Growing Bookworms Newsletter: March 7: Middle Grade Reviews, Librarian for a Day + #MegaPrincess

Today, I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on growing joyful learners, mainly bookworms, but also mathematicians and learners of all types. The newsletter is sent out every three weeks.

Newsletter Update:  In this issue I have three book reviews (middle grade) and three posts with links that I shared recently on Twitter. I also have a post about my daughter's recent experience being Librarian for a Day at school, and one about her latest literacy milestone (correcting my grammar). 

Reading Update:  In the last few weeks I finished two young adult and eight adult titles. I read/listened to: 

• Tara Altebrando: The Opposite of Here. Bloomsbury USA Children's Books. YA Fiction. Completed February 7, 2018, print ARC. Although I usually love Altebrando's books, this one didn't work for me for some reason. Finished but did not review. 
• Jessica Brody: In Some Other Life. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers. YA Fiction. Completed February 20, 2018, on Kindle. This was a fun look at alternate worlds, and I do recommend it, though it was a vacation read and I don't plan a formal review.  
• Christopher Swann: Shadow of the Lions. Algonquin Books. Adult Mystery. Completed February 10, 2018, on MP3. 
• Kate Quinn: The Alice Network. William Morrow. Adult Mystery. Completed February 17, 2018, on Kindle. This was an interesting historical novel about female spies in World War I, also featuring an investigation shortly after World War II (moving back and forth between two young adult protagonists). I think that fans of Code Name Verity who are ready for some adult content would enjoy it. 
• C. J. Tudor: The Chalk Man. Crown. Adult Mystery. Completed February 19, 2018, on Kindle. This book, about a mystery with roots back in the narrator's 1980's childhood, was full of twists, and kept me guessing. 
• Karen Odden: The Lady in the Smoke. Alibi. Adult Mystery. Completed February 23, 2018, on Kindle.I found the mystery in this historical novel a bit hard to follow. 
• Kate Saunders: The Secrets of Wishtide (A Laetitia Rodd Mystery). Bloomsbury. Adult Mystery. Completed February 28, 2018, on MP3. This historical mystery about a middle-aged widow who investigates delicate society matters on behalf of her lawyer brother is a promising start to a new series. The audio was excellent. 
• Kristen Welch: Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World. Tyndale. Adult Nonfiction. Completed March 3, 2018. This book was much more religiously-oriented than I had expected, but I definitely found some useful thoughts on raising kids who are grateful vs. kids who are overly-entitled. 
• Lee Goldberg: True Fiction (Ian Ludlow). Thomas & Mercer. Adult Thriller. Completed March 4, 2018, on Kindle. This is fun popcorn read, hopefully not realistic, but a page-turning adventure. 
• Laura Lippman: Sunburn. William Morrow. Adult Suspense. Completed March 6, 2018, on Kindle. This one is definitely intriguing and will keep you guessing. 

I'm currently listening to Murder in an Irish Churchyard by Carlene O'Connor (third in a series). I'm reading How to Get Your Screen-Loving Kids to Read Books for Pleasure by Kaye Newton. My daughter and I are still reading Harry Potter Five (The Order of the Phoenix). For her own reading, she enjoyed a variety of new graphic novels that I picked up for her before our recent vacation. Mega Princess by Kelly Thompson and Brianne Drouhard consumed her enough to put off going to the pool at my parents' condo, so that was a pretty strong vote of approval. 

Lately I have a hard time getting her to stop reading to do other things, like finish her homework or go to sleep. She always says the same thing to me: "It's your fault. You taught me to love reading." This is undeniable, though we are starting to have discussions about the fact that even when we love reading, we sometimes have to prioritize other things. 

Thanks for reading, and for growing bookworms!

© 2018 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.