HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 11, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/11/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
The Iron King is $1.99. Lately I’ve been recommending Julie Kagawa to people who want something fantastic to follow up the Percy Jackson series. Like Percy, Meghan has her world upended when she discovers — on the 16th birthday — that she’s the daughter of a mortal mother and a faery king father. In this first book, Meghan discovers the truth about herself when she ventures in the dangerous world of faery to find her little brother, who’s been swapped for a changeling.
Still on sale
Strange the Dreamer is $2.99. School Library Journal said it better than I can: “There is a mythological resonance to her tale of gods and mortals in conflict, as well as in Lazlo's character arc from unassuming, obsessed librarian to something much more. VERDICT This outstanding fantasy is a must-purchase for all YA collections.”
Sunshine is $1.99. If you, like me, have a sweet spot for vampire stories with plucky heroines, you will appreciate this totally YA novel about a baker in a post-apocalyptic world who harnesses her own power to fend off the vampiric threat to her hometown.
History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time is $1.99. Think of this fun book as a jumping-off point for further history studies: What’s the deal with Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? Though there’s some sensationalism in the telling, these historical mysteries really are interesting—and may be just the ticket for a history-reluctant kid who needs a hook to pull her in.
Coraline The Graphic Novel is $1.99. If you are in the market for a spooky Halloween graphic novel, Gaiman’s now-classic about a girl who discovers another — darker — world behind a secret door in her new apartment is hard to beat.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 9, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/9/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Still on sale
Strange the Dreamer is $2.99. School Library Journal said it better than I can: “There is a mythological resonance to her tale of gods and mortals in conflict, as well as in Lazlo's character arc from unassuming, obsessed librarian to something much more. VERDICT This outstanding fantasy is a must-purchase for all YA collections.”
Sunshine is $1.99. If you, like me, have a sweet spot for vampire stories with plucky heroines, you will appreciate this totally YA novel about a baker in a post-apocalyptic world who harnesses her own power to fend off the vampiric threat to her hometown.
History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time is $1.99. Think of this fun book as a jumping-off point for further history studies: What’s the deal with Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? Though there’s some sensationalism in the telling, these historical mysteries really are interesting—and may be just the ticket for a history-reluctant kid who needs a hook to pull her in.
Coraline The Graphic Novel is $1.99. If you are in the market for a spooky Halloween graphic novel, Gaiman’s now-classic about a girl who discovers another — darker — world behind a secret door in her new apartment is hard to beat.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 8, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/8/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Strange the Dreamer is $2.99. School Library Journal said it better than I can: “There is a mythological resonance to her tale of gods and mortals in conflict, as well as in Lazlo's character arc from unassuming, obsessed librarian to something much more. VERDICT This outstanding fantasy is a must-purchase for all YA collections.”
Still on sale
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is $1.99. From our high school Native American history reading list: “Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is at the top of our essential reading list for good reason: Brown’s incisive, authoritative account of the systematic 19th century destruction of Native American populations by the United States illuminates the perspective of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes who lived through it. This is not an easy book to read, but it’s an important one.”
Sunshine is $1.99. If you, like me, have a sweet spot for vampire stories with plucky heroines, you will appreciate this totally YA novel about a baker in a post-apocalyptic world who harnesses her own power to fend off the vampiric threat to her hometown.
History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time is $1.99. Think of this fun book as a jumping-off point for further history studies: What’s the deal with Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? Though there’s some sensationalism in the telling, these historical mysteries really are interesting—and may be just the ticket for a history-reluctant kid who needs a hook to pull her in.
Coraline The Graphic Novel is $1.99. If you are in the market for a spooky Halloween graphic novel, Gaiman’s now-classic about a girl who discovers another — darker — world behind a secret door in her new apartment is hard to beat.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
Amy’s Library Chicken :: 10.7.18
This week’s library chicken is heavy on comfort reading, plus a little middle grades horror, some snarky steampunk, and a little YA superhero romance.
My best friend and I have had to keep reminding each other these last couple of weeks that the good that can come out of terrible things is change. I have the poem “The Place Where We Are Right” by Yehuda Amichai taped over my desk, and I read these lines over and over again:
The place where we are right
is hard and trampled
like a yard.
But doubts and loves
dig up the world
like a mole, a plough.
Which is a longish and perhaps overly abstract introduction to a reading list, but my reading life has been compromised by my emotional life. I find myself avoiding hard books — books that are emotionally complicated — in favor of objective history or comforting books that I can count on to leave me in a good space. I have a giant stack of books that I really want to read that I just can’t seem to read right now.
The Blue Castle by L.M.Montgomery
I have read this so many times I have stopped counting, but it is one of my go-to comfort books. If you’ve only read Montgomery’s Anne books, this one may surprise you: Valancy Stirling is an old maid who has lived all 29 years of her life under the thumb of her controlling family. Valancy isn’t particularly smart or pretty or interesting, and she’s not a particularly pleasant person to be around either — her internal monologues are all recountings of minor insults and injuries that she’s piled up over the years. She’s well on her way to being a bitter, unhappy old woman — until a trip to a specialist informs her that she’s not likely to get much older. Valancy decided to shake up her life completely, and the results are so satisfying.
