Deb Aronson

Dec 7, 2024 | news-gazette.com | Deb Aronson

When I realized “Hummingbird Season,” a debut novel by Stephanie Lucianovic, is a story set in the time of COVID-19, I set the book aside for minute. I was not excited to relive those memories. But it turns out “Hummingbird Season” is more broadly about loneliness and feeling muted, left out or not heard. This is a theme I think every young reader (and older reader!) can relate to.

Oct 25, 2024 | news-gazette.com | Deb Aronson

Gary Schmidt is one of my all-time favorite kid-lit authors. If you’ve read “Wednesday Wars” or “Okay for Now,” those are Schmidt’s work. So when I came across a book of his I didn’t know about at a library book sale, I snatched it up. What a find “Orbiting Jupiter” was!It’s not a new book, only new to me. Maybe some of you haven’t read it either. Maybe some of you don’t know Schmidt.

Jan 5, 2024 | shepherd.com | Deb Aronson |Kim Tomsic |Hadley Hooper |Lawrence Anthony

This is a charming book that I treasured when I was a young reader. The narrator/author is telling a true story from his childhood about adopting a wild raccoon he named Rascal. It harkens back to a simpler time [also a little warning, he and a friend take the baby raccoons from their nest, which is not cool these days!]. The reader gets to see how smart and mischievous Rascal is and all the adventures the two have together. Why should I read it?

Nov 12, 2023 | news-gazette.com | Deb Aronson

I haven’t read many books by Kate DiCamillo until recently. DiCamillo fans will have their favorite, from “Because of Winn-Dixie” or “The Tale of Despereaux” to the Mercy Watson books. “Flora & Ulysses, the Illuminated Adventures,” illustrated by K.G. Campbell, won the Newbery in 2014 (DiCamillo’s second Newbery!) and falls somewhere in between the melancholy (“Winn-Dixie” or “Despereaux”) and the sweetly hilarious (Mercy Watson). Flora is a young girl whose parents have divorced.

Oct 1, 2023 | news-gazette.com | Deb Aronson

“The Otherwoods” is not a book I would normally pick up. In fact, the first time I started it, I put it right back down!The main character, River, is born with an ability to see monsters and spirits that maybe exist in another dimension. The reason I put it down is because the monsters were dis-GUST-ing AND terrifying! Not typically my cup of tea.