Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Another book I picked up from the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop  hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out his blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.     Title : Chasing Helicity Author: Ginger Zee Publication Info: Disney Hyperion, 2018. 204 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb (Goodreads): Helicity is well aware that her name is unusual - kind of like Helicity herself. The word Helicity means to spin, and for as long as she can remember, Helicity has been fascinated by the weather. The weather is Helicity's escape from her own reality - may that be school, her father's strict discipline, or her brother's imminent departure for college where he's all set to play football. One fateful day, Helicity and her horse head out on a long ride to take a break from life at home. Even with her vast experience with weather, Helicity is unprepared for the elements she faces. The choices Helicity makes before,...

Participating in the Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop  hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle , with loads of reviews of Middle Grade fiction (books for roughly ages 8-12). I have another good MG LGBTQ novel, age-appropriate and realistic. I'm going to briefly address those who wonder if this is appropriate for kids this age. The obvious answer is that since by 4th or 5th grade (9 or 10) many kids are dealing with puberty, crushes, and all the rest, of course it is. And yes, kids that age need to know that there are options out there besides boy/girl, because not knowing only adds to the confusion. For the same reason, I'm hoping to find some good stories about kids coming to grips with being trans, because for many (like my daughter) puberty is when that begins to make itself known to them. I am a firm believer in knowledge. Not knowing what the options are (and that they're okay) doesn't keep a kid from being gay or trans. It just leaves them confu...

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: Echo Mountain Author: Lauren Wolk Publication Info: Listening Library, 2020. 9 hours 14 min. Hardback published 2020, Dutton Books for Young Readers, 356 pages. Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb: When the Great Depression takes almost everything they own, Ellie's family is forced to leave their home in town and start over in the untamed forests of nearby Echo Mountain. Ellie has found a welcome freedom, and a love of the natural world, in her new life on the mountain. But there is little joy, even for Ellie, as her family struggles with the aftermath of an accident that has left her father in a coma. An accident unfairly blamed on Ellie. Determined to help her father, Ellie will make her way to the top of the mountain in search of the healing secrets of a woman known only as "the hag." But the hag, and the mountain, still have many untold stories left to reveal and, with them, a fresh chance at happiness. Echo Mountain is celebra...

Title:   Bad Fairy Series:  A Bad Fairy Adventure (Book One) Author:  Elaine Kaye Publisher:  The Wild Rose Press, 2020. 66 pages Genre:  Fantasy Middle Grade Age Range:  8-12 
 Publisher's Blurb: Thistle Greenbud is not a bad fairy. She simply doesn't like rules, and it's just her luck that her homework is to create a new rule for the fairy handbook. But first, she has more important things to do. Like figure out how to get back at Dusty and Moss for playing tricks on her. Before she can carry out her plan, though, disaster strikes and she finds herself working alongside the very fairies she wanted revenge on. Can they work together and trust each other, or will things go from bad to worse? BUY LINKS: Amazon  /  Barnes & Noble EXCERPT: As we watch the boys, the wind picks up, making the fern lay flat, exposing us. We gasp and make a dash for the closest tree. Behind it, we huddle together. “Boogles! A branch just hit me,” Weedy says. The sky ...

Title: Talking Leaves Author: Joseph Bruchac. Read by the author Publication Info: 2016, Random House Audio. Original 2016 by Dial Books, 256 pages Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb: Thirteen-year-old Uwohali has not seen his father, Sequoyah, for many years. So when Sequoyah returns to the village, Uwohali is eager to reconnect. But Sequoyah’s new obsession with making strange markings causes friends and neighbors in their tribe to wonder whether he is crazy, or worse—practicing witchcraft. What they don’t know, and what Uwohali discovers, is that Sequoyah is a genius and his strange markings are actually an alphabet representing the sounds of the Cherokee language.  The story of one of the most important figures in Native American history is brought to life for middle grade readers. 
 My Review:   This is both a story of a boy coming of age and learning to understand his father, and a story of something very important in Native American history...

The long-anticipated IWSG Anthology is here! Voyagers: The Third Ghost releases today, including my story "A World of Trouble." Voyagers: The Third Ghost An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology Journey into the past… Will the third ghost be found before fires take more lives?   Can everyone be warned before Pompeii is buried again? What happens if a blizzard traps a family in East Germany? Will the Firebird help Soviet sisters outwit evil during WWII?  And sneaking off to see their first aeroplane – what could go wrong? Ten authors explore the past, sending their young protagonists on harrowing adventures. Featuring the talents of   Yvonne Ventresca, Katharina Gerlach, Roland Clarke,   Sherry Ellis, Rebecca M. Douglass, Bish Denham, Charles Kowalski, Louise MacBeath Barbour,   Beth Anderson Schuck, and   L.T. Ward. Hand-picked by a panel of agents, authors, and editors, these ten tales   will take readers on a voyage of wonder into history. Get r...

Title: The Hired Girl Author: Laura Amy Schlitz; read by Rachel Botchan Publication Info: 2015 by Recorded Books; hardback 2015 by Candlewick Press Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb: Ever since the untimely death of her mother, 14-year-old Joan Skraggs has been desperately unhappy. Under the thumb of her cruel father and three sullen brothers, Joan lives like a servant on their farm just outside of Lancaster, forever cooking, cleaning, and attending to the many demands of the home. But she has little freedom and less support from her family for her love of reading and blossoming interest in education. But when her father tells Joan she can't go to school anymore, it sets off a journey that will see her become first a runaway, then a hired girl on $6 a week, and finally her very own young woman. Set in America during the optimistic years before the First World War, and told through a series of journal entries, The Hired Girl is the story of a young g...

