Category Archives: News and Fun

Spotlight on The Rift Uprising by Amy S. Foster

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The Rift Uprising by Amy S FosterThe Rift Uprising
Amy S. Foster
Harper Voyager
Available October 4, 2016

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About The Rift Uprising

Normal seventeen-year-old girls go to high school, binge watch TV shows all weekend, and flirt with everyone on the face of the Earth. But Ryn Whitaker is trying to save it.

Ryn is a Citadel. A soldier. A liar. Ryn and her fellow Citadels were specially chosen and trained to guard a Rift—one of fourteen unpredictable tears in the fabric of the universe that serve as doorways to alternate Earths. Unbeknownst to her family, Ryn leaves for school each day and then reports for duty as an elite, … Continue reading →

Review: Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

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Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamilloFlora and Ulysses
Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick Press

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When Flora saves a squirrel from a powerful vacuum cleaner, she discovers that he has super powers. She names him Ulysses and brings him home to teach him what it means to be a hero, and she watches and waits for his true superpowers to emerge. Ulysses’ powers do emerge: a deep love for Flora and the gift of poetry. Her desire to protect him and his power to communicate changes Flora’s life in unexpected ways.

My family and I listened to this as an audiobook on our vacation. I loved the comics that Flora reads and how they were a bond between her and … Continue reading →

Review: Irena’s Children by Tilar J. Mazzeo

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Irena's Children by Tilar J. MazzeoIrena’s Children: Young Readers Edition
Tilar J Mazzeo
Translated by Mary Cronk Farrell
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Available September 27, 2016

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During World War II, Irena Sendler worked with an underground network to rescue 2,500 Jewish children from Nazi occupied Poland. Her unwavering commitment to human rights began long before the war, and endured through her own incarceration and torture. She worked tirelessly to save as many as she could, and through it all insisted that she was not a hero. She’d only done what any ordinary human would do.

Though it’s nonfiction, I could not put this book down. I was so captured by the life of … Continue reading →

Review: This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills

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This Adventure Ends by Emma MillsThis Adventure Ends
Emma Mills
Henry Holt & Co
Available October 4, 2016

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When Sloane’s family moves from New York to Florida before her senior year, she doesn’t feel she’s left much behind. A party brings her within the gravitational field of Vera, a social media starlet, and Gabe, her intensely serious twin brother with a justice complex. Without meaning to, Sloane falls into twins’ social circle, and ever deeper into their lives. When a beloved painting by their late mother goes missing, Sloane makes secret plans to bring it back. This is a problem she can fix, she knows it.

At home, Sloane’s family begins to feel more … Continue reading →

Author Interview and Giveaway with Monica Lee Kennedy

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The amazing Monica Lee Kennedy joins me today to talk about her series The Parting Breath in which the land itself is sentient. Check out what inspired the story and its characters here in the interview and don’t miss out on your chance to win a copy of the series opener, The Land’s Whisper! Giveaway details will be at the end of this post.

Interview with Author Monica Lee Kennedy

I find that a story was often inspired by a question. Was there a question that inspired you to write The Parting Breath series?

It wasn’t a question that drew me to write this story, but more of a sense of dissatisfaction. I was displeased by all the novels laden with sex and unappealing … Continue reading →

Author Interview and Giveaway with Cat Clarke

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Irish Banana Tours BannerAuthor Cat Clarke is here today to talk about what inspired her novel The Lost and the Found, a story about a girl abducted as a child who returns home thirteen years later. Stick around for the interview and then enter the giveaway for a chance to win one of three copies of The Lost and the Found. To start us off, here’s some more about the story:

the-lost-and-the-found-low-resThe Lost and the Found
Cat Clarke
Crown Books for Young Readers

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LOST.

When six-year-old Laurel Logan … Continue reading →