Lulu the pug lives every dog's dream in New York City with her two adoring people, Bella and Doug.  They take walks, visit museums, see shows and eat at Lulu's favorite restaurant, Joey's pizza.  When Lulu watches Bella and Doug dance, she wants to waltz like them too, but pugs aren't built to dance.  Lulu finds her own doggie dance teacher, but she has to keep practicing.  Instead, Lulu keeps getting sidetracked by pizza.  Lulu has to put in the work in order to show everyone that dogs can dance too.  


Lulu the Unstoppable Dancing Dog is a fun and inspiring story about sticking with it and reaching for your goals.  Lulu is a fun and lovable character. Even though she is a dog, she faces the same trials in learning a new skill as everyone else.  Lulu's determination and passion for learning how to dance shines through.  However, Lulu's story turns out to be extremely relatable as she forgoes practice in favor of pizza.  With amazing illustrations, Lulu seems to dance off the page.  Lulu's message of skill building, determination and practicing to succeed will ring true with readers ages 4-9.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

Amber and Missy are both 14 year old girls facing a unique set of challenges as they enter their last year of middle school.  Amber has epilepsy, an invisible medical condition that mostly makes her blank out, be tired all the time and have memory issues.  Lately, however, her seizures have been getting worse, some leading to injury and causing her to miss even more school.  Missy's family moved to town after her brother died fighting in Afghanistan.  The death proved too much for Missy's mother though, and she retreated into her grief while Missy's father moved on and moved away.  Amber and Missy suffer in their loneliness, but soon realize that a true friend may be what they need to help them through this time. 


Being is Better is a heartfelt middle grade novel about the hardships of this difficult part of life and the power of friendship.  Told in alternating points of view between Amber and Missy, the story goes deep into their lives to gain understanding and connection to each of the girls.  Amber's struggles with epilepsy are well written, showing the physical, mental and social tolls of the invisible medical condition.  Missy's family situation is another hidden difficulty that many families silently go through. Missy's mother's depression was written in a way that didn't put the blame on anyone and showed the gravity of the situation.  While the girl's individual stories are compelling, I was waiting for a while for something exciting to happen.  The girls don't even meet until about 70% of the way through the story and finally some magic happens.  It was amazing to see what happened when Missy and Amber began to believe and trust in themselves.  With a major breakthrough near the end of the story, I know there is more to Amber and Missy's journey to come.  

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

​Set sail for an island made of books.  Listen to a story with animal friends, have fun and celebrate.  You just have to be still, breathe out, then in again and listen.  

Read Island takes you on a magical journey.  With rhyming prose that flows like a song enchants new readers to the wonders of reading and the worlds within books.  The hand-drawn illustrations have a collage-like quality that use parts of books within the picture and friendly animals that encourage creativity, imagination and whimsy.  Read Island is perfect to share with children ages 2-7 to spark joy in reading .  

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.