Middle Grade Ninja: Book of the Week: ASHEN WINTER by Mike Mullin

WARNING: This week’s book is actually edgy YA and is filled with adult content. It’s absolutely not appropriate for younger readers and adults should view it as the equivalent of an ‘R’ rated movie. We’re going to do things a little different today, Esteemed Reader. Ashen Winter is a marvelous book and if you’ve already […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: ALL TOGETHER NOW: A ZOMBIE STORY by Robert Kent

WARNING: This weeks’ Young ADULT novel 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. First Paragraph(s): I’M NOT A BAD WRITER, but I’m amazing with a baseball bat, which is why I’m still alive […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: AL CAPONE THROWS ME A CURVE by Gennifer Choldenko

First Paragraph(s): Even when you live on a prison island with crafty criminals plotting ways to knock you off, summer is the best time of the year. No tests. No homework. No getting up early to catch the ferry. No teachers who think you flunked a few grades because you happen to be kind of big […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: THE ADVENTURES OF TOMATO AND PEA by Erik Weibel

First Paragraph(s): The rookie was preparing to sneak out of his room, even though he knew it was against regulations. He had overheard the plans for the mission. Plans that he knew wouldn’t work, but no one would listen to a mere rookie. The aliens invading his home planet of Oarg must be stopped. Three […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: THE ADVENTURES OF TOMATO AND PEA by Erik Weibel

First Paragraph(s): The rookie was preparing to sneak out of his room, even though he knew it was against regulations. He had overheard the plans for the mission. Plans that he knew wouldn’t work, but no one would listen to a mere rookie. The aliens invading his home planet of Oarg must be stopped. Three […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book of the Week: ADVENTURE AT SIMBA HILL by Susan Runholt

You’ll remember last year, Esteemed Reader, I reviewed the first two books in Susan Runholt’s Kari + Lucas mystery series, Mystery of the Third Lucretia and Rescuing Seneca Crane. If you don’t remember that, here is the link. You don’t have to have read those books to enjoy Adventure at Simba Hill as each Kari […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Book Review: THE ACTUAL AND TRUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF BECKY THATCHER by Jessica Lawson

First Paragraph(s): My left leg twitched at the tickle of another night-boy. Hidden by the wide trunk of a river sycamore, I shifted in my crouch and reached a hand inside Jon’s overalls to trap and smack the creeping skitter. Darn things had been a considerable nuisance since I settled myself along the Mississippi to […]