(LC score: +0, read it on my Kindle)
The Supervillain and Me by Danielle Banas
This is pure frothy fun if you’re into that kind of thing: Abby knows all about the superhero/secret identity thing because her brother is the Red Comet, but she’s not prepared to start crushing on the town’s new vigilante supervillain, even though he does (literally) swoop in and save her from a dire situation. A lot of the twists are a bit predictable (sometimes the bad guys are really the good guys!), but there’s also a lot of good stuff going on, especially Abby’s developing realization that literal superpowers aren’t the only way to be a hero. If this sounds like the kind of thing you’d enjoy, it probably is — and it’s probably a little smarter and funnier than you expected, which is always a nice plus.
(LC score: +0, advance reader copy)
The Darkdeep by Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs
This seems to have gotten good reviews, so take my review with a grain of salt, but I didn’t love this: It’s supposed to be a spooky, atmospheric cautionary tale about secrets and desire set on a mysterious houseboat in a mysterious cove. People are comparing it to Stranger Things, but other than the fact that it’s a horror story about a group of kids, I don’t see the connection. It definitely checked the boxes for middle grades scary, but there were long stretches where it was scary without being exciting, which — for me — equalled boring. I think this might be a hit with some middle grades readers who like thrills and chills, but it doesn’t feel like a book that will end up with a permanent spot on library shelves, if that makes sense. Or I could be crazy and totally missing the (creepy haunted) boat. I don’t know — I’m reading through other people’s reviews, and I feel like I just didn't get it.
(LC score: +0, advance reader copy)
The Inventors at No. 8 by A.M. Morgen
Now this middle grades book I found delightful. George, the third Lord of Devonshire, is the unluckiest boy in London — but that may be about to change, thanks to his new neighbor, the young Ada Lovelace. (This is a digression, but I love how the world has rediscovered the awesomeness of Ada Lovelace over the past five years. Yay for feminist historians!) George and Ada set off in Ada’s flying machine — along with the son of an infamous pirate and a pet orangutan — to change George’s luck and — maybe — the world. Think of it as a steampunk-y Lemony Snicket-y quest story, and settle in for a fun ride.
(LC score: +0, advance reader copy)
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
I’ve been meaning to read this in the hopes that it would turn out to be my much-needed new murder mystery fix, and it definitely wasn’t that. (It’s not a murder mystery at all — did I just dream that it was supposed to be a mystery?) It was a good read, though — it’s more of a series of character studies set in an English village whose superficial bucolic charm is underlaid with class tensions, family squabbles, and marital discord. It’s definitely not a bit Harry Potter-ish, which isn’t really surprising considering the subject matter, but Rowling is a good writer with an eye for detail, and there’s a lot to unpack here. I think I would have liked it more if I had known going in that it wasn’t actually a mystery — though if I had known that, I probably wouldn’t have read it!
(LC score: +1)
How Lovely the Ruins: Inspirational Poems and Words for Difficult Times edited by Annie Chagnot and Emi Ikkanda
I find poetry infinitely comforting these days (obviously, since I can’t stop turning back to it), and this book was particularly balm-ish for my soul. It’s a lovely collection with a few classics and some lesser-known poems, like Denise Levertov’s “For the New Year, 1981:”
Please take
this grain of a grain of hope
so that mine won’t shrink.
Please share your fragment
so that yours will grow.
(LC score: +1)
This Week: +2
Running Score: +3
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 7, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/7/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Killers of the Flower Moon is $2.99. From our best Native American books for high school roundup: “David Grann uncovers a particularly dark chapter of U.S. history in Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. In the 1920s, the Osage Indian reservation be- came an unexpected boom town when oil was discovered on reservation land— the Osage became the richest people per capita in the world. Then, someone started killing them off, one by one. One of the FBI’s first major investigations, the Osage murders exposed a sinister conspiracy that still feels shocking almost a century later.”
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is $1.99. Also from our high school Native American history reading list: “Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is at the top of our essential reading list for good reason: Brown’s incisive, authoritative account of the systematic 19th century destruction of Native American populations by the United States illuminates the perspective of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes who lived through it. This is not an easy book to read, but it’s an important one.”
Still on sale
Sunshine is $1.99. If you, like me, have a sweet spot for vampire stories with plucky heroines, you will appreciate this totally YA novel about a baker in a post-apocalyptic world who harnesses her own power to fend off the vampiric threat to her hometown.
Chancellorsville is $1.99 — and if you’ve been looking for a hyper-focused account of one Civil War battle for your high school U.S. History class, I can recommend this one. (And not just me — Library Journal called it a “tour de force in military history.”)
History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time is $1.99. Think of this fun book as a jumping-off point for further history studies: What’s the deal with Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? Though there’s some sensationalism in the telling, these historical mysteries really are interesting—and may be just the ticket for a history-reluctant kid who needs a hook to pull her in.
Coraline The Graphic Novel is $1.99. If you are in the market for a spooky Halloween graphic novel, Gaiman’s now-classic about a girl who discovers another — darker — world behind a secret door in her new apartment is hard to beat.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 6, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/6/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Sunshine is $1.99. If you, like me, have a sweet spot for vampire stories with plucky heroines, you will appreciate this totally YA novel about a baker in a post-apocalyptic world who harnesses her own power to fend off the vampiric threat to her hometown.
