Jessie is acting on a dare when she shows up at the Laurel Hill Cemetery one night. Her instructions are to spend a whole night while wandering the cemetery and collecting rubbings from the gravestones of 10 residents. Desperate to make friends in her new high school, Jessie has agreed to the task despite her [...]

Today I wrote a guest post for Reading Group Guides.com about discussing North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley, which I recommend for girls aged 14 and older. You can also read my previous review and an interview with Headley.

Maggie Fox and her sister, Kate, are just playing around when they pretend they can communicate with the dead. But soon their brother is digging up the basement and finding what may be a body, and people everywhere are coming to them seeking to communicate with their loved ones who have passed on. They can’t [...]

Jennie Lovell has suffered much tragedy in her 16 years. Her parents died, her twin brother was killed fighting in the Civil War, and now her fiancé/cousin has also fallen on the battlefield. The aunt and uncle who have taken her in—never overly warm towards her— have fallen on hard times. She doesn’t know what [...]

Sixteen-year-old Molly is on the adventure of her life. Sneaking into the U. S. from her family’s farm in Canada, she’s on a mission to find out if her grandparents are still alive and living near Portland, Oregon. Travel is severely restricted in a time when most of the world’s oil has run out, and [...]

Paul and Marie Tessier live in a small village in southern France during World War II. While not officially occupied by Germany, Germans are all around them. They worry for their Jewish friend Henri. Then Henri’s parents go missing while he is away from home, and Paul and Marie find themselves hiding their friend while [...]

Recent economic woes have certainly affected bookstores along with most other businesses, but I recently came across a couple of positive signs that good literature for children and young adults is alive and doing well. One of my favorite bookstores to browse and shop in is Powell’s in Portland, which says it’s the largest bookstore [...]

Goosebumps author R. L. Stine says “Who doesn’t like a good ghost story? Creepers is a good one! Thrills and chills? You Bet. But it will also warm your heart.” Here’s my review of Creepers by Joanne Dahme Courtney O’Brien has just moved with her parents into the small New England town of Murmer where [...]