Tag: middle grade

[Nostalgia Project] The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen5 Comments

While finalizing my 21 Milestone Reads list, I was struck by two major thoughts:

  1. There are far, far more than 21 books that I remember fondly, though
  2. for many such books, all I remember is that I enjoyed it.

One such book is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, which has bonus nostalgia factor because I read and reread it with my younger brother. It’s not the earliest book I remember, but it’s one of the ones I remember most strongly, so I figured it was a strong contender to kick off this series.

The Nostalgia Project is a series here on Nine Tale Vixen, where I reread childhood favorites (and finally finish off some series) to see if/how my impression has changed over the years.

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Mini-Reviews, Volume 3

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen11 Comments

Catching up on all my reviews for Asian Lit Bingo is a much bigger undertaking than I had anticipated and is in fact a continuing process, though I don’t regret reading any of these books — regardless of how much I enjoyed the overall story experience, I learned a lot about different Asian and hyphenated-Asian (i.e., Asian-American, Asian-Australian, etc.) experiences different from my own. Each set of characters has unique struggles and dreams, illustrating the importance of diversity in publishing and of giving #ownvoices authors the opportunity to tell their stories as no one else can.

Without further ado, here are some books with Asian main characters, written by Asian authors, which have stuck with me and which I think more people should check out for themselves.

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REVIEW: The Darkness Dwellers by Kirsten Miller

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Summary: First they ventured deep under New York to save the city itself. Then things got personal as the Irregulars ventured into a haunted mansion in Chinatown to uncover an evil twin. Now, in the third installment of bestselling author Kirsten Miller’s Kiki Strike series, this delightful group of delinquent geniuses jump feet first into a fast-paced international pursuit, going underground in Paris to pursue a pair of treacherous royals who have killed Kiki’s parents. With a dash of romance, a fresh take on good manners, and loads of butt-kicking bravery, Kiki, Betty, Ananka and the other Irregulars sharpen their amazing skills in this highly anticipated new adventure.

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