pickI read this to my boys (6 and 4) a chapter a night. Overall, it was a cute story. I didnt like how sexist one of the characters came across and a few parts at the end were fairly dark, so I skipped those/read my own version.
I loved the cats! They were hilarious and a very interesting aspect to the story. The MC wad written well. She seemed like an 11 year old.
We have the second story and I'll be reading it to them too.
“Ms. McMartin had no close family. Her nearest relative was a distant cousin who had recently died in Shanghai, after a severe allergic reaction to a bowl of turtle and arsenic soup.”
This is a great series of books that would really get children interested in reading.
pickGenre: Modern Fantasy
This book is a prequel to the book, “Spellbound” and is about a girl named Olive who moves into an eerie house full of strange paintings. She finds a pair of glasses that allows her to go inside the paintings and explore their “sinister” worlds and secrets. When looking through these books, I actually found myself wanting to read the whole series.
Ms. McMartin is definitely dead. Now her crumbling Victorian mansion lies vacant. When Olive and her mathematician parents move in, she knows there's something odd about the place--not least the walls covered in strange antique paintings. But when Olive finds a pair of old spectacles in a dusty drawer, she discovers the most peculiar thing yet: She can travel inside these paintings to a world that's strangely quiet. #shadow #anewchapter
My new Libby pick. It came up as a Harry Potter alternative so here‘s to escapism!
One of the best books in the world is in the books of elsewhere series
These books are favorites of mine, and are on my annual read list. Your middle schoolers would love them too! They're a great fall read. The best part is the hometown author Jacqueline West is talking about her work on Oct. 1st. Can't wait to go!
#thebooksofelsewhere #jacquelinewest #childrensbook #childrensliterature
The Shadows: The Books of Elsewhere: | 