Chancellorsville is $1.99 — and if you’ve been looking for a hyper-focused account of one Civil War battle for your high school U.S. History class, I can recommend this one. (And not just me — Library Journal called it a “tour de force in military history.”)
Still on sale
History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time is $1.99. Think of this fun book as a jumping-off point for further history studies: What’s the deal with Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? Though there’s some sensationalism in the telling, these historical mysteries really are interesting—and may be just the ticket for a history-reluctant kid who needs a hook to pull her in.
Coraline The Graphic Novel is $1.99. If you are in the market for a spooky Halloween graphic novel, Gaiman’s now-classic about a girl who discovers another — darker — world behind a secret door in her new apartment is hard to beat.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 5, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/5/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time is $1.99. Think of this fun book as a jumping-off point for further history studies: What’s the deal with Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? Though there’s some sensationalism in the telling, these historical mysteries really are interesting—and may be just the ticket for a history-reluctant kid who needs a hook to pull her in.
Still on sale
Coraline The Graphic Novel is $1.99. If you are in the market for a spooky Halloween graphic novel, Gaiman’s now-classic about a girl who discovers another — darker — world behind a secret door in her new apartment is hard to beat.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
Stuff We Like :: 10.5.18
New words for your favorite dictionary, an award for books that should have been recognized sooner (and a worthy winner!), ideas for your high school reading list, and more stuff we like.
The beginning of October always seems like it should be fall — but it never actually feels like fall in Atlanta. We may have to run away to the mountains for a little while this weekend.
What’s happening at home/school/life
It’s that time of year when we’re up to our ears in getting the fall issue done!
Rebecca loved Michael Clay Thompson grammar — it’s one of those programs that can really inspire a kid who loves words and language.
I’m filling in for Suzanne in Library Chicken, and while I lack her BookNerd style, I am hoping this will inspire me to make some happier reading choices. (More misses than hits for me this week!)
There have been some awesome Kindle deals lately. (My son was thrilled to snag a copy of Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab for his Kindle—now we can do dangerous experiments on the go.)
one year ago: Halloween always makes me want to reread The Dollhouse Murders. Plus: Shelli’s totally simple strategy to homeschool preschool
two years ago: Great books for developing an everyday writing habit. Plus: Why you should start a family walking habit
three years ago: Rebecca reviewed History Odyssey.
The Links I Liked
You’re registered to vote, right? It’s almost totally painless — and so important.
TL;DR , hangry, and bingeable are among the new words headed to a Merriam-Webster near you. (My spellcheck is definitely not ready.)
The Phoenix Award recognizes great books that missed out on awards when they were first published, which is such a brilliant idea. And this year’s winner — The Birchbark House — totally deserves the belated honor. Am I the only one who thinks it’s interesting this book is being recognized so soon after the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was renamed? I’m happy to have The Birchbark House shelved right beside Little House in the Big Woods in our homeschool room. For me, this is what feels right — not letting go of problematic books I loved but acknowledging their problems, identifying their context, and finding the voices that they leave out.
So many good ideas for your high school reading list. (Yes, please to Octavia Butler!)
Relevant to my interests: William Faulkner was a terrible postman.
What’s making me happy
The way my dog comes and sits on my lap while I am typing
The awesome Locke and Hobbes essays students using our curriculum have written this fall
Tofu bowls with kimchi fried rice from the restaurant on my way home
The Cat Returns, which is just the kind of weird animated movie we always love
Vertigo, which I get to nerd out over with my students this week
(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 4, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/4/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Coraline The Graphic Novel is $1.99. If you are in the market for a spooky Halloween graphic novel, Gaiman’s now-classic about a girl who discovers another — darker — world behind a secret door in her new apartment is hard to beat.
Still on sale
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 3, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/3/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
The Fifth Season is $2.99. I have to confess that I read this book to be polite because Suzanne kept talking about how great Jemisin is, and I was BLOWN AWAY. The three interconnected narratives tell the story of a world where the earth’s power can be harnessed by a much-feared and heavily controlled group of people, but the gorgeous language, complex plotting, and subtle characters make this an extraordinary piece of literature.
Still on sale
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is $2.99. Auxier’s weird Gothic-fantasy mash-ups aren’t for everyone, but they’re definitely for me, and this story about a blind orphan who steals a box of magical eyes and ends up on a fantastic quest is delightful.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
Absalom, Absalom! is $2.99. Faulkner’s story of the dark legacy of slavery and the question of what it means to be human convinced Suzanne that Faulkner was worth a read. I am totally biased by my own Faulkner love, but this is one of his best, I think. For high school.
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is $1.99. More for teens and parents than younger readers, Audre Lorde tackles racism, sexism, homophobia, and other-ing in all its forms. The New York Times says: “Lorde's works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
The Iron Trial is $1.99. From the fall 2014 issue: "Callum’s father has always taught him to avoid magic — so Callum is determined to do whatever it takes to get kicked out of the magical school he’s forced to attend."
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 2, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/2/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Nightmares! is $2.99. Just in time for Halloween, this just-scary-enough middle grades story pits a group of kids against their biggest fears as nightmares start to invade the everyday world.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is $1.99. This Newbery winner’s likable characters and evocative descriptions on life on the 19th century prairie make it a great historical fiction addition to your homeschool library.
