If you like Roald Dahl’s Matilda, you’re sure to enjoy Leeva at Last by Sara Pennypacker! Leeva’s parents, in a perfectly Roald Dahl-esque way are impossibly cruel. They have all kinds of rules for Leeva. She can’t go to school; in fact she isn’t even permitted to step out of her yard. When, one day, […]
Top 5 Young Adult Books – 2024
I finally read a few more young adult books last year, so I don’t have to combine my late middle-grade and young adult books! I loved all these books, three of which are by writers I’ve read before. I highly recommend these books for ages 13+! Spin I am not usually a fan of mythological […]
Top 10 Middle Grade Books – 2024
I read many, many middle grade books last year, but somehow just one Indian book stands out this time! Here are my top ten, in no particular order. I highly recommend these books to readers ten and above! The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them) Last year, I read many books in verse, […]
Top 10 Early Middle Grade Books – 2024
Many of the titles on this list of my favourite early middle grade books from 2024 are book club reads. Some, the children enjoyed thoroughly; others, I enjoyed more than the children did! On the whole, I recommend these books for ages nine and up. In no particular order, here are my top ten early […]
Top 7 Picture Books and Chapter Books – 2024
It’s time for my yearly roundups! I have no idea how many books I read last year (I never count), but I know I read a significant number. I read fewer picture books than usual, but I made up for that by reading dozens of chapter books. I always share these annual posts of mine […]
Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom
Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom opens with the oracle at Delphi predicting the fall of the Titans. The future is misty and the oracle’s glasses are foggy, so she can’t quite tell what will happen. What lies ahead? Dancers? Oh, no. Danger. Danger lies ahead. On that humorous note, we begin the story of […]
The Lucky List
Are you the kind of person who finishes a book once you’ve begun? Or are you perfectly happy abandoning a book that doesn’t work for you? I’m usually the second, but I’m so glad I stuck with The Lucky List! Two chapters in, and I was not invested in the story. Teenage girl, isolated from […]
The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them)
How are such few people reading verse novels? They’re so lovely, so full of emotion and magic! My latest read was The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them), a beautiful middle-grade book about love, stories, and friendship. Nyla Elachi is of mixed heritage, and she’s bullied for it. But in some ways, that’s […]
The School for Bad Girls
I was reading The School for Bad Girls and I mentioned how much I was enjoying it to an acquaintance. Immediately, she said, “I thought Anandibai Joshi was the first female doctor from India.” We looked it up, and of course, I found myself going down a rabbit hole. When I finished reading the book, […]
Kushti Kid
I’ve read and enjoyed so many of Vibha Batra’s books that when I saw Kushti Kid, I knew I had to read it. And it’s lovely! Several of Vibha’s books challenge stereotypes, particularly gender stereotypes. There’s Pinkoo Shergill, which features a boy who wants to cook. Kolam Kanna is about a boy who enjoys putting […]
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle
Diaphoresis and dyslexia. Mason Buttle has both, and both trouble him. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of his troubles. His best friend Benny Kilmartin is dead. His parents are dead. And his uncle has sold off parts of their apple orchard to make ends meet. The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle […]
The One and Only Ruby
Is there any child who doesn’t love elephants? Magnificent African elephants with their enormous tusks, the gentler-looking Asian elephants with their smaller ears—I loved them all. So, of course I wanted to read The One and Only Ruby, the story of the little elephant in the gorilla Ivan’s life. And just like when I read […]
The One and Only Bob
Katherine Applegate’s books are a treasure. Recently, I reread The One and Only Bob, a lovely book featuring an unforgettable character. About a month ago, I reviewed Odder, and I wrote about how authentic the voice is. And with The One and Only Bob, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. It is a […]
Rick
I’ve been reading about Melissa and Rick on so many book lists that I’ve had Alex Gino’s books on my (endless) TBR forever. I finally read Rick, and I realise why it pops up so often. It’s such an important middle-grade book, one that I would have loved to read when I was twelve or […]
When You Trap a Tiger
What an unexpected book! Often, I don’t know much about books before I read them. Some books keep showing up on my social media. Others are recommended to me multiple times by children I teach. Usually, it takes me a while to get around to reading them, and based on who recommends a book to […]
The Poet X
I’ve been meaning to read Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X ever since I read Clap When You Land and discovered that she had another, more famous verse novel. I borrowed this one from Kahaani Box (may libraries prosper forever!), and I loved it. A powerful, moving story told from a young Hispanic girl’s point of […]
Amil and the After
Five years ago, I read The Night Diary. It’s a story that brings alive the bewilderment of children forced to move out of their homes during the Partition. But just like the “happily ever after” at the end of fairytales glosses over the beginning of a new, complicated phase of life, safely reaching a new […]
Paati vs UNCLE
We’re rereading Paati vs UNCLE by Meera Ganapathi at my book club! It is a delightful combination of funny and serious, action-driven and character-driven, making it a perfect book club read. Inju is all set for a quiet, boring holiday with his Paati. That’s just the way he likes it. Unfortunately, from the moment he gets […]
Leonora Bolt: Secret Inventor
I borrowed Leonora Bolt: The Great Gadget Games from a library recently, and my first thought was that the series would be perfect for my book club! A science-loving protagonist with imaginative, innovative ideas, a secret inventor, an unusual set of friends … it’s full of possibilities! And that’s why we’re going to be reading the first […]
Birds on the Brain
Uma Krishnaswami’s Birds on the Brain is such a lovely book! I’ve read Book Uncle and Me with my book club, and I just revisited the post I wrote about it. Three years ago, I wrote about having discovered verse novels “quite recently” and now I have two verse novels of my own! In Birds on the Brain, we meet […]