Q&A with Eugene Yelchin

Q&A with Eugene Yelchin

I don’t post many author interviews these days, but I enjoy them. It’s rare that I have a chance to ask questions of an author as widely known as this one. His latest book, I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This, is as haunting as it is relevant.

I read I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This last year, around the end of the summer. It left me thinking about the choices we face as individuals and how we each play a role in a larger story. When I wrote these questions back in November, I had no idea how differently I’d view them after what’s happened in the last two months. I’m grateful for his perspective and willingness to share his hard-won wisdom so … Continue reading

MMGM Review: The Lion’s Run by Sarah Pennypacker

The Lion's Run by Sarah Pennypacker

The Lion’s Run
Sarah Pennypacker
Illustrated by Jon Klassen
Balzer + Bray
Published February 3, 2026

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About The Lion’s Run

The acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of Pax delivers an historical novel about an orphan during WWII who discovers unexpected courage within himself when he becomes involved with the Resistance.

Petit éclair. That’s what the other boys at the orphanage call Lucas DuBois. Lucas is tired of his cowardly reputation, just as he’s tired of the war and the Nazi occupation of his French village. He longs to show how brave he can be.

He gets the chance when he … Continue reading

Review: Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout

Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout

Song of a Blackbird
Maria van Lieshout
First Second
Published January 21, 2025

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About Song of a Blackbird

Fictionalized but based on true events, Song of a Blackbird has two intertwined timelines: one is a modern-day family drama, the other a thrilling tale of a WWII-era bank heist carried out by Dutch resistance fighters.

In the present day, teenage Annick is desperate to find a bone marrow donor that could save the life of her grandmother, Johanna. She turns to her family history and discovers a photograph taken by Emma Bergsma.

Decades earlier, … Continue reading

Review: Shadow Apprentice by Linda Browne

Shadow Apprentice by Linda Browne

Shadow Apprentice (The Garrison Chronicles #1)
Linda Browne
Crooked Mile Media
Published May 8, 2024

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About Shadow Apprentice

FINALIST, THE WISHING SHELF BOOK AWARDS 2024

13-year-old Ermin is a gifted mechanic and the worst student at St. Anselm’s Training School for Orphans. She’s just failed her exams for the third time—something nobody’s ever done. Worse, Ermin’s been running her own repair business for money, something that’s expressly forbidden. If the headmistress finds out, Ermin will go to prison. Her future will be over before it’s even begun.

But that’s not her only secret.

Her best … Continue reading

MMGM Review: The Sky Was My Blanket by Uri Shulevitz

The Sky Was My Blanket by Uri Shulevitz

The Sky Was My Blanket: A Young Man’s Journey Across Wartime Europe
Uri Shulevitz
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published August 12, 2025

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About The Sky Was My Blanket

From celebrated Caldecott Award–winning illustrator Uri Shulevitz comes the gripping and revealing true story of a young Polish exile fighting to survive in war-torn Europe.

Born in the tumult of World War I, a young Jewish boy named Yehiel Szulewicz chafes at the borders of his hometown of Żyrardów, Poland, and at the rules set in place by his restrictive parents. Brimming with a desire for true adventure, he leaves home … Continue reading

Review: Focus. Click. Wind. by Amanda West Lewis

Focus. Click. Wind. by Amanda West Lewis

Focus. Click. Wind.
Amanda West Lewis
House of Anansi
Published August 1, 2023

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About Focus. Click. Wind.

What if your country is involved in an unjust war, and you’ve lost trust in your own government?

It’s 1968, and the Vietnam War has brought new urgency to the life of Billie Taylor, a seventeen-year-old aspiring photojournalist. Billie is no stranger to risky situations, but when she attends a student protest at Columbia University with her college boyfriend, and the US is caught up in violent political upheaval, her mother decides to move the two of them to … Continue reading