Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Because I absolutely loved  The Secret of Honeycake (review in link) by Kimberly Newton Fusco, I nabbed Beholding Bee as an audiobook for my recent trip to Utah. I'm reviewing it for t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional reviews of middle grade books .    Title: Beholding Bee Author: Kimberly Newton Fusco. Read by Ariadne Meyers Publication Info: Listening Library, 2013. 8 hours. Original hardcover by Knopf Books, 2013, 336 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads): Bee is an orphan who lives with a carnival and sleeps in the back of a tractor trailer. Every day she endures taunts for the birthmark on her face—though her beloved Pauline, the only person who has ever cared for her, tells her it is a precious diamond. When Pauline is sent to work for another carnival, Bee is lost. Then a scruffy dog shows up, as unwanted as she, an...

I'm posting today with t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.  I'm pretty sure I learned about this book from one of my fellow MMGM bloggers--they've been tipping me off to the best books lately. Wherever I learned about it, it struck the right note with me.   Title: Ollie in Between Author: Jess Callans Publication Info : April 2025, Feiwel & Friends. 225 pages (ebook) Source: Library Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads): Puberty, AKA the ultimate biological predator, is driving a wedge between soon-to-be 13 year old Ollie Thompson and their lifelong friends. Too much of a girl for their neighborhood hockey team, but not girly enough for their boy-crazed BFF, Ollie doesn’t know where they fit. And their usual ability to camouflage? Woefully disrupted.When a school project asks them to write an essay on what it means t...

  I'm posting today with t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. A few weeks ago I read and reviewed t he charming Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms , an amazing debut novel from 2011. Since I liked it a lot, I went ahead and checked out Katherine Rundell's second book, Rooftoppers, to listen to as I drove to California. I ended up getting distracted by a great podcast about D-Day, so didn't finish the audiobook until a couple of days ago.     Title : Rooftoppers Author : Katherine Rundell. Read by Nicola Barber Publication Info: Simon and Schuster Audio, 2013. 6 hours. Originally published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013, 289 pages. Source : Library Publisher's Blurb: “The beauty of sky, music, and the belief in ‘extraordinary things’ triumph in this whimsical and magical tale” (Publishers Weekly) about a girl in ...

Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Book tours for the chance to read and review this fun mystery. Soft Serve Sleighing (Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries) by Lena Gregory About Soft Serve Sleighing   Soft Serve Sleighing (Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries)   Cozy Mystery 5th in Series Setting – Long Island, NY Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gemma Halliday Publishing (January 28, 2025) Number of Pages - 226 Kindle ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DLHPWDNT From author Lena Gregory comes a delightfully delicious cozy mystery... With most of Eastern Long Island closed down for a blizzard, Danika Delaney and her friends are holed up in her old fashioned malt shop, the Coffee & Cream Café, with ice cream and hot chocolate. However, their plans to wait out the storm in cozy company are interrupted when a popular YouTuber and her two companions show up at the door—they've been trapped by the storm, and Dani generously offers to serve them breakfast. But her generosity isn't rewarded in kind, as the re...

This was one of my audio "reads" via the library's "similar books" feature. Not quite sure what it was similar to, except that I was probably looking at books about historical events. This is a look at the Dust Bowl that's a bit different from the usual, since this is about the people who *didn't* leave. Title: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl Author: Timothy Egan. Read by Jacob York Publication Info: Audio book by Audible Audio, 2022. 13 hours. Originally published by Houghton Mifflin, 2005, 340 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Timothy Egan’s critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and ...

I'm posting today with t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there--possibly including the one I'm reviewing today (I'm not really sure; it was on my library wish list).    Title : Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms Author : Katherine Rundell; read by Biana Amato Publication Info : 2014, Recorded Books. 7 hours. First published by Faber & Faber, 2011, as The Girl Savage Source: Library Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads): Even a life on the untamed plains of Africa can’t prepare Wilhelmina for the wilds of an English boarding school in this lovely and lyrical novel from the author of Rooftoppers, which Booklist called “a glorious adventure.” Wilhelmina Silver’s world is golden. Living half-wild on an African farm with her horse, her monkey, and her best friend, every day is beautiful...

I think this was the result of a random search through the library's juvenile historical fiction. I'm posting today with t he fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there!    Title: Nothing Else But Miracles Author: Kate Albus, read by Carrie Coello Publication Info: Tantor Audio, 2023. 7 hours. Hardback published 2023 by Margaret Ferguson Books, 288 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb : Twelve-year-old Dory Byrne lives with her brothers on New York City's Lower East Side, waiting impatiently through the darkest hours of World War II for her pop to come home from fighting Hitler. Legally speaking, Dory's brother, Fish, isn't old enough to be in charge of Dory and her younger brother, Pike, but the neighborhood knows the score and, like Pop always says, "the neighborhoo...

