Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Apr 12, 2022

Kate DiCamillo’s consistently wins the highest awards in the nation for her stories. Because of Winn-Dixie is no exception. Synopsis Winn-Dixie is a dog, so named under unusual circumstances, and he really doesn’t do much in this tale except act like an average dog,...

A Little Girl’s Amazing Season of Expectations

Dec 4, 2021

Advent. The season of expectations. When I was a little girl, the traditions of Advent filled me with all the emotions the season represents—Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Waiting for Messiah, God with us. On the first Sunday of Advent, my mother would light one candle...

The Fifty-Year-Old Question For My Deaf Sister

Sep 13, 2021

There are many moments in my books when Debbie (who can hear) wonders what Krista (who is deaf) might be thinking. The child had no language. Tantrums occurred on a regular basis, and the rest of the family tried hard via charades to figure out what she wanted. But...

Lety Out Loud by Angela Cervantes

Sep 29, 2020

I’m always good for a compassionate tear-jerker of a story, and Lety Out Loud with its sympathetic characters and focus on abandoned pets blessed me with three separate crying jags. Synopsis Lety Muñoz is an ESL student fresh out of fifth grade. She loves putting just...

Painting the Rainbow by Amy Gordon

Aug 25, 2020

  Painting the Rainbow is a beautiful, multi-generational story of the Greenwood family’s summer reunion. The Greenwoods appear healthy, supportive of one another, ideal—except for the mystery of Jesse’s death more than twenty years earlier. Thirteen-year-old...