C.J. Milbrandt's Blog, page 27

Can we go higher?

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

Find any clues?

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 Lower Middle Grade

Having read a handful of Roy’s A-Z Mysteries, this book was in familiar territory, since the mains are the younger siblings of his previous series. April Adventure is a decidedly lower middle grade storyline involving a seasonal quest. Basically an Easter scavenger hunt. Clementine is one of those children who sees the world a little differently than everyone else. You could call her artistic. You could call her trouble. Both really do apply. A lower middle grade chapter book with strong fam...

Is this a prank?

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 Fascination

In Song for a Whale, Iris learns about a lonely whale in science class, and she can relate. Blue 55 can’t communicate with other whales because he can’t understand their songs. Iris is deaf, so she misses out on all the conversations happening around her. But she has a plan. Iris composes a song for Blue 55 so he’ll know he isn’t alone. Estranged is the first in a graphic novel duology. A boy who was swapped in the cradle with a changing has grown up in the underground world of the fae, know...

Should you be standing?

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 Delights

The Wooden Prince is Pinocchio re-imagined. He’s a construct of wood and gears, a robot servant in the palace of the doge. But suddenly he has ideas of his own and a person to find: an alchemist named Geppetto. Fascinating world-building. Steampunk and alchemy, with a island where “half-beasts” and elementals live under the peaceful reign of a benevolent eternal. Lots to discover and action aplenty. In Den of the White Fox, Zenta and Matsuzo travel into a valley where people believe in legen...

What are you looking for?

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 Outside My Tastes

In The Owls have Come to Take Us Away, Simon is intrigued by aliens and the conspiracies surrounding them. When his family leaves the air force base that they call home to camp in the woods, something strange happens in the woods. Simon is sure he’s been abducted by aliens. Getting someone to believe him is tough. I’d call this a psychological thriller, middle grade style. The Isle of the Lost is a fairy tale remix set after the events of all the Disney movies, during an era when King Beast ...

Did you hear footsteps?

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