Thursday, September 4, 2025
Drumroll please . . . Dive by John David Anderson
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
The Creepening of Dogwood House
by Eden Royce
Roderick Jermaine Bolden, a.k.a., Roddie, is a quiet, affectionate, thoughtful 12-year-old boy who has just lost his mother in a tragic accident. He has no family to speak of, only Aunt Angie, who he has never met in person, only through a few video chats. She can’t even be contacted, which is why he finds himself, alone, at an orphanage, with his grief, his questions and his fears. Finally Roddie’s aunt is found and arrives with her husband Erik, returning them all to the ancestral home, Dogwood House. Royce has made us imagine and feel Roddie’s despair which make us want to root for him right away.
This insightful book into the mind of this young boy would keep me turning the pages on its own, but some quirky things also start happening as soon as Roddie arrives and we enter into the creepening part of the story. He can’t believe this beat up, paint peeling, “haunted house” is where he is about to live. When his aunt tries to give Roddie the small amount of memories she has of his mom, they seem muddled and confusing even to her. As more and more events convince Roddie the house is indeed haunted, he goes about trying to find what is causing the decay and smell.
Be prepared for some shuddering and squirming as you read this terrifying tale. The description is so vivid of this other world, you can’t help but be drawn into it and will not be able to put it down until it is finished. ☺In addition to a great story we learn some very interesting facts, including the folklore and hoodoo in the Southern Gothic tradition.
I think this would be a wonderful addition to any classroom library, starting in the 3rd grade, around eight or nine years old. Royce provides a teaching guide for this novel and you can click here for it! And to learn more about the people and places that inspired this book, please visit the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission here.
For a chance to win your very own copy of The Creepening of Dogwood House, please follow me, leave a post on the blog or like/write about it on Instagram @litcoachlou6. Each one will earn you a separate entry! This is one you will want to read and share with your kids. They always love a bit of horror and fantasy!
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Keep It Like a Secret
By John Anderson


Friday, November 24, 2023
Rock, Scissors, Paperbag by Elizabeth Godley & illustrated by Akanksha Tyagi
New Chapter Book for the Younger Set
Thursday, June 29, 2023
Conjure Island by Eden Royce
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Laurel Snyder's Latest!!
Zipporah Chava McConnell, a.k.a. Zippy, isn’t exactly sure what it means to be Jewish. Their family isn’t the traditional Jewish family, which is why Zippy is so surprised when her mom tells her she needs to start getting ready for her bat mitzvah. Besides knowing a few Hebrew words and attending synagogue on the major holidays, her family rarely does much more, and sometimes not even that much!
7th grade was already starting out strange without
throwing this into the monkey wrench! Bea, her best friend since kindergarten,
now wants to hang out with the giggling girls’ group that walks to school each
day and attend the school dances. Zippy just isn’t interested nor ready for any
of that. . .
Oh, and did I mention that in addition to all these problems, Zippy is a witch? Maybe a Jewish witch? After bat mitzvah lessons one day she wanders out to her favorite spell casting spot, armed with a small piece of paper with Hebrew letters on it. As Zippy tries to pronounce the unfamiliar letter sounds, she hears a scream, then another! Emerging from the azalea bush is a girl, but not just any girl, this girl has wings! Has Zippy summoned her with the Hebrew word?
Award winning author Laurel Snyder has brought us a timely story in this world of anti-Semitism. At the beginning of the book there is a letter from Laurel, explaining how this story is inspired by her own personal experiences with being Jewish. Through her main character, Zippy, she explains Jewish words, customs and holidays, perhaps helping lots of people who read this book understand Judaism a bit more. Robbie Medwed, a middle school teacher at a Jewish Day School in Atlanta provides us with an excellent Educator’s Guide. Click HERE for the link.
Kids will relate to Zippy and understand how she sometimes feels uncomfortable and alone. Snyder has given us a mash-up of realistic fiction and fantasy and it works just magnificently!
Win your own copy of The Witch of Woodland by leaving a comment below.
Monday, May 15, 2023
The Greatest Kid in the World by John David Anderson
What does it take to be the greatest kid in the world? Volunteering at the retirement community and playing three sports, like Kyo? Or maybe by making 200 sack lunches to hand out to the homeless with a youth group twice a month, like Aadya? As Zeke Stahl reads the bios of the four other contestants, he wonders how in the world his name is included with these over zealous do-gooders. They sound just like the suck-ups at his Indiana middle school. But that is what has happened in the new book The Greatest Kid in the World, from the bestselling author of Posted and Ms. Bixby’s Last Day, John David Anderson. Once again Anderson gives us a story both hysterically funny and touchingly poignant.
At the start of summer Zeke receives a letter announcing that he is one of five contestants in the online contest for “Greatest Kid in the World”. There is no mention of how he was selected but there is a prize of $10,000.00 and a trip to Hawaii! Was this real or just someone punking him? As it turns out, it is indeed true and a cameraman would be arriving the next day to film him and his family for the next week.
Although Zeke knows there must be some mistake – after all, he describes himself as one who likes to “push the boundaries” and teachers and friends would, perhaps, use less flattering language. But boy, their family could definitely use the money. The summer was already sweltering with their air conditioner broken with no money to fix it and banned from the community pool due to a prank Zeke pulled the previous summer. So he decides that he must do everything he can to try to win for his family but what can he possibly do to compete with the others? Follow along during this crazy week of hijinx and hopefulness and meet Zeke’s dad through the post cards he keeps rereading at night.
Anderson is such a wonderful storyteller and this is a great read for the start of summer.Click HERE for a teacher's guide which includes discussion questions, classroom activities and an exclusive author letter. I would recommend it for the first read aloud in September as well.Win your own copy by leaving a comment below.
Kids will really relate and cheer
for Zeke!