The only mouse baby to survive the litter, his mother names him Despereaux, for all the sadness and despairs in the world. His ears are too big, his body too small, and his eyes too bright. “There’s something wrong with him,” his father claims. “He will be dead soon.” But little Despereaux didn’t… Continue Reading
Hangman’s Curse by Frank Peretti
Review by Jill Williamson In Baker, Washington, three football stars fall into mysterious, hallucinating comas. Rumor is they are victims of Abel Frye, a dead student’s ghost who curses those who would pick on the less popular. Enter the Springfields, an undercover family of four who are secretly commissioned by the president to investigate… Continue Reading
Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul
Review by Jill Williamson After a lifetime of slavery, fourteen-year-old Kale is set free. She travels to The Hall in Vendela where she will receive her training as a servant. Ogres attack her. She escapes into a cave and finds seven small dragon eggs. When she comes back out, she is rescued by Paladin… Continue Reading
Black by Ted Dekker
Review by Jill Williamson Someone is shooting at Thomas Hunter. He runs for his life—zig-zagging, hiding, and executing some awesome martial arts—as men chase him through the streets of Denver. But when a silent bullet grazes his head, his world goes black and he wakes up somewhere else. In darkness. He doesn’t… Continue Reading
I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires by Cathy Gohlke
Review by Jill Williamson I couldn’t wait to read the sequel to William Henry is a Fine Name, and Cathy Gohlke didn’t disappoint. I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires hooked me from page one. Not yet eighteen (which is old enough to enlist) Robert Glover bides his time at home in Maryland.… Continue Reading
Code Orange
Review by Jill Williamson In Code Orange by Caroline Cooney, procrastinator Mitty Blake has put off his biology research project for too long. At the last minute, he digs up some antique medical books from to use as references for his bibliography. He finds an envelope inside one of the books with the word… Continue Reading
Saving Sailor by Renée Riva
Review by Jill Williamson Saving Sailor by Renée Riva takes the reader to Indian Lake, Idaho 1968 where A.J. Degulio and her family spend every summer. A.J. loves hanging out in the canoe with Sailor, her dog, and drifting. She torments her family by speaking in a Southern accent, even though she’s Italian. … Continue Reading
Feather by Susan Page Davis
Review by Jill Williamson Susan Page Davis has written an incredible fantasy adventure in Feather. Complete with a map in the front, readers will become enthralled with Davis’ characters and tribes. Feather and her brother, Karsh, are supposed to be picking berries for the village, but Karsh goes down into the cellar of… Continue Reading
William Henry is a Fine Name by Cathy Gohlke
Review by Jill Williamson Cathy Gohlke won the Christy award in 2007 for her first novel, William Henry is a Fine Name. I can’t imagine a more deserving story. Thirteen-year-old Robert Glover loves fishing and skunking and skinny-dipping with his best friend William Henry in Elkton, Maryland, 1859. Life is just as good… Continue Reading