Still on sale
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is $2.99. Auxier’s weird Gothic-fantasy mash-ups aren’t for everyone, but they’re definitely for me, and this story about a blind orphan who steals a box of magical eyes and ends up on a fantastic quest is delightful.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
Absalom, Absalom! is $2.99. Faulkner’s story of the dark legacy of slavery and the question of what it means to be human convinced Suzanne that Faulkner was worth a read. I am totally biased by my own Faulkner love, but this is one of his best, I think. For high school.
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is $1.99. More for teens and parents than younger readers, Audre Lorde tackles racism, sexism, homophobia, and other-ing in all its forms. The New York Times says: “Lorde's works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
The Iron Trial is $1.99. From the fall 2014 issue: "Callum’s father has always taught him to avoid magic — so Callum is determined to do whatever it takes to get kicked out of the magical school he’s forced to attend."
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for October 1, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 10/1/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Ancillary Justice is $2.99. Sci-fi fan Suzanne put this trilogy kick-off on her best books of the year list and we talked about it on the podcast. This is old-fashioned science fiction in the traditional sense, but it also plays with notions of identity, gender, and responsibility in ways that are interesting (and satisfyingly resolved in the book!) for a non-hardcore sci-fi fan.
Olivia Twist is $1.99. From Amy’s review: “OK, so just go with it: Oliver Twist is actually a girl, who’s pretended to be a boy because her old nurse warned her the world was no safe place for a pretty girl. When she’s picked up for stealing and serendipitously reunited with her upper class family, Olivia happily adjusts to having enough to eat and a safe place to sleep, but she still pulls on her old cap to help street urchins who, like she once was, are struggling to make it on the London streets. She also does a little thieving to keep the family budget going strong. Then, one night at a party, she runs into the Artful Dodger, all grown up and posing as an Irish lord. He knows there’s something familiar about Olivia, but he doesn’t connect the elegant young lady with the little boy who used to run with his gang. Sparks fly, but there’s plenty of danger lurking in the shadows for Olivia and Dodger both. I mean, either this is your kind of book and you have already stopped reading this and gone to put it on your library hold list, or this is not your kind of book and you are rolling your eyes at the premise.”
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself is $1.99. This book is a MacGyverish delight, and if you have a budding maker, you need it, stat.
Still on sale
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Search for WondLa is $3.99. School Library Journal says “DiTerlizzi is pushing the envelope in his latest work, nearly creating a new format that combines a traditional novel with a graphic novel and with the interactivity of the computer. Yet, beneath this impressive package lies a theme readers will easily relate to: the need to belong, to connect, to figure out one's place in the world. The novel's ending is a stunning shocker that will leave kids frantically awaiting the next installment.”
The Boggart is $3.99. If you’re looking for something that will remind you of Roald Dahl, this hilarious story of an ancient, magical Boggart meeting modern technology is a readaloud delight.
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is $2.99. Auxier’s weird Gothic-fantasy mash-ups aren’t for everyone, but they’re definitely for me, and this story about a blind orphan who steals a box of magical eyes and ends up on a fantastic quest is delightful.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
Absalom, Absalom! is $2.99. Faulkner’s story of the dark legacy of slavery and the question of what it means to be human convinced Suzanne that Faulkner was worth a read. I am totally biased by my own Faulkner love, but this is one of his best, I think. For high school.
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is $1.99. More for teens and parents than younger readers, Audre Lorde tackles racism, sexism, homophobia, and other-ing in all its forms. The New York Times says: “Lorde's works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
The Iron Trial is $1.99. From the fall 2014 issue: "Callum’s father has always taught him to avoid magic — so Callum is determined to do whatever it takes to get kicked out of the magical school he’s forced to attend."
Amy's Library Chicken :: 10.1.18
Lots of literary fan fiction that just didn’t do it for me—but maybe you’ll like it!
Welcome to the weekly round-up of what the BookNerd is reading and how many points I scored (or lost) in Library Chicken. To recap, you get a point for returning a library book that you’ve read, you lose a point for returning a book unread, and while returning a book past the due date is technically legal, you do lose half a point. If you want to play along, leave your score in the comments!
Since Suzanne’s lack of Library Chicken-ing of late is TOTALLY MY FAULT, I’m filling in for her for a few weeks. I am hoping that filling in for the BookNerd will inspire me a bit—I feel like my reading of late has been a bit lackluster, as my grumpy commentary below no doubt indicates. So here’s to stepping it up.
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye
Suzanne recommended these to me, and I totally get why: I love Jane Eyre and subversive retellings of Victorian classics! I love Sherlock Holmes fan fiction, especially when it involves the Great Detective getting an assist from a plucky Victorian prostitute! Faye has a great eye for historical detail, and she picks exactly the stories I’m interested in reading. Objectively, both these books are quite good. I just … well, I didn’t like them. It’s hard to say why, exactly.
