Dragons--oh my! I loved this story about Alanna and her love for all creatures. I especially loved Morgana.

Loved this one! So good.

The information in this book is well thought out and placed, but I can't endorse any book published in 2014 that has this blurb on the back: "Read about famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, and Henri Matisse, as well as important women and African-American artists." To me, that sounds like women and African-American artists can be important, but none are famous (or the famous ones aren't important? I'm not sure.) Additionally, the plural is used above, but only one female artist (Mary Cassatt) and one African-American artist (Jacob Lawrence) are highlighted, with paragraphs talking about others. Forget about pretty much any other minority as well--you've got Katsushika Hokusai representing Asian artists and that's it. If you're looking to introduce kids to a Euro-centric version of the greats, then this is your book.

I'm not necessarily a huge sock monkey fan, but I very much enjoyed this story about Trockmorton S. Monkey and his owner, Annaliese.

Pedru loses his arm to a lion. This quick-read tells of his recovery and desire for revenge. I enjoyed the conservation aspects of this story as well.

I really liked this quiet story of a girl getting to know her grandmother. I especially enjoyed the racial aspects of the story. Perhaps a little too pat in tying things up, but will warm the heart.

Oh, I need to re-read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn's adventures now. This was a rollicking good story of Becky Thatcher, yes the same Thatcher in Twain's books. However, she's a little feistier in this one. I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in sixth grade, and I think it would have been a lot of fun to read this one at the same time and compare the two.

This beautiful memoir covers Marilyn Nelson's life (or an approximation of it) from the time she was four until she was 16. You can see "the Speaker" age on the page. I also appreciated having locations and dates at the beginning of each poem. As this book is also about the military experience, it helps the reader keep track of places. It would be fun to read alongside "Brown Girl Dreaming."

Oh, my heart. Treasure's father has left their family again, this time for the longest period yet. Mom decides to search for him and leaves Treasure and her sister Tiffany with her Great Aunt Grace (GAG). Treasure and GAG don't get along well at first, with lots of sassing. Great-Aunt Grace also isn't particularly well-liked in this town. Believable characters make this one a great read.

I opened this book, saw the dialect, and was a little turned off. I can listen to audiobooks in dialect, but reading them on a page is much more difficult for me. Between that and the descriptions of slave treatment, this was a hard read for me. My heart ached remembering the past and thinking of Lark.