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Cindy: I am still recovering from a fun weekend in L.A. attending the L.A. Times Book Prize and Festival. That article will give you an overview of all the fun I had at this festival that draws 140,000 visitors to celebrate the world of literature. Families, aspiring authors, teachers, and book lovers of all sorts [...]

The tulips are blooming a month early in Holland and Bookends is on spring break.  See you on April 9th.

Cindy: Do you have a way to gather reading suggestions from your children, teens, students? If not, find one. Even though the media keeps ringing the death knell for books my piles of to-read new titles has not diminished any. I do my best to sort through what the publishers generously send us, what I [...]

Cindy: Months behind the rest of the book-reading world, I finally read The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton 2012). I did not preorder the book–like the thousands of other true nerdfighter fans–because I could not trust myself to have the new John Green book in my house and stay focused on my 2011 L.A. Times [...]

Lynn: Our focus group loves science and I think they share that love with lots of kids.  We’re always looking for great new science-related books for the younger set and this week we have something a little unusual – picture books that are fiction yet also present scientific topics.  These two are ideal for common [...]

Cindy: I picked up Pie (Scholastic 2011) a few months ago to read as a palate cleanser between review books. It had a pie and a cat on the cover and looked like a lighthearted read. I live in Michigan and it was prime berry season when I started writing this post in early August. I didn’t know [...]

Lynn and Cindy: What is it with the elephants this year?  Has anyone noticed how many books about or featuring elephants there are? So far we’ve seen: Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson Cousins of Clouds:  Elephant Poems by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer Elephant Talk:  The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication by Ann Downer [...]

Cindy: Dana Reinhardt gets better with every book and The Summer I Learned to Fly (Random/Wendy Lamb 2011) is no exception. Last year’s The Things a Brother Knows was a piercing look at the relationship between two boys and the impact of war. In this story, Reinhardt examines the intricacies of mother-daughter relationships and perfectly captures [...]

Cindy: I have to admit that when Lynn suggested Bird in a Box (Little, Brown 2011) for our blog schedule, I was less than enthusiastic. I’m not a boxing or fight fan of any sort and was not eager to read about the fascination with the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis. But to pass on this [...]

Cindy: ”Men, I have a great idea.” When Henry launches into one of his great ideas, Riley starts taking scientific notes and Reed starts wondering how bad he will smell after the execution of this latest idea! One of my favorite Gary Paulsen books is How Angel Peterson Got His Name. This new offering, Masters of Disaster [...]