C.J. Milbrandt's Blog, page 21

#amreading curiously

Tornado is short and heartwarming. While a family huddles in their farm’s storm shelter, they beg their uncle to retell the story from his (and their father’s) childhood about a dog named Tornado. In Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook, when one of the class pets is stolen, Edgar decides to take the case. Soon it’s a race between him and a copycat rival to solve the mystery. The story includes pages from Edgar Allen’s titular notebook, including interviews and speculations. A...

Isn’t this nice?

Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ

#amreading greens & golds

Dragon is the seventh book in the Five Ancestors series and delivers a solid finish. In Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Rosie sometimes gets upset with her best-friend-since-always Bailey, especially when a new girl in the neighborhood takes a shine to him. No one is better at diffusing tension than Granny Torrelli, who comes over to cook and to tell stories about when she was Rosie’s age. Both the food and her grandmother’s honesty and humor do help. Tumble & Blue turned out to be a favorite re...

Did you see that?

Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ

#amreading action

Mouse is the sixth book in the Five Ancestors series. Still loving my kung fu advenures. January is the first book in a (you guessed it) 12-book series set in Australia. Callum Ormond doesn’t have much to go on, but he knows he needs to get away, stay hidden, and solve the riddle his dead father left behind in the form of several drawings. Because he’s already been blamed for a crime he didn’t commit. Action-packed! And then Firelight continues the Amulet series of graphic novels.

Are yo...

Is this a game?

Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ

#amreading oddly

Eagle is the fifth book in the Five Ancestors series, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Escape from Lucien is another continuation, since it’s the sixth book in the Amulet series of graphic novels. But The Secret Key is a series starter, so I can talk about that one! Agatha is smart, observant, and steeped in the fiction of her namesake, Agatha Christie. In fact, Hercule Poirot is her imaginary friend. But few people appreciate her little investigations. But when a new case presents itself, Aga...

Which way is north?

Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ

#amreading Families

Crane is the fourth book in the Five Ancestors series and a direct continuation of the books before it. (I hate giving summaries for individual books in a series since they’ll inevitably contain spoilers for previous volumes.) Suffice to say, I like the kung fu adventure! In Finding Orion, when Grandpa Qwirk dies, he does it like he lived: in his own way. Rion and his family go back to his dad’s home town for a funeral, but find themselves on the strangest scavenger hunt that ever was. The W...

Is that your shadow?

Elza and I love games almost as much as we love reading middle grade books. You’ll find more of these over on Middle Grade Carousel and posting throughout the day on our Twitter account. Follow us and play along! ~CJ