This Month's Reviews

We’ve created a special What to Give/What to Get Guide with you in mind --- it’s just for kids! We have books that we know you’ll love to unwrap this season, so check it out. We’re sure you’ll end up spotting a title or two that you can add to YOUR holiday list.

Celebrate “the most wonderful time of the year” with Kidsreads.com! In our annual roundup of outstanding winter reads, we’ve compiled a number of titles that promise to put a smile on your face and a warm feeling in your heart. The holidays are a great time to reconnect with the ones we love. And what better way to do so than through the pages of a book? Fill this season with adventure, mystery, laughs and kind lessons that will stay with you for a lifetime.

CHAINS by Laurie Halse Anderson
Freedom and loyalty are commonly discussed in histories of the American Revolution. In CHAINS, a finalist for this year’s National Book Award, Laurie Halse Anderson examines the very different implications of these notions for one often-overlooked group: slaves. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

-Click here to read an excerpt from CHAINS.

EVERY SOUL A STAR by Wendy Mass
Ally is an astronomy buff who has spent most of her life living at the Moon Shadow campground site run by her parents. Beautiful Bree is popular at school and hopes to become a fashion model. Jack is a chubby, lonely, sensitive dreamer who has to go on an eclipse tour to make up for failing science. The lives of these three young teens intersect at the campground during a major solar eclipse, leading them to expand their horizons and find their own unique place in this vast universe. Reviewed by Usha Reynolds.

WAYS TO LIVE FOREVER by Sally Nicholls
Eleven-year-old Sam McQueen has leukemia and sadly won’t live to see his 12th birthday. WAYS TO LIVE FOREVER is his story: his hopes, his dreams, his goals, his questions and his thoughts on life. Come and share this profoundly moving debut novel, become Sam’s friend and carry part of him in your heart forever. Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman.

STARLIGHT ANIMAL RESCUE by Dandi Daley Mackall
Meet 16-year-old Dakota Brown. She used to love all things "horse" until she lost everything, including hope. The minute she sets foot on her foster parents' farm --- Starlight Animal Rescue --- she plans her escape. But can an "impossible" horse named Blackfire and this quirky collection of animal lovers be the home she's always dreamed of?

Starlight Animal Rescue: Where problem horses are trained and loved, where abandoned dogs become heroes, where stray cats become loyal companions. And where people with nowhere to fit in find a place to belong.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS by Geronimo Stilton
Geronimo absolutely loves Christmas, and the very idea of his favorite holiday warms his heart on a chilly winter day. He begins planning his usual family holiday dinner in great detail when his grandfather interrupts with disheartening news: "This year, the entire Stilton family will spend Christmas in New York!" Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.

-Click here to play the updated Geronimo Stilton trivia game.
-Click here to read our Geronimo Stilton series feature.

SAMMY KEYES AND THE COLD HARD CASH by Wendelin Van Draanen
Sammy Keyes lands herself in the midst of another mystery when she wins the "dead-guy jackpot" by literally scaring an old man to death. She is more than happy to fulfill his dying wish, which is for her to get rid of his bundles of cash. But that's when things get complicated. Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.

-Click here to play the updated Sammy Keyes trivia game.
-Click here to read our Sammy Keyes series feature.

GHOSTSITTERS: Araminta Spookie #5 by Angie Sage
When Aunt Tabby and Uncle Drac head off to Transylvania, Araminta is upset --- they're going to be away on her birthday. However, when it turns out that her almost-grown-up cousin, Mathilda, will be babysitting, it seems things couldn't get any better. But Mathilda has brought along trouble: two rowdy teenage ghosts who listen to no one. Reviewed by Paula Jolin.

-Click here to play the updated Araminta Spookie trivia game.
-Click here to read our Araminta Spookie series feature.

November and December’s roundup of Cool New Books includes ONE FALSE NOTE, the second installment in The 39 Clues, a blockbuster series consisting of 10 books, 350 trading cards, and an online game where readers play a part in the story and compete for over $100,000 in prizes; THE SORCERER OF THE NORTH, book five in John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice fantasy/adventure series; LONG SHADOWS by Erin Hunter, the newest Warriors: Power of Three novel that finds three young cats having to put their powers to the ultimate test to save the Clans from destruction; THE FROST DRAGON, the second volume of Dr. Ernest Drake’s Tracking and Taming Dragons, in which the preeminent dragonologist shares the special skills needed to set out on the trail of these cold-weather dragons; and a spectacular pop-up edition of the classic story of Peter Pan, courtesy of paper engineer extraordinaire Robert Sabuda.

November and December’s roundup of New in Paperback titles includes THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY, Susan Patron's Newbery Medal-winning novel about a 10-year-old girl who doesn't expect running away to turn into such a complicated adventure; THE PILGRIMS OF RAYNE, the eighth installment in D. J. MacHale’s wildly popular Pendragon series; THE DAY OF THE DJINN WARRIORS by P. B. Kerr, the fourth Children of the Lamp book featuring djinn twins John and Philippa Gaunt; DARK RIVER, a continuation of Erin Hunter’s Warriors: Power of Three series and a thrilling new chapter in the chronicles of the Clans; COVER-UP, a John Feinstein mystery that finds Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson sitting on the biggest sports scandal of the decade; and GEMINI SUMMER, Iain Lawrence's poignant story of a boy who won't allow anyone to separate him from his very special dog.

This Month's Reviews

THE PORCUPINE YEAR by Louise Erdrich       
In her third story about the Ojibwe girl Omakayas and her family (following THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE, a National Book Award finalist, and THE GAME OF SILENCE), Louise Erdrich blends stark realities with love and gentle humor in the chronicle of one life-changing year. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

-Click here to read an excerpt from THE PORCUPINE YEAR.

THE GATE OF DAYS: The Book of Time II by Guillaume Prevost
In the first installment of The Book of Time trilogy, 14-year-old Sam Faulkner began his quest to find his missing father. In Book II, THE GATE OF DAYS, Sam’s 12-year-old cousin Lily joins him in his time travels to rescue his father from the dungeon of Dracula’s castle. Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt.

STOLEN CHILDREN by Peg Kehret
Fourteen-year-old Amy Nordlund took a babysitting course in the hopes of earning a little extra money. However, the class seemed to have left a few things out, like what to do if two criminals show up to kidnap the baby. Amy desperately attempts to sneak clues into the ransom videos while trying to keep herself and three-year-old Kendra alive and safe. Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman.

THE LAST INVISIBLE BOY written by Evan Kuhlman and illustrated by J. P. Coovert
Finn Garrett used to be a normal kid. But that was before the day that changed everything, the day he lost his dad forever. The next morning he noticed one strand of his hair had turned milky white, and his skin had lost some of its pinkness. Now nearly half of his hair is white and his skin is as pale as a ghost’s. Finn is certain one day he’ll disappear altogether. Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle.

THE UNNAMEABLES by Ellen Booraem
Medford Runyuin's story isn't just about an orphan coming of age and trying to find his place in the world. In Ellen Booraem’s inventive hands, his journey to maturity and acceptance is complicated by the fact that the island he washed up on is home to a strange and isolated community of people obsessed with names, usefulness and propriety. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

LEXI by L. S. Matthews
A young girl finds herself in the middle of a forest and can’t remember anything at all --- not her name or who she is or where she belongs. The only telltale article on her is a silver key hanging on a necklace. Through the help of kind strangers, she uncovers a surprising and long-buried secret, and then goes on to change the world. Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman.

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