We are always looking for books to add to our To Be Read list. We look for books of all levels: picture books, beginner chapter books, middle-grade fiction, and books that busy moms can enjoy. Figuring I can’t possibly be the only one out there who is hunting for good reads for a variety of age levels, I put together a list each month of the books my family has been reading. Sometimes our thoughts on them will be gushy and glowy. Other times they’ll be lukewarm. Either way, we’ll let you know if we think they’re worth your time.

Nothing about this month was particularly leisurely for me. March was filled with birthdays and snow and school closures. But we did manage to squeeze in some solid reads in the middle of all of the madness. Here’s a little peek at what we read… 

A tween book review of the new middle-grade fiction novel The Super Life of Ben Braver—the first book of a funny new adventure series that combines superheroes, comic strips and an ordinary middle school boy. 

I tucked my 11-year-old into bed one night last week with Marcus Emerson’s brand new book The Super Life of Ben Braver. Since she’s big into superheroes, I had a feeling it was going to be a hit with her.

Filled with art and comic strips, The Super Life of Ben Braver is the story of an ordinary middle school boy. Ben loves TV and comic books and peanut butter cups. But when he hears a kid scream for help one day, he decides to be like his favorite heroes and tries to save the day. Things go really wrong—which leads Ben to a secret school where kids learn to control their superpowers.

Since it sounded similar to other books she loves (the NERDS series from Michael Buckley, for one), I was pretty confident she would devour this one—but even I was surprised when I woke up the next morning and asked her how it was. She had read the entire book!

Here’s what she had to say about it.

We are always looking for books to add to our To Be Read list. We look for books of all levels: picture books, beginner chapter books, middle-grade fiction, and books that busy moms can enjoy. Figuring I can’t possibly be the only one out there who is hunting for good reads for a variety of age levels, I put together a list each month of the books my family has been reading. Sometimes our thoughts on them will be gushy and glowy. Other times they’ll be lukewarm. Either way, we’ll let you know if we think they’re worth your time.

I can’t believe it’s March already! February seemed to fly by, but we did manage to squeeze in some good reads…

A tween book review of the new middle-grade fiction action-adventure book Legends of the Lost Causes—which stars zombie outlaws and a ragtag gang of orphans.

We love fantasy novels around here. Give us a little magic and adventure and we. are. there. Well, this week, a brand new middle-grade fantasy novel hit bookshelves. And this one has an interesting twist: it’s set in the Wild West! I was intrigued.

Legends of the Lost Causes is the first book in a new series by debut authors Brad McLelland and Louis Sylvester. Here’s a summary from the publisher:

“A band of orphan avengers. A cursed stone. A horde of zombie outlaws.

This is Keech Blackwood’s new life after Bad Whiskey Nelson descends upon the Home for Lost Causes and burns it to the ground.

With his home destroyed and his family lost, Keech will have to use the lessons he learned from Pa Abner to hunt down the powerful Char Stone. Luckily, he has the help of a ragtag team of orphans. Together, they’ll travel through treacherous forests, fight off the risen dead, and discover that they share mysterious bonds as they search for the legendary stone. Now it’s a race against the clock, because if Bad Whiskey finds the stone first… all is lost.”

Since my 11-year-old daughter has been deep into fantasy novels lately (Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are constantly battling it out to be her faves), I jumped at the chance to have her review this one when Macmillan offered to send us a copy. I was really interested to see how the Western aspect of it would work for her. Here’s what she had to say.

Diversity in children’s books is extremely important, yet it can be difficult to find picture books that feature African American characters. To celebrate Black History Month and encourage reading more diverse books, I thought I’d share 10 of our favorite kid’s books that star black children.

As the mom of two girls, it’s incredibly important to me that my daughters are exposed to books with lots of strong, fierce female characters. While I have no problem with pretty, pretty princesses, I also want my daughters to read stories filled with determined girls building and getting dirty and not ticking off all of the stereotypically “female” boxes.

Multi-dimensional, diverse characters are so important in children’s literature. Kids need to see depictions of children that are just like them doing a wide range of things. They also need to see stories of children who are not just like them. It helps build empathy and a connection between people who are different from them.

Did you know that a study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that only about 12% of children’s books published in 2016 star black characters? If you regularly read children’s books, that’s probably not so surprising—but it’s definitely unacceptable.

Since February is Black History Month, I thought now would be as good a time as any to feature a few of our favorite books that star African American children. Please note that these are not (with the exception of one) about historical figures (for a great list of those check out the Brightly article 22 Books That Celebrate Lesser-Known African Americans and Their Contributions to History). Instead, these books star highly relatable girls and boys that your kids will love.