Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Today I'm joining in with a newly-discovered blog hop with loads of reviews of Middle Grade fiction (books for roughly ages 8-12): Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays, hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . This book isn't new, but it's one of many by a favorite writer that aren't at the library, so I picked up the ebook a while ago and finally read it over the holidays.   Title: Strays Like Us Author: Richard Peck Publisher: original hardback, Dial 1998, 160 pages. Kindle edition 162 pages. Source: Purchased Kindle ebook Publisher's Blurb: Molly Moberly knows she doesn't belong in this small Missouri town with her great-aunt Fay. It's just a temporary arrangement--until her mother gets out of the hospital. But then Molly meets Will, a fellow stray, and begins to realize she's not the only one on the outside. In fact, it seems like the town's full of strays--only some end up where they belong sooner than others. Richard Peck has created a ...

Title: Here Lies the Librarian Author: Richard Peck Publication Info: Dial Books, 2006, 160 pages. Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb: Peewee idolizes Jake, a big brother whose dreams of auto mechanic glory are fueled by the hard road coming to link their Indiana town and futures with the twentieth century. And motoring down the road comes Irene Ridpath, a young librarian with plans to astonish them all and turn Peewee’s life upside down.This novel, with its quirky characters, folksy setting, classic cars, and hilariously larger-than-life moments, is vintage Richard Peck – an offbeat, deliciously wicked comedy that is also unexpectedly moving. 
 My Review:  Richard Peck's historical fiction served in part as inspiration when I wrote my Ninja Librarian stories. I first read this one after I'd written at least the first book, which is maybe just as well, because if I'd read this first, I might have given up and left the librarians to Peck. Actuall...

Title: The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail Author: Richard Peck; read by James McCourt Publisher: Listening Library,  2013; originally Dial Books, 2013 (240 pages). Source: Library (digital resources) Summary:  He's the smallest mouse in the Mews at Buckingham Palace, and he's an orphan without even a name. Aunt Marigold, the head mouse seamstress, raises him and sends him to the Mouse Mews Academy, but she won't tell him his name. Soon "Mouse Minor," as the other mice at the academy dub him, is on the run from bullies and looking for his identity. His quest takes him into the palace on the eve of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, and he survives a lot of adventures by just a whisker before finding himself--in more ways than one--in the presence of the queen of the mice. My Review: I have yet to find any tale by Richard Peck anything less than delightful. This one is no exception. With a dry sense of humor and some asides that are aimed at the adults but won...