Middle Grade Ninja: A “Foreword” for ALL RIGHT NOW: A SHORT ZOMBIE STORY (Part Two) Hemingway and Flying Saucers

WARNING: This ADULT novella is mean and nasty and intended for a mature audience. It is absolutely not appropriate for younger readers. It is a gruesome, repugnant tale sure to warp young minds. Seriously. This is the second part in a two-part afterword for All Right Now: A Short Story, which I’m calling a foreword because I’m […]

Middle Grade Ninja: An Afterword for THE BOOK OF DAVID Part Two: “Pictures and Craft”

A quick reminder just in case you missed Part One of this Afterword, ideally to be read after you’ve read The Book of David: This book is not appropriate for younger readers. I wouldn’t let my kid read it and I would never give a copy to your child. Should they obtain a copy elsewhere, this is […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book of the Week: ASHFALL by Mike Mullin

WARNING: This week’s book is actually edgy YA and it is filled with adult content. It is absolutely not appropriate for younger readers and adults should view it as the equivalent of an ‘R’ rated movie. Ashfall is a great story filled with great characters, and it’s that special brand of taught suspense tale to keep you […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: COUNTING BY 7’S by Holly Goldberg Sloan

First Paragraph(s): We sit together outside the Fosters Freeze at a sea-green, metal picnic table. All four of us. We eat soft ice cream, which has been plunged into a vat of liquid chocolate (that then hardens into a crispy shell). I don’t tell anyone that what makes this work is wax. Or to be more […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: FINN FINNEGAN by Darby Karchut

First Paragraph: “Son of a goat!” The boy swore and jumped back. A second squirt of bird poop landed with a plop, this time on the toe of his shoe. “Oh, real funny,” he said with a grimace. He glared up at the crow swinging back and forth on the power line overhead, sooty wings […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: IT’S A WONDERFUL DEATH by Sarah J. Schmitt

First Paragraph(s): The gypsy fortune-teller at the Halloween carnival predicts I’ll have a long life full of possibilities. Of course, that’s right before she uses me as a human shield to avoid the outstretched hand of a black-cloak-clad, sickle-wielding Grim Reaper and then flees hysterically from the tent. Really, if you think about it, that […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: THE MISSHAPES by Alex Flynn

First Paragraph: I don’t remember how old I was the first time I saw a man fly. I was very small; I remember that much. My arms were tightly locked around my dad’s neck. He was giving me a piggyback ride through our perfectly ordinary town center. It was a crisp and cold fall day. […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book of the Week: RESCUING SENECA CRANE by Susan Runholt

Do you like a good mystery, Esteemed Reader? A hint of danger and some heart-pounding adventure? Unless you have some sort of special heart condition or a neurological disorder, I’ll assume that you do. And therefore you are going to love Susan Runholt’s Kari + Lucas Mysteries. The ninja loves them and is looking forward […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: THE TRAGEDY PAPER by Elizabeth Laban

Hello there, Esteemed Reader! I want to talk to you about an extraordinary book today and I know you’re going to love it as much as I did. And come back on Thursday as author Elizabeth Laban will be here to face the 7 Questions! But first I want to talk about literary agents, specifically, […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: ZORA AND ME: THE CURSED GROUND by T. R. Simon

First Paragraph(s): There are two kinds of memory. One is the ordinary kind, rooted in things that happened, people you knew, and places you went. I remember my father this way: laughing, picking me up, singing lullabies in his gentle bass. I see him swinging my mother in a half circle, the hem of her blue […]

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