WHATEVER AFTER SERIES, BY SARAH MYLNOWSKI

What a cute idea for a chapter book series: current day, fractured fairy tales! This author has written thirteen of them, so far. I read the most recent one: Spill the Beans, a spin-off of Jack and the Beanstalk. If you have young kids reading middle-grade chapter books and they like humor and fantasy, you should check these out.

What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada

Have you ever had an idea that maybe seemed a little crazy, or too big, or too difficult? This is a story about a little boy who has one and grows up with it until he becomes more confident and loves his idea. The story is insightful while the illustrations are captivating. At first, there’s very little color (only the idea). By the end, the book is in full-color.

Code Talker

by Joseph Bruchac

A young adult non-fiction novel, I checked this title out because I was very interested in the important work they did with codes in WWII and especially liked it because it was a first-person account from the Navajo, Joseph Bruchac. He addresses us as “grandchildren” and gives insight into what life was like for the Navajos in general, which I found fascinating. As a boy of 14, his journey begins at school and two years later he was in the military. (A year too soon, actually.)