One of the best decisions I've ever made as a parent was to read one-on-one to my kids right before bed, rotating whose day it is to read with me. We sit together in my bed and I read to them for about 15 to 20 minutes. My 10 year-old-and I have been reading this Wilderlore series for about a year ...
Mid Elementary
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
My kids absolutely fell in love with the Percy Jackson series a few years back. After that, they were happy to read anything that had Rick Riordan's name on it. This Tristan Strong series is written by Kwame Mbalia but is "presented" by Rick Riordan and my kids ate it up. If you do audiobooks, the ...
Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
So many kids are obsessed with these books and it's easy to understand why. Adventure, prophesies, DRAGONS. One aspect of these books that makes them so appealing is that even though the main characters are all dragons, they all have thoughts, emotions, and struggles that are very relatable. It's ...
The Lion of Mars
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
It's not often that I find a book with some sentimentality that my kids actually enjoy. They are a little too silly and sacastic for their own good. However, this one was a winner with my four kids. I am catching up on books we've read in the past couple years, so when we read this one, my kids ages ...
Greenglass House
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
Honestly, we listened to this books a couple years ago, but I'm trying to go back and remember all the books that my kids enjoyed and made a lasting impression. This was definitely one of them! It has mystery, suspence, an intriguing setting...If you have a family with a wide range of ages, our ...
Amari and the Night Brothers
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
If your kids enjoy the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson series, they will almost certainly love Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston. I have 3 boys and one girl, and I love when I can find a book with a female protagonist that my boys can get into as much as my girl! We have had several family ...
Julieta and the Diamond Enigma
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
This was such a fun book with a lot of cultural references that are fun to explore. Everyone from my 6-year-old up to my 13-year-old and I enjoyed it, which is a rare occurrence nowadays. A mystery, a spunky heroine, excitement, suspense...I have no problem unequivocally recommending this book to ...
Echo Mountain
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
It has been a long time since I have read a young adult novel that I found as impactful and moving as Echo Mountain. This is the story of 12-year-old Ellie whose family moves to the mountains of Maine to survive the wilderness on their own during the Great Depression. There is a loyal and clever ...
Riding a Donkey Backwards
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
This is a much longer picture book than I usually include in our list of funniest picture books. However, my kids love it so much that my 7-year-old won't let me return it to the library. It is a series of about 20 short stories, each featuring a wise and foolish man named Mulla Nasruddin. Several ...
A Place to Hang the Moon
This site uses affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
It is not often that we find a book that everyone in our family loves from the 5-year-old through the middle schooler all the way up to the parents. This book is not action-packed, though there are some exciting scenes. It is not particularly funny, though there were parts in which we were all ...
Michelle has a PhD in Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree from the California Institute of Technology. 