Title: The Line Tender Author: Kate Allen. Read by Jenna Lamia Publication Info: Hardback by Dutton, 2019. 384 pages. Audiobook by Listening Library, 2019. Source: Library digital resources Publisher’s Blurb: The Line Tender  is the story of Lucy, the daughter of a marine biologist and a rescue diver, and the summer that changes her life. If she ever wants to lift the cloud of grief over her family and community, she must complete the research her late mother began. She must follow the sharks. Wherever the sharks led, Lucy Everhart’s marine-biologist mother was sure to follow. In fact, she was on a boat far off the coast of Massachusetts, preparing to swim with a Great White, when she died suddenly. Lucy was eight. Since then Lucy and her father have done OK—thanks in large part to her best friend, Fred, and a few close friends and neighbors. But June of her twelfth summer brings more than the end of school and a heat wave to sleepy Rockport. On one steamy day, the tide brings a Gr...

I’m doing a guest post this week at the IWSG Anthology blog , talking about the inspiration behind my story, “A World of Trouble,” which is appearing in Voyagers: The Third Ghost. Our collection of fantastic historical/fantasy middle grade stories with a theme of voyaging is available for pre-orders now! I do apologize that I will not be able to respond to comments until March 20, as I shall be at sea. The release date for  VOYAGERS: The Third Ghost   is May 5, 2020, but purchase links are available, and you can preorder a copy now. Print  9781939844729 $13.95 EBook  9781939844736 $4.99 Juvenile Fiction - Historical / Action & Adventure / Fantasy & Magic Dancing Lemur Press/Freedom Fox Press Amazon  - Print  https://www.amazon.com/dp/193984472X /  Kindle   https://www.amazon.com/Voyagers-Third-Ghost-Yvonne-Ventresca-ebook/dp/B083C4WPR5 / Barnes & Noble  -  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/voyagers-yvonne-ventresca/1135912991?...

Title: Restart Author: Gordon Korman Publication Info: Scholastic Press, 2017. 256 pages (Hardback).   Source: Library digital resources Publisher’s Blurb:  Chase's memory just went out the window. Chase doesn't remember falling off the roof. He doesn't remember hitting his head. He doesn't, in fact, remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again . . . starting with his own name. He knows he's Chase. But who is Chase? When he gets back to school, he sees that different kids have very different reactions to his return. Some kids treat him like a hero. Some kids are clearly afraid of him. One girl in particular is so angry with him that she pours her frozen yogurt on his head the first chance she gets. Pretty soon, it's not only a question of who Chase is--it's a question of who he was . . . and who he's going to be. My Review:  Restart is an quick and enjoyable read with an interesting premise. I...

Title: Dragons in the Waters Author: Madeleine L'Engle Publication Info: Dell paperback, 1982, 330 pages. Original Farrar, Strous, Girroux, 1976 Source: personal collection Publisher's Blurb: A thirteen-year-old boy's trip to Venezuela with his cousin culminates in murder and the discovery of an unexpected bond with an Indian tribe, dating from the days of Simon Bolivar. A stolen heirloom painting…a shipboard murder…Can Simon and the O'Keefe clan unravel the mystery? Thirteen-year-old Simon Renier has no idea when he boards the M.S. Orion with his cousin Forsyth Phair that the journey will take him not only to Venezuela, but into his past as well. His original plan…to return a family heirloom, a portrait of Simon Bolivar, to its rightful place&—is sidetracked when cousin Forsyth is found murdered. Then, when the portrait is stolen, all passengers and crew become suspect. Simon's newfound friends, Poly and Charles O'Keefe, and their scientist father ...

  Title: Nowhere Boy Author: Katherine Marsh Publication Info: 2018, Listening Library. Hardback published 2018, Roaring Brook Press, 368 pages. Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb: Fourteen-year-old Ahmed is stuck in a city that wants nothing to do with him. Newly arrived in Brussels, Belgium, Ahmed fled a life of uncertainty and suffering in Aleppo, Syria, only to lose his father on the perilous journey to the shores of Europe. Now Ahmed’s struggling to get by on his own, but with no one left to trust and nowhere to go, he’s starting to lose hope. Then he meets Max, a thirteen-year-old American boy from Washington, D.C. Lonely and homesick, Max is struggling at his new school and just can’t seem to do anything right. But with one startling discovery, Max and Ahmed’s lives collide and a friendship begins to grow. Together, Max and Ahmed will defy the odds, learning from each other what it means to be brave and how hope can change your destiny. Set again...

  Title: Refugee Author: Alan Gratz Publication Info: Scholastic, 2017. 352 pages, Kindle version Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb: Three different kids. One mission in common: ESCAPE. Josef is a Jewish boy in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world… Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety and freedom in America… Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe… All three young people will go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers–from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But for each of them, there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, surprising connections w...

Another beautiful blue cover! Title: Wishtree Author: Katherine Applegate Publication Info: Feiwel And Friends, 2017. 254 pages (hardback) Source: Library digital resources Publisher’s Blurb: Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood "wishtree"—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red's branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red's hollows, this "wishtree" watches over the neighborhood. You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red's experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever.   My Review:  Wishtree was the selection for the March book of the month for the Great Middle Grade Reads group on Goodreads. I was a little hesitant as I started it, both because a few people who’d gotten an earlier start on it didn’t entirely like it, and because of the timing. It’s a book that deals, in part, with anti-Muslim ha...