#earlychapterbook

Terry Lynn Johnson’s Lost!

Terry Lynn Johnson’s Lost! is the first book in the Survivor Diaries series. Two recently introduced children vacationing with their families at a resort in Costa Rica get lost in the rainforest. They survive through will, wit, and a little luck.

In the first chapter, one of the two protagonists, Carter, a young African American boy, is interviewed by a reporter about surviving being lost in the…

Sheinkin’s Abraham Lincoln Pro Wrestler

Kids are going to love the first installment in Steve Sheinkin’s Time Twisters series: Abraham Lincoln Pro Wrestler. The premise of the story is wacky: Lincoln overhears students in Ms. Maybee’s class complaining that history is boring, and he pops into the present to teach her students a lesson about how exciting (and important) history is.

Sheinkin took on a challenge with this one. He’s…

I’ve been a bad blogger lately.

I started RaiseThemRighteousbecause I wanted my work about LGBTQ* #kidlit to reach an audience beyond academics. And, it has! I’ve only been blogging for a little over 3-months and I already have 800+ followers on WordPress and 750+ followers on Twitter. I love it! Because I’ve had such an amazing experience blogging and only recently started to blog, I feel bad…

Shannon and Dean Hale’s The Princess in Black and the Science Fair Scare

Shannon and Dean Hale’s The Princess in Black and the Science Fair Scare is delightfully and generously illustrated by LeUyen Pham whose many images are sure to encourage young readers’ transition from early readers to easy chapter books. The story strains against traditional fairytale conventions by engaging contemporary ideas and empowering its diverse princesses.

The star, Princess Magnolia,…

Linda Urban’s Road Trip with Max and His Mom

Linda Urban’s Road Trip with Max and His Mom (2018) is a clever follow up to Weekends with Max and His Dad (2016). In both books a young Max adjusts to his parent’s recent divorce. Urban’s second installment pivots around a road trip to Pennsylvania that nine-year-old Max and his Mom take to celebrate his Great Great Aunt Victory’s 100th birthday.

Although Max is excited when his mom tells him…

Debbi Michiko Florence’s Jasmine Toguchi Series

Debbie Michiko Florence’s delightful early chapter book series, about an 8-year-old Japanese American girl named Jasmine Toguchi, provides readers with accessible and engaging snapshots of Japanese cultural traditions as well as universal struggles of growing up in the US.

In Drummer Girl Jasmine is tasked with quickly discovering a talent she can display at the school’s talent show. She has many…