I really enjoyed the first half of Jane Steele, which reimagines Jane Eyre as a serial killer. You know how sometimes as you’re reading Jane Eyre, you wish Jane could just push John Reed off a cliff or stab Mr. Brockelhurst when they are particularly awful? Well, in Jane Steele, she does, and that part is awesome. When she finds her way back to Thornfield and its new master and her pupil, the book lost me, though — the snarky, serial killer version of Jane faded away, and the book started to become something different. Similarly, I loved the set-up in Dust and Shadow — Sherlock Holmes investigates Jack the Ripper! — and Lyndsay Fay has clearly done her homework with the Holmes canon. While the voice isn’t pitch-perfect, it’s darn close, and Fay gets so many of the little details just right. I’m trying to pinpoint where it went wrong for me, and I think it may just be that by choosing two such well-known and much-studied topics: Holmes and the Ripper. It felt like her plot ended up as trapped and constrained as those twisty Whitechapel alleys — her solution and even its secrecy are reasonably wrapped up, but it just didn't feel interesting or exciting. Which seems impossible when you’re mashing up the greatest detective and the greatest unsolved mystery of the Victorian era, but there you have it.
Suzanne has never steered me wrong, and I am glad to have read both of these — they didn’t work for me, but they’re both good books worth reading, and Suzanne loved them, so if you are intrigued, you should pick them up and read for yourself.
(LC score: +2)
The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden
I loved Godden’s In This House of Brede, so I was happy to grab this last week when it was cheap for the Kindle. It’s a dreamy, drifting story about a family’s summer holiday in France after World War I. Their botanist father is off collecting specimens and their mother is taken ill, so the five Grey children are left to fend for themselves at their old-fashioned hotel. A mysterious English gentleman takes a fancy to the family, especially to beautiful 16-year-old Joss, who is the catalyst for the events that follow. Narrated by second-sister Cecil—who feels very much like the second sister to Joss that summer — it’s a surprisingly lyrical coming of age story.
(LC score: +0, read it on my Kindle)
Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes
I was so ready to love this book. June’s parents suddenly decide that it’s time to pull “inappropriate reading material” off the library shelves, and avid reader June fights back by starting an underground library that she runs from her school locker. It’s a great idea, but it doesn’t make sense—especially the part where June’s parents suddenly care so much about her reading material that they start abridging her books at home (which she has already read multiple times without them worrying about it) to be more “appropriate” — and the resolution is, frankly, ridiculous. (Spoiler: June’s parents still do not see the value in reading banned books, but that’s okay?) I’m still itching to read the book I thought this was going to be — someone write it for me?
(LC score: +0, advance copy)
The Glass Town Game by Catherynne Valente
The idea for this book is genius: The young Bronte siblings get pulled into the imaginary world they created, peopled with historical heroes and fantastic characters. And Valente uses language in a way that nobody else does—I love reading her work because she’s always surprising me with her descriptions. I think I have read too much about the Brontes to let myself get totally swept away by this story, though — I’ve had the same problem with other Bronte stories, so I think it’s a me-thing rather than something about this particular book.
(LC score: +0, read it on my Kindle)
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
I thought this thriller — about an agoraphobic woman with a dark past who thinks she sees a murder across the way — would be a little like Rear Window, but it was like The Girl on the Train. I am kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I couldn’t get into this and so I just skipped and read the end to know what happened. I think that’s a minus-1, right? I regret nothing.
(LC score: -1)
This week:
Library Chicken Score: 1
Related Posts
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for September 30, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 9/30/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
The Magpie Murders is $2.99. This mystery was one of my favorite reads of 2017: “My other favorite mystery of 2017 was this multi-layered treat: An editor gets a manuscript of a famous detective novelist’s last book, but the last chapter is missing — and, it turns out, the famous detective novelist in question may have been murdered. It’s an homage to classic British detective fiction and a modern-day mystery, and even though I didn’t love everything about the ending, I found the experience of reading it to be very, very satisfying.”
Uglies is $1.99. The first book in Scott Westerfeld’s dystopian trilogy imagines a world where being beautiful is the standard — but the procedure that makes everyone gorgeous comes at a high price. Accidental rebel Tally is about to find this out when she’s charged with bringing back her runaway friend.
The audio version of The Lies of Loch Lamora is $6.95. Suzanne loved this one and awarded it “Favorite Fantasy Heist Novel Which I Didn’t Even Know Was a Thing But Which As a Big Ocean’s Eleven Fan I Was Thrilled to Discover and Even More Thrilled to Learn That It’s the First of an On-Going Series (NOTE: Maybe Don’t Get Too Attached to All of the Characters in the Heist Crew)".”
Still on sale
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Search for WondLa is $3.99. School Library Journal says “DiTerlizzi is pushing the envelope in his latest work, nearly creating a new format that combines a traditional novel with a graphic novel and with the interactivity of the computer. Yet, beneath this impressive package lies a theme readers will easily relate to: the need to belong, to connect, to figure out one's place in the world. The novel's ending is a stunning shocker that will leave kids frantically awaiting the next installment.”
The Boggart is $3.99. If you’re looking for something that will remind you of Roald Dahl, this hilarious story of an ancient, magical Boggart meeting modern technology is a readaloud delight.
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is $2.99. Auxier’s weird Gothic-fantasy mash-ups aren’t for everyone, but they’re definitely for me, and this story about a blind orphan who steals a box of magical eyes and ends up on a fantastic quest is delightful.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
Absalom, Absalom! is $2.99. Faulkner’s story of the dark legacy of slavery and the question of what it means to be human convinced Suzanne that Faulkner was worth a read. I am totally biased by my own Faulkner love, but this is one of his best, I think. For high school.
