Beyond Amelia Earhart: Women Pilots of WWII

Beyond Amelia Earhart: Women Pilots of WWII

Fly Girls: The Daring American Women Pilots Who Helped Win WWII, by P. O’Connell Pearson, is a fascinating and compelling account of the many female pilots who supported the war effort. Especially for those of us who think Amelia Earhart was the one and only female...
A Perfect Summer Story

A Perfect Summer Story

Caterpillar Summer, a debut novel by Gillian McDunn, is a perfect summer read, in large part because of the setting. The reader is transported to a small island in North Carolina, and a lovely house built high near the dunes and the beach.  But when the main...
Styx Malone and the Power of Personality

Styx Malone and the Power of Personality

I could not put down the Season of Styx Malone, by Kekla Magoon (Wendy Lamb Books). What grabbed me? First, the opening: “Styx Malone didn’t believe in miracles, but he was one. Until he came along, there was nothing very special about life in Sutton, Indiana. Styx...
Story Shows There are Many Kinds of Intelligence

Story Shows There are Many Kinds of Intelligence

Ethan Marcus Makes His Mark, by Chicago-based author Michele Weber Hurwitz, shows us a character thrust in a situation where he doubts, not only his ability to do something, but also his desire to do it. We watch Ethan figure out a lot of things; how to find his...
The Power of Biographies for Young Readers

The Power of Biographies for Young Readers

Non-fiction has the reputation of being boring. In my own youth I thought of history, for example, as boring. It focused so much on wars, treaties and what I think of as “big men,” meaning leaders, mostly white men, and was entirely fact based. But who were these...