Category Archives: News and Fun

Review: The Severed Thread by Leslie Vedder

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The Severed Thread by Leslie Vedder

The Severed Thread (The Bone Spindle #2)
Leslie Vedder
Razorbill
Published February 7, 2023

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About The Severed Thread

Which threads of fate will hold—and which will break?

Clever, bookish Fi and her brash, ax-wielding partner Shane are back in this action packed sequel to the bestselling THE BONE SPINDLE, the gender-flipped Sleeping Beauty retelling, perfect for fans of SORCERY OF THORNS and THE CRUEL PRINCE.

Fi has awakened the sleeping prince, but the battle for Andar is far from over. The Spindle Witch, the Witch Hunters, and Fi’s own Butterfly Curse all stand between them and happily ever after.

… Continue reading →

Review: Pauli Murray by Rosita Stevens-Holsey and Terry Catasús Jennings

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Pauli Murray by Rosita Stevens-Holsey and Terry Catasus Jennings

Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist
Rosita Stevens-Holsey and Terry Catasús Jennings
Yellow Jacket
Published February 8, 2022

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About Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist

Pauli Murray was a trailblazer who spent her life fighting for civil rights and women’s rights. Writer, lawyer, activist, priest, Pauli was a champion for justice. Her life is immortalized in this biography told in verse.

Pauli Murray was a thorn in the side of white America demanding justice and equal treatment for all. She was a queer civil rights and … Continue reading →

Author Q&A with Jacqueline Jules

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Author Q&A with Jacqueline Jules

Author Q&A with Jacqueline Jules

Today, I’m excited to share a Q&A with the author of more than 50 books for young readers, and most particularly, the author of My Name is Hamburger, which I reviewed yesterday. Jacqueline Jules shares some of the inspiration behind favorite characters, why she chose to write Trudie Hamburger’s story in verse, and more.

Q: What is your favorite thing about Trudie Hamburger? What inspired you to create her?

Trudie is a version of myself at her age. My Name is Hamburger was inspired by my own childhood in a small southern town as a Jewish minority. Writing this book gave me the opportunity to recall both pleasant and not-so-pleasant memories … Continue reading →

Review: My Name is Hamburger by Jacqueline Jules

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My Name is Hamburger by Jacqueline Jules

My Name is Hamburger
Jacqueline Jules
Kar-Ben Publishing
Published October

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About My Name is Hamburger

Trudie Hamburger is the only Jewish kid living in the small southern town of Colburn in 1962. Nobody else at her school has a father who speaks with a German accent or a last name that means chopped meat. Trudie doesn’t want to be the girl who cries when Daniel Reynolds teases her. Or the girl who hides in the library to avoid singing Christian songs in music class.

She doesn’t want to be different. But over the course of a few pivotal months, as Trudie … Continue reading →

Review: Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson

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Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson cover shows a young woman with dark hair in the foreground holding the pommel of a sword. A young dark-haired man stands behind her looking at her.

Mysteries of Thorn Manor (Sorcery of Thorns #1.5)
Margaret Rogerson
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published January 17, 2023

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About Mysteries of Thorn Manor

In this sequel novella to SORCERY OF THORNS, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas must unravel the magical trap keeping them inside Thorn Manor in time for their Midwinter Ball!

Elisabeth Scrivener is finally settling into her new life with sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn. Now that their demon companion Silas … Continue reading →

Review: A Song for the Cosmos by Jan Lower and Gary Kelley

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A Song for the Cosmos by Jan Lower

A Song for the Cosmos
Jan Lower
Illustrated by Gary Kelley
Creative Editions
Published August 9, 2022

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About A Song for the Cosmos

Blues guitarist Blind Willie Johnson led a hardscrabble life, but in 1977, NASA’s Voyager spacecrafts were launched, each carrying a golden record to introduce planet Earth to the cosmos, and his song “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” became the defining anthem.

Weaving together elements of Johnson’s biography with an account of how a team of astrophysicists, writers, and artists created the golden record for the Voyager mission, Jan Lower and Gary Kelley craft a tale that … Continue reading →