Another installment in my quest to understand walking, hiking and the huge mental health benefits that I, at least, get from doing it.     Title: On Trails: An Exploration 
 Author: 
Robert Moor, read by Jason Grasl Publication Info: Audiobooks.com, 2016. 11 hours. Original by Simon and Schuster, 2016. 
 Source:  Library 

 Publisher’s Blurb: 

   From a brilliant new literary voice comes a groundbreaking exploration of how trails help us understand the world—from tiny ant trails to hiking paths that span continents, from interstate highways to the Internet. In 2009, while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, Robert Moor began to wonder about the paths that lie beneath our feet: How do they form? Why do some improve over time while others fade? What makes us follow or strike off on our own? Over the course of the next seven years, Moor traveled the globe, exploring trails of all kinds, from the minuscule to the massive. He learned the tricks of master trail-...

Thanks to the author and Great Escapes virtual tours for the chance to read and review this cozy mystery. Gone Crazy (Rory Naysmith Mysteries) by Terry Korth Fischer 5-STARS With its sensitive depiction of Native Americans and solid, rich characters, Gone Crazy thoroughly entertained me. ~Novels Alive About Gone Crazy Gone Crazy (Rory Naysmith Mysteries) Mystery 3rd in Series Setting – Nebraska Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Wild Rose Press, Inc. (July 22, 2024) Paperback ‏ : ‎ 284 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509255974 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509255979 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D47XQ8WZ A formal declaration of love scares the bejesus out of small-town Detective Rory Naysmith. As Valentine’s Day approaches, he evaluates his relationship with bookkeeper Esther Mullins, and decides to take her on a romantic date that ends with a poet’s murder. Assigned to the case, Rory pushes his private life aside. Things gets tricky after Esther is appointed Executrix for the estate—then rumors start that...

Another of my random history reads.     Title: Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War Author : 
Lynne Olson. Read by Arthur Morey & Kimberly Farr Publication Info : Random House Audio, 2017, 19 hours. Original hardback by Random House, 2017, 526 pages. Source: Library 

Publisher’s Blurb (via Overdrive): 

 A groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler, from the New York Times bestselling author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days When the Nazi blitzkrieg rolled over continental Europe in the early days of World War II, the city of London became a refuge for the governments and armed forces of six occupied nations who escaped there to continue the fight. So, too, did General Charles de Gaulle, the self-appointed representative of free France.     As the on...

Participating this week in the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out his blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there. Title: Red Fox Road 
Author : 
Frances Greenslade Publication Info : 
Puffin Canada, 2020. 238 pages (Kindle edition) Source: Library 

Publisher’s Blurb: 

 A thirteen-year-old girl on a family vacation becomes stranded alone in the wilderness when the family's GPS leads them astray. A compelling survival story for ages 10 to 14, for fans of Hatchet and The Skeleton Tree . Francie and her parents are on a spring road trip, driving from British Columbia, Canada, to hike in the Grand Canyon. When a shortcut leads them down an old logging road, disaster strikes. Their truck hits a rock and wipes out the oil pan. They are stuck in the middle of nowhere. Francie can't help feeling a little excited -- she'd often imagined how...

Another book I picked up from the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop  hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out his blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews.     Title : Chasing Helicity Author: Ginger Zee Publication Info: Disney Hyperion, 2018. 204 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb (Goodreads): Helicity is well aware that her name is unusual - kind of like Helicity herself. The word Helicity means to spin, and for as long as she can remember, Helicity has been fascinated by the weather. The weather is Helicity's escape from her own reality - may that be school, her father's strict discipline, or her brother's imminent departure for college where he's all set to play football. One fateful day, Helicity and her horse head out on a long ride to take a break from life at home. Even with her vast experience with weather, Helicity is unprepared for the elements she faces. The choices Helicity makes before,...

 I'm not ordinarily a huge fan of books in verse. This one will have to be an exception.     Title: Louder Than Hunger Author: John Schu Publication info: Candlewick Press 2024. 528 pages Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: (Goodreads)  Revered teacher, librarian, and story ambassador John Schu explores anorexia—and self-expression as an act of survival—in a wrenching and transformative novel-in-verse. But another voice inside me says, We need help. We’re going to die. Jake volunteers at a nursing home because he likes helping people. He likes skating and singing, playing Bingo and Name That Tune, and reading mysteries and comics aloud to his teachers. He also likes avoiding people his own age . . . and the cruelty of mirrors . . . and food. Jake has read about kids like him in books—the weird one, the outsider—and would do anything not to be that kid, including shrink himself down to nothing. But the less he eats, the bigger he feels. How long can Jake...