As my reviews will indicate, I think Kermit the Hermit is a gem worth searching out. I think The Ant and the Elephant has a certain charm. And I think Big Bad Bruce has some things that are worth noting.
Author: Sara Masarik
Curators of things Good, True, and Beautiful
Down the Big River
“His over forty books cover genres of adventure, biographical fiction, nautical historical fiction, entrepreneurial or occupational fiction, environmental fiction, sports, mystery and war. His books were meant to educate the mind and cultivate the character as well as entertain which make them books we highly recommend.” – taken from the Biblioguides author profile of Stephen…
Norman the Doorman
Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman is a totally adorable picture book that will delight little ones and the grownups reading aloud to them. “In front of a small, well-hidden hole around in the back of the Majestic Museum of Art, there once stood a mouse named Norman. Norman was a doorman, and he greeted…
Parnassus on Wheels
“As I have said, we were tremendously happy until Andrew got the fatal idea of telling the world how happy we were. I am sorry to have to admit he had always been a rather bookish man…. He would read me some of his youthful poems and stories and mutter vaguely about writing something himself…
Drovers Road Trilogy
Series Overview When interviewed a number of years ago, Joyce West quoted a letter she had received from at least one sympathetic publisher of New Zealand literature at that time. ‘You must not feel that writing children’s books is a sign of arrested development. In publishing circles, writing for children is regarded as one of…
Sun Slower Sun Faster
This novel is, as the note to the reader indicates, lively and exciting. I would whole-heartedly recommend Sun Slower Sun Faster to any reader who likes a good historical adventure. Exciting and well-written like the We Were There books, this one is written in a style more reminiscent of something like Edith Nesbit or The Secret Garden or the early parts of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe when the children are exploring the country house.
Upside-Down Cake
My sweet friend, Tanya Arnold of Biblioguides, knows that I am always interested in reviewing middle-grade “boy books,” published during the 1950s – 1980s. Diane, Tanya, and I are all convinced that something special was happening in that time period of children’s publishing, and we like to read as many of those books as we…
The Happy Voyage
The Happy Voyage, written and illustrated by Judith Gwyn Brown in 1965, is a charming picture book tale written in a lovely rhyme about a boy who is traveling by steamship across the ocean (by himself) to visit his father’s relation for a three-month vacation. During the entire trip, Daniel MacPherson Robert Dufore is fretting…
A Letter for Cathy
A Letter For Cathy by Kathryn Hitte is one of the most adorable books I have ever read. Truly. Every day, Cathy watches the mailman deliver letters to her parents and to all of her neighbors, but there is never a letter for Cathy. So, one day, Cathy decides to speak to the mailman about…
The Wednesday Wars
“Gary D. Schmidt has written a novel that is at turns comic and compelling, down-to-earth and over the top. In The Wednesday Wars, he offers an unforgettable anti-hero in Holling Hoodhood, a kid from the suburbs who embraces his destiny in spite of himself.” – from the 2007 book jacket In the school year of…
Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch
Dog lovers everywhere will rejoice in the delightful true story of Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch by Mona Kerby. Mothers and librarians will further rejoice that this book is currently in print and relatively easy to find for under ten dollars. Additionally, homeschoolers and teachers will be glad to know that there is a short three-minute…
Enchantress from the Stars
While I appreciate some science fiction (like Contact) and some fantasy (like Elantris), I would not say that either of those genres makes up a substantial part of my reading diet. When written elegantly and with complex philosophical themes, I appreciate them in much the same way I appreciate any excellent literature. Just as I…
Tuesday Night Classics Club
In very early 2018, Tim Feldhausen and I decided we needed a Hobbit Club. Our club would be a book club of local friends, most of whom had read little to nothing of J. R. R. Tolkien, but who were willing to read both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings alongside Joseph Pearce’s…
The Christopher Books
From 1966 until Donald’s death in 1989, husband and wife team Carol and Donald Carrick wrote thirty-seven true-to-life children’s stories that won many awards and were beloved by teachers, librarians, and families alike. After her husband’s death, Carol teamed up with her illustrator son Paul to write nine more, the last in 2002. Over the…
The Tangled Skein
The Tangled Skein by Alta Halverson Seymour is as wonderful as the Purple House Press cover is beautiful! Originally published in 1946, it was written on the heels of WWII, and captures the challenges of that very moment in Norway beautifully.