Books Reviews, Children's Books

Sky Ropes book review | A girl’s journey to overcome trauma

Sky Ropes book follows one girl's journey to overcome trauma

Sky Ropes is a book for ages 10 and up from Chronicle Publishing. It comes in Hardback or Kindle and is a story about a girl’s journey to overcome trauma and her bravery. The girl is Breanna and she is attending her school’s teambuilding camp. The major exercise will be ascending Sky Ropes—the highest ropes course in the state. She has zero plans to accomplish this.

Breanna’s trauma is her Father’s abuse. Somehow, the fear from her past is colliding with her fear of that Sky Ropes at the end of camp week. She makes the most of camp with friends. You will get to know her prankster and fun personality, you will feel her trauma and the tense moments she is feeling as the Sky Ropes challenge nears. You will cheer for her and go along the journey of all her internal struggles and realizations in the end. This book is great for those struggling with anxiety, fear and who love adventure stories.

Sky Ropes is written by Sondra Soderborg, a former practicing attorney, child advocate, and teacher at both a high school and a prison. But now on Amazon.

Books Reviews

7 Popular Books for Teens and Young Adults to gift

7 Popular Books for Teens and Young Adults to gift

If you have young readers on your gift list this season, consider these young adult novels from Simon & Schuster Publishing that are great books for teens or gifts for their high school library! Let’s take a look below at each title!

Road of the Lost by Nafiza Azad – Perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince, this young adult fantasy follows a girl who discovers she’s spent her life under an enchantment hiding her true identity on her quest into the magical Otherworld to unlock her powers and discover her destiny until she is gifted a book about magick from the Otherworld. Buy on Amazon.

The With Haven (book 1) and The Witch Hunt (Book 2) by Sasha Peyton Smith – In 1911 New York City, seventeen-year-old Frances Hallowell spends her days as a seamstress, mourning the mysterious death of her brother months prior. Everything changes when she’s attacked and a man ends up dead at her feet—her scissors in his neck, and she can’t explain how they got there. The story of sisterhood, mystery, and interesting magic continues in book 2 where a new character is introduced. Frances travels to Paris with her friends to see if she is able to determine why her magic is suddenly going haywire. It is going to take all of them working together to unravel the mystery. Working with Finn may be the end of everyone. Buy on Amazon.

Bloodmarked, Book 2 after Legendborn by Tracy Deonn – The sequel to the New York Times bestselling and award-winning Legendborn. Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected. Buy on Amazon.

The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix – young adult debut about a witch whose dark powers put her at the center of a brewing war between the only family she’s ever known and the enemy who makes her question everything. This is an instant best-seller! Buy on Amazon.

The Do-Over by Lynn Painter – After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another nightmare V-Day. Buy on Amazon.

A Path To The World by Lori Marie Carlson-Hijuelos – A book of essays from a variety of voices, backgrounds, and experiences, exploring what it means to be human and true to yourself. All speak to the common thread of humanity, the desire to be your truest self, and to belong. Buy on Amazon.

Books Reviews

The Boy Behind the Door: How Salomon Kool Escaped the Nazis book review

The Boy Behind the Door: How Salomon Kool Escaped the Nazis book review

The Boy Behind the Door: How Salomon Kool Escaped the Nazis is the true story of Salomon Kool, a Dutch teenager who evaded the Nazi dragnet and survived the German occupation of the Netherlands from May 1940 to the end of WWII. It is labeled as a young adult non-fiction but does tell a true story. This book will captivate young readers as they connect with a very traumatic historical event.

While German soldiers barged into his Amsterdam home in 1940, he managed to evade them by successfully hiding behind the door. Young readers will relive these terrifying moments for Sal and the rest of the story follows Sal as he navigates the aftermath of the war.

This is a great book for fiction readers and school libraries. You can buy this book now on Amazon.

Books Reviews

Go To Help: 31 Strategies to Offer, Ask For, and Accept Help

Go To Help: 31 Strategies to Offer, Ask For, and Accept Help

It’s OK to ask for help! Who really likes hearing that? I mean, we know it’s “OK”, but we are conditioned to think that asking for help is weakness or a form of ‘giving up’. I am the worst at asking for help. Go To Help: 31 Strategies to Offer, Ask For, and Accept Help takes this exact topic and makes it such a fun and engaging read to bring you skills to ask for help and even how to handle those who won’t accept your help.

how to handle those who won't accept your help.

The Mother-daughter team Deborah Grayson Riegel and Sophie Riegel, the authors, blend their respective backgrounds in coaching and mental health advocacy to bring this book as an effective to tools or ask and offer help. It is hilarious at times and so relatable to everyone in many ways.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Offer help that inspires others to learn and grow
  • Manage when someone doesn’t accept your help
  • Reject requests when you’re overloaded
  • Ask specifically for the kind of help that’s actually useful

The book is available now in bookstores and online at Amazon.