Stephen Hawking was a groundbreaking scientist and a disability advocate. He defied boundaries.   I was thrilled when I found out Brad Meltzer was going to write about Stephen Hawking. I love this guy! He played himself in multiple episodes of The Big Bang Theory, and I like to believe he is as funny in […]

WARNING: This story contains the use of the ‘r’ word, guns, and sexual innuendos   Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions. But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate’s birthday celebration, Colin is […]

Isabel Beane is a shy girl who lives in a home full of havoc, hubbub, and hullabaloo. With five siblings, there is too much too much-ness. At the same time, there’s a new girl at school, Monica, who is immediately popular, but she’s also not very nice to Isabel. Isabel has never felt more invisible. […]

When Melody saves Gertrude Gilson, an elderly back-in-the-day actress’s life, the two are rocketed into the spotlight. While being interviewed on the news, the two are gifted a trip to London, England, so that Melody can attend I.D.E.A., an international symposium for kids with different abilities, and Gertrude can visit her family. To Melody’s utter […]

After unraveling the mysteries behind two hidden boxes of secret letters written by kids from the 1970s, best friends Colin and Nevaeh have started Mystery Solvers Inc. But they didn’t expect to be asked to find a ghost. Ree recruits them to investigate a series of old, spooky photos left behind in her family’s new […]

Rated E for Everyone What happened to you?  Was it a shark? A burglar? A lion? Did it fall off? A boy named Joe is trying to play pirates at the playground, but he keeps being asked what happened to his leg. Bombarded with questions and silly suggestions, Joe becomes more and more fed up. […]

In one hour, Jesse Owens broke three world records in Ann Arbor, Michigan. No one has accomplished this since. In the race of life, he defied expectations.   When I first learned about this book, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. I don’t have much interest in sports or athletes, which is funny because my mom’s side […]

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! PLEASE READ THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW! After defeating the terrifying Necromuse and his mysterious orchestra, all Amelia Jones hopes for is a return to normal. But to her surprise, her class is sent to Europe for a month of study abroad. This seems like the perfect escape […]

WARNING: This story will have you craving cookies! Laila gave Lucy a cupcake on the second day of kindergarten, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. But the summer before eighth grade, they find out that since they live on opposite sides of town, they’ll go to different high schools.Then Laila’s invited to compete at the […]

It’s been a few months since XR_935 met Emma, a human girl who wasn’t supposed to exist. Robots thought they’d eliminated all humans, but some have survived all these years. Now, robots and humans live side by side, and the world is so much better for it. They’ve formed a new society, living together as […]