, and racially charged conflict.  Emotionally and verbally reserved since his early childhood, Finley survives high school by keeping his head down, trusting his girlfriend Erin and Coach, and playing basketball. When Finley puts on his #21 jersey, he becomes another person: focused, confident, determined, and whole. When Coach asks him to spend time with Russ, a rising basketball star whose parents have been murdered and who willRead More →

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The February issue of our newsletter is out now! Bringing book industry news, info on new releases and cool websites, book reviews, opportunities to win free books, tech news and much more straight to your inbox! Not signed up for our email mailing list? It’s easy- just find the Join Our Mailing List link on the right sidebar of this blog. (Or, click here) In the meantime, just in case you didn’t get one, check out the newsletter here. The February Giveaway is now closed, the lucky winner was Lisa M. Thanks for Entering!Read More →

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The National Center for Learning Disabilities (1/20/12) reports: A recent study published in the journal Child Development shed some light on the which comes first (as in “chicken or egg”) debate about reading, looking specifically at elementary school-age children and investigating whether reading achievement at age 10 predicted independent reading behavior at age 11. (Read an abstract of “Associations Between Reading Achievement and Independent Reading in Early Elementary School: A Genetically Informative Cross-Lagged Study.”) Parents and educators have long emphasized the importance of independent reading for fun or leisure, assuming that getting kids to read more on their own will lead to improvements in theirRead More →

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To Kill A Mockingbird comes up again and again as people’s favorite book of all time, for good reason.  Every person I know who has read this book has at least one “ah-ha moment” (to borrow from Oprah) that resonates with them after the last page has turned. Lee’s book, along with the fantastic movie version, are classics of American literature and cinema and it’s interesting to see them show up again and again.  And it never hurts to be reminded of the life lessons the novel so eloquently conveyed. I thoroughly enjoyed this post and thought you might to: Life Lessons from Atticus Finch by Brett &Read More →

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In: Action & Adventure, Elementary Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade Reviews, Mystery & Suspense
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In the hardscrabble desert of the Nevada Frontier, 12 year old P.K. Pinkerton has trouble understanding people.  But that’s not what’s causing P.K.’s troubles today:  desperados have killed P.K.’s foster ma and pa, searching for a priceless letter: the deed to the Motherlode of silver being mined in the untamed town of Virginia City. How P.K. came to have the letter and how the desperados found out about it are just two of the mysteries in Book One of The Western Mysteries, The Case of the Deadly Desperados, by Caroline Lawrence. Fleeing from Whittlin’ Walt and his cruel gang, P.K. finds there’s really nowhere to hide in Virginia City, a lawless town full ofRead More →