The soon to be published (October 2026) picture book, Fancy Dogs by Tini Malina and Tammi Reiche is a cute story for the younger listener and a good just starting out solo reader. I am neither of these types of readers, but still felt this was a good book. Maybe not the best I’ve read, but one that I recommend to dog lovers of all ages. This book came to me via an online reader ...

I first became aware of Kate Beaton through her charming picture book, The Princess and the Pony, released in 2015.  My, at the time, young daughters loved the book about a tiny, warrior princess who wants a noble steed like the older warriors. Instead on her birthday she is gifted a pony that farts too much. Shortly after the publication of her graphic novel autobiography, Duc...

When am I going to learn that I will just need to read a book without second guessing my choice? Two books I did this too are My Grandma the Chameleon and The Together Treehouse. The first, My Grandma the Chameleon by Maria Lofgren had me, “Do I want to read this? Maybe… nah… well, oookay…” Now, granted, I was not OMG the best book ever when I finally did read (via an online rea...

When writing about The Atrocity Archives, I mentioned that the friend who first recommended The Laundry Files to me  didn’t do me the grace of recommending the first book, but rather a later one. That book was The Fuller Memorandum, and I suspect because it was the first book I read, it’ll always be the quintessential Laundry Files book for me.  After their Caribbean jaunt in Th...

This was a lovely little book that’s a quick read and also occasionally, and unexpectedly, made me laugh out loud. Translated from Finnish, it’s the story of young Sophia and her grandmother, told in vignette form. They spend their summers on one of the many Finnish islands. Sophia’s father is there in a limited way; the focus is on Sophia and her grandmother a...