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is $1.99. More for teens and parents than younger readers, Audre Lorde tackles racism, sexism, homophobia, and other-ing in all its forms. The New York Times says: “Lorde's works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
The Girl from Everywhere is $1.99. From our review: "I mean, really, how can you resist a story that centers on a time-traveling pirate ship that can go anywhere someone’s taken the time to draw a map of?"
The Wednesday Wars is $1.99. This is a quirky charmer of a story about how Shakespeare can change your life, set in Vietnam-era New Jersey.
American Street is $1.99. This was one of our favorite books of 2017.
The Iron Trial is $1.99. From the fall 2014 issue: "Callum’s father has always taught him to avoid magic — so Callum is determined to do whatever it takes to get kicked out of the magical school he’s forced to attend."
Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly is $1.99. We recommend this in our great books for young writers list.
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for September 29, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 9/29/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay is $2.99. Harry Potter completists won’t want to miss this script that kicks of the Newt Scamander movies, even though it takes place many years before The Boy Who Lived was born.
Still on sale
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Search for WondLa is $3.99. School Library Journal says “DiTerlizzi is pushing the envelope in his latest work, nearly creating a new format that combines a traditional novel with a graphic novel and with the interactivity of the computer. Yet, beneath this impressive package lies a theme readers will easily relate to: the need to belong, to connect, to figure out one's place in the world. The novel's ending is a stunning shocker that will leave kids frantically awaiting the next installment.”
The Boggart is $3.99. If you’re looking for something that will remind you of Roald Dahl, this hilarious story of an ancient, magical Boggart meeting modern technology is a readaloud delight.
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is $2.99. Auxier’s weird Gothic-fantasy mash-ups aren’t for everyone, but they’re definitely for me, and this story about a blind orphan who steals a box of magical eyes and ends up on a fantastic quest is delightful.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
Absalom, Absalom! is $2.99. Faulkner’s story of the dark legacy of slavery and the question of what it means to be human convinced Suzanne that Faulkner was worth a read. I am totally biased by my own Faulkner love, but this is one of his best, I think. For high school.
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is $1.99. More for teens and parents than younger readers, Audre Lorde tackles racism, sexism, homophobia, and other-ing in all its forms. The New York Times says: “Lorde's works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
The Girl from Everywhere is $1.99. From our review: "I mean, really, how can you resist a story that centers on a time-traveling pirate ship that can go anywhere someone’s taken the time to draw a map of?"
The Wednesday Wars is $1.99. This is a quirky charmer of a story about how Shakespeare can change your life, set in Vietnam-era New Jersey.
American Street is $1.99. This was one of our favorite books of 2017.
The Iron Trial is $1.99. From the fall 2014 issue: "Callum’s father has always taught him to avoid magic — so Callum is determined to do whatever it takes to get kicked out of the magical school he’s forced to attend."
Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly is $1.99. We recommend this in our great books for young writers list.
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for September 28, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 9/28/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
Still on sale
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Search for WondLa is $3.99. School Library Journal says “DiTerlizzi is pushing the envelope in his latest work, nearly creating a new format that combines a traditional novel with a graphic novel and with the interactivity of the computer. Yet, beneath this impressive package lies a theme readers will easily relate to: the need to belong, to connect, to figure out one's place in the world. The novel's ending is a stunning shocker that will leave kids frantically awaiting the next installment.”
The Boggart is $3.99. If you’re looking for something that will remind you of Roald Dahl, this hilarious story of an ancient, magical Boggart meeting modern technology is a readaloud delight.
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is $2.99. Auxier’s weird Gothic-fantasy mash-ups aren’t for everyone, but they’re definitely for me, and this story about a blind orphan who steals a box of magical eyes and ends up on a fantastic quest is delightful.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
Absalom, Absalom! is $2.99. Faulkner’s story of the dark legacy of slavery and the question of what it means to be human convinced Suzanne that Faulkner was worth a read. I am totally biased by my own Faulkner love, but this is one of his best, I think. For high school.
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is $1.99. More for teens and parents than younger readers, Audre Lorde tackles racism, sexism, homophobia, and other-ing in all its forms. The New York Times says: “Lorde's works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
The Girl from Everywhere is $1.99. From our review: "I mean, really, how can you resist a story that centers on a time-traveling pirate ship that can go anywhere someone’s taken the time to draw a map of?"
The Wednesday Wars is $1.99. This is a quirky charmer of a story about how Shakespeare can change your life, set in Vietnam-era New Jersey.
American Street is $1.99. This was one of our favorite books of 2017.
The Iron Trial is $1.99. From the fall 2014 issue: "Callum’s father has always taught him to avoid magic — so Callum is determined to do whatever it takes to get kicked out of the magical school he’s forced to attend."
Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly is $1.99. We recommend this in our great books for young writers list.
Stuff We Like :: 9.28.18
Why is college so expensive, feminist myth retellings, considering the future of biography, and more stuff we like.
