Review: Phantom Academy by Christine Virnig

Phantom Academy by Christine Virnig

Phantom Academy
Christine Virnig
Aladdin
Published August 26, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Phantom Academy

Lindsay Currie’s Scritch Scratch meets The School for Invisible Boys in this fun romp of a middle grade novel about a newly dead boy who faces a spooky new school hiding an unearthly mystery.

After an unlucky collision between a coconut and the top of his head, twelve-year-old Finn joins the ranks of the recently deceased…and of the students at Phantom Academy. The academy is a spectral boarding school for underage ghosts finding their footing in the afterlife, and Finn is the new kid at school.

He doesn’t understand why ghosts have to … Continue reading

Review: Not Lucille by Mike Steele

Not Lucille by Mike Steele

Not Lucille
Mike Steele
Creative James Media
Published June 24, 2025

Amazon | BookshopGoodreads

About Not Lucille

It’s 1931, and children should be seen and not heard.

Ten-year-old Lucy Contento can’t help but be seen and heard. And she’s always in trouble for it. She talks too much. She’s impulsive. She writes with the wrong hand. Her parents would be mad enough knowing she routinely earns afterschool detentions. They’d be furious if they found out she’s been sneaking onto the campus of the nearby Trenton Academy for the Deaf. But there, Lucy has met Florence, a lonely and profoundly deaf girl her … Continue reading

Review: Opening My Eyes Underwater by Ashley Woodfolk

Opening My Eyes Underwater: Essays on Hope, Humanity, and Our Hero Michelle Obama by Ashley Woodfolk cover shows cartoon layers of water in pink, orange, yellow, purple, dark blue, light blue, and dark green.

Opening My Eyes Underwater: Essays on Hope, Humanity, and Our Hero Michelle Obama
Ashley Woodfolk
Feiwel & Friends
Published September 27, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Opening My Eyes Underwater

Inspired by the life and quotations of former first lady Michelle Obama, OPENING MY EYES UNDERWATER is a collection of essays penned by bestselling author Ashley Woodfolk.

In essays about bullying, heartbreak, racism, and confidence, Woodfolk taps into her past to share those stories that made her who she is today. She seamlessly weaves in parallel … Continue reading