Blog Entries

Our middle grade book spotlight this week is on books that are some of my all time favorites!!!

Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is all about books that have been chosen for the Virginia Reader’s Choice (VRC) award over the past years!!  The VRC award was started back in the 1980s with the goal being that students across the state choosing what they thought the best book of the year is instead of adults.  Every year, there

Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is celebrating some serious girl power as March is Women’s History Month!!!  We have a collection of fiction and nonfiction books that highlight some strong females that made a difference in their world, or still are, either real or imagined.  Every reader can take encouragement from these amazin

Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is all about Basketball!!  We are getting to that time of year, one of craziest sports events which is known as March Madness!  Even though it may look a little different this year (kind of like everything else as well), it is still a basketball lover’s dream as it is nonstop action and games.  We can start to get into

Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is focused on  books that have recently been added to our collection meaning they are new!!!!  New books are the best; they have a new book smell and there is just something about being one of the first people to read it.  Some of the books this week are by some of our favorite authors and, based on their previous works

Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is focused on books that take place in outer space!!  I do not know about you, but there have been times I have wondered what it would be like to live somewhere other than Earth; what would I wear, eat, how do you sleep and travel and there are so many more questions.  One of the amazing things about books is we can choose

Our middle grade book spotlight this week is focused on books that are written by authors living right here in the state of Virginia!!  We are incredibly fortunate that we have some amazing and talented authors living in our state; some even live right where we live!  Our spotlight today is filled with names you may have heard of before and some you may have not, b

Our middle grade book spotlight this week is focused on books that are written by Black and African American authors!!  As we celebrate and participate in Black History Month, which is the whole month of February, we are going to explore a variety of titles that are written by some amazing and talented authors.  While many this week are realistic titles, with some

Our middle grade book spotlight this week is focused on books that are an award winner!!!  This past week the ALA Youth Media Awards were held which is basically the Oscars for books!  Held every year at the end of January, books win a variety of awards that range from the best book of the year to the best book with an exceptional portrayal of the Latino experience

Our middle grade book spotlight this week is focused on books that are stand alone fantasy titles!  Let’s get real here for a second--there is something to be said when you find an amazing series that you just cannot put down, but not everyone has time for a series or sometimes you just want a book that has a beginning, middle, and end all w

Our middle grade book spotlight this week is focused on books that explore aspects of Civil Rights history.  Books are amazing tools to learn from as we explore parts of our history; they provide an opportunity to learn, explore, understand other points of view, and help us to understand and glean from the past.  As we remember Martin Lu

Our middle grade book spotlight this week is all about graphic novels!!!  Graphic novels are amazing in that they are so visual allowing you to not only read the story but to see it as well!  I love graphic novels because they offer something for everyone; there are fiction titles as well as nonfiction and even written story retellings.  If you are looking to

It is our first Middle Grade Book Spotlight for 2021 and if you have a goal for this new year of wanting to learn about something new or expanding your current knowledge base then this week’s theme is here to help!! Our Middle Grade book spotlight this week is on more amazing nonfiction titles!

We have finally reached the end of 2020 and it is now time to start setting those goals and thinking about what we want to accomplish in the next year.  If you have a goal to read more books or even just to finish one, then this week’s middle grade book spotlight is perfect to help you jumpstart that mission.  Our middle grade book spotlight this week is on chapter books that are the first books in a series!!  I think one of the best ways to find yourself reading more is to fall in love with a series that has multiple titles.  Some of the series we are featuring today ar