I’m not sure how to follow politics and find the middle way anymore — and I know that’s a problem that reflects a whole lot of privilege, but I feel perpetually pushed between anger and depression when I read the news these days. I’ve been reading so much about the civil rights movement lately, looking for guidance in how to navigate inhuman situations without losing your humanity. That helps a little. Taking small breaks when I don’t follow the news helps, too. I read a lot of poetry, and that helps, sometimes. The thing that helps the most is my students, who believe in a better world so much that I really think they will make one. But there are many hard days, and I find it especially hard to talk to my kids about all the things that are happening because I know I lack wisdom and peace about so much of this.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HOME/SCHOOL/LIFE
How to add more movement to your elementary homeschool.
A reading list for kids (and grown-ups) who love bugs.
one year ago: A step-by-step guide to writing your own curriculum. Plus: Shelli’s screen time strategy.
two years ago: A science project that bites: How to grow your own carnivorous plants.
three years ago: Nature scavenger hunts for fall. Plus: Tips for setting and achieving academic goals in your homeschool
THE LINKS I LIKED
I will read about Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin’s friendship all day.
The Atlantic takes a very interesting look at what makes college in the United States so expensive compared to the rest of the world’s higher education. (The healthcare comparison is particularly illuminating.)
Hollywood’s male crimes and comebacks vs. female crimes and comebacks.
(Related: Serena Williams deserves that apology.)
Relevant to my interests: 10 retellings of classic myths by women writers
WHAT I’M READING AND WATCHING
The Good Place is back!
Student papers comparing Hobbes and Locke — apparently I am not the only one saddened by the state of the world because Hobbes is definitely coming out ahead this semester.
I have a big stack of books on my nightstand, but they are gathering dust at the moment — I have entered the “wait, what day is it?” phase of the fall term.
THINGS MAKING ME HAPPY
This Rilke poem: Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.My cheapie outdoor rocking chair (even though fall is certainly taking its time here in Georgia!)
More Stuff We Like
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for September 27, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 9/27/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
The Years of Rice and Salt is $1.99. This is the book to hand your high school history student who is always wondering “what if?” What if the plague in the 14th century had wiped out 99 percent of Europe instead of just one-third? What if Chinese sailors had “discovered” North and South America? What if Christianity was just a historical footnote, and Buddhism and Islam were the world’s leading religions? This alternate history imagines all kinds of interesting possibilities. Suzanne recommends this one!
Still on sale
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
The Search for WondLa is $3.99. School Library Journal says “DiTerlizzi is pushing the envelope in his latest work, nearly creating a new format that combines a traditional novel with a graphic novel and with the interactivity of the computer. Yet, beneath this impressive package lies a theme readers will easily relate to: the need to belong, to connect, to figure out one's place in the world. The novel's ending is a stunning shocker that will leave kids frantically awaiting the next installment.”
The Boggart is $3.99. If you’re looking for something that will remind you of Roald Dahl, this hilarious story of an ancient, magical Boggart meeting modern technology is a readaloud delight.
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is $2.99. Auxier’s weird Gothic-fantasy mash-ups aren’t for everyone, but they’re definitely for me, and this story about a blind orphan who steals a box of magical eyes and ends up on a fantastic quest is delightful.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
Absalom, Absalom! is $2.99. Faulkner’s story of the dark legacy of slavery and the question of what it means to be human convinced Suzanne that Faulkner was worth a read. I am totally biased by my own Faulkner love, but this is one of his best, I think. For high school.
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is $1.99. More for teens and parents than younger readers, Audre Lorde tackles racism, sexism, homophobia, and other-ing in all its forms. The New York Times says: “Lorde's works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
The Girl from Everywhere is $1.99. From our review: "I mean, really, how can you resist a story that centers on a time-traveling pirate ship that can go anywhere someone’s taken the time to draw a map of?"
The Wednesday Wars is $1.99. This is a quirky charmer of a story about how Shakespeare can change your life, set in Vietnam-era New Jersey.
American Street is $1.99. This was one of our favorite books of 2017.
The Iron Trial is $1.99. From the fall 2014 issue: "Callum’s father has always taught him to avoid magic — so Callum is determined to do whatever it takes to get kicked out of the magical school he’s forced to attend."
Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly is $1.99. We recommend this in our great books for young writers list.
HSL's Kindle Deals of the Day for September 26, 2018
We rounded up the best ebook deals for homeschoolers for 9/26/18.
Today's Best Book Deals for Your Homeschool
(Prices are correct as of the time of writing, but y'all know sales move fast — check before you click the buy button! These are Amazon links — read more about how we use affiliate links to help support some of the costs of the HSL blog here.)
The Red Queen is $2.99. We recommended this one in our summer 2015 reading guide: In Mare’s world, the Silvers have all the power, while the Reds do all the labor. But Mare, a Red, has powers no one suspects in the first novel in this medieval fantasy series.
Still on sale
The Search for WondLa is $3.99. School Library Journal says “DiTerlizzi is pushing the envelope in his latest work, nearly creating a new format that combines a traditional novel with a graphic novel and with the interactivity of the computer. Yet, beneath this impressive package lies a theme readers will easily relate to: the need to belong, to connect, to figure out one's place in the world. The novel's ending is a stunning shocker that will leave kids frantically awaiting the next installment.”
The Boggart is $3.99. If you’re looking for something that will remind you of Roald Dahl, this hilarious story of an ancient, magical Boggart meeting modern technology is a readaloud delight.
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is $2.99. Auxier’s weird Gothic-fantasy mash-ups aren’t for everyone, but they’re definitely for me, and this story about a blind orphan who steals a box of magical eyes and ends up on a fantastic quest is delightful.
The Name of the Wind is $1.99. If your fantasy-loving teen needs a new series to binge, you can’t go wrong with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recommendation!
Absalom, Absalom! is $1.99. Faulkner’s story of the dark legacy of slavery and the question of what it means to be human convinced Suzanne that Faulkner was worth a read. I am totally biased by my own Faulkner love, but this is one of his best, I think. For high school.
The Book Thief is $2.99. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. In 1939 Germany, an orphan falls in love with book — and Death himself narrates the stories. Holocaust stories can be both punishing and profound, and this one is no exception — but when you’re ready, it’s worth reading.
Howl’s Moving Castle is $3.99. Sometimes a curse can be just what you needed, as Sophie discovers in this delightful fantasy about a hat maker's daughter who's cursed to premature old age by the Witch of the Waste. To break the curse, Sophie will need to team up with the mysterious wizard Howl, who happens to be stuck under a curse of his own — but first, she'll have to get to his castle, which has a habit of wandering around. I love this as a readaloud, on its own, or (of course) a companion piece to the equally wonderful (though often quite different) movie adaptation.
Jackaby is $1.99. This first in the series (of which I am a fan) introduces the supernatural Sherlock Holmes and his new assistant, runaway young lady (who’d rather be a paleontologist) Abigail Rook.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is $1.99. More for teens and parents than younger readers, Audre Lorde tackles racism, sexism, homophobia, and other-ing in all its forms. The New York Times says: “Lorde's works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”
The Glass Town Game is just $0.99. I snagged this one as soon as I saw it since it made Suzanne’s Best of 2017 list — she says “Similar in style to Valente’s Fairyland series with a dash of The Phantom Tollbooth, this would be a great read-aloud and introduction to the Brontes (although you may have to prepare your listeners for some post-book heartbreak when they learn about the eventual fates of the siblings). I especially loved the Jane Austen cameo, presented (as Valente apologetically notes) from Charlotte’s point of view (she’s not a fan).”
The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman's brilliant (and Pulitzer Prize-winning) history of the month leading up to World War I, is $1.99. Tuchman has a knack for weaving sophisticated historical details into a text that reads like a story, and I feel like a high school U.S. history student who skipped this book would be missing out. (At least read the first chapter, about Edward VII's funeral, together!)
Salt: A World History is $1.99. I love books like this that trace some apparently insignificant item through history; Library Journal says: "Deftly leading readers around the world and across cultures and centuries, he takes an inexpensive, mundane item and shows how it has influenced and affected wars, cultures, governments, religions, societies, economies, cooking (there are a few recipes), and foods." Sign me up.
The Girl from Everywhere is $1.99. From our review: "I mean, really, how can you resist a story that centers on a time-traveling pirate ship that can go anywhere someone’s taken the time to draw a map of?"
The Wednesday Wars is $1.99. This is a quirky charmer of a story about how Shakespeare can change your life, set in Vietnam-era New Jersey.
American Street is $1.99. This was one of our favorite books of 2017.
The Iron Trial is $1.99. From the fall 2014 issue: "Callum’s father has always taught him to avoid magic — so Callum is determined to do whatever it takes to get kicked out of the magical school he’s forced to attend."
Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly is $1.99. We recommend this in our great books for young writers list.
How Can I Make Learning More Hands-On for My Kid Who Loves to Move?
My 7-year-old needs to move all the time. That’s fine with me, but I’d love to find a few ways to make movement part of our everyday learning activities.
My 7-year-old needs to move all the time. That’s fine with me, but I’d love to find a few ways to make movement part of our everyday learning activities. We follow a fairly relaxed curriculum, but I’m committed to everyday math, reading, and science. Any ideas to bring a little more kinetic energy to these daily classes?
Some kids just need to move, and it’s great that you make space for your child be active during the day. You probably already know that readalouds can be a great time to build Legos, color, play with clay, bounce on a mini trampoline — my 10-year-old still loves to do this! — or balance on a yoga ball, but I’ll mention these things just in case.
As far as classes go, look for ways to add activity to what you’re already doing. For instance:
Scramble up the letters of spelling words on individual cards, and race back and forth across the room to collect cards to spell each new word. Or if you have the floor space, tape letters to the floor and let your student jump out the spelling of each word.
Do jumping jacks to answer short addition and subtraction problems.
Set up a stack of numbered cups, and let your student toss a ball to knock two down. Add the sum of the numbers on the dropped cups.
Practice simple math or multiplication tables standing on one foot. (Try to increase how many you can do in each balancing session.)
Take a math walk: Grab a stack of flashcards, and head outside. Each time your student answers one, take that many steps.
Learn the sign language alphabet, and practice spelling out words with your hands. (This doesn’t burn a ton of energy, but it gives a physical focus to spelling that can be helpful for kinetic learners.)
This was originally published in the winter 2018 issue of HSL.
AMY SHARONY is the founder and editor-in-chief of home | school | life magazine. She's a pretty nice person until someone starts pluralizing things with apostrophes, but then all bets are off.