Book Review: Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick

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Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3)  by Heather Vogel Frederick  is the third book in a middle grade book series that is being rereleased. Chaos erupts in this third installment as the daughters in the book club get themselves into trouble. Each of the girls have big changes in their lives:  Jess is going to boarding school; Megan's grandmother comes to live with her; Emma starts a campaign against school uniforms; Cassidy has a lot of unexpected change coming to her family. Will the mother daughter book club stay together? I'd like to thank NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Dear Pen Pal  by Heather Vogel Frederick with it's upcoming rerelease to the public. I always love a good book that involves books, even if its target audience is children between the ages of eight and twelve. It wasn't until I reached the end of the book that I realized that it...
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Book Review: Face-Off! (Girl Talk, #2) by L.E. Blair

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middle grade book review face off girl talk 2 by le blair

Face-Off! (Girl Talk, #2) by L.E. Blair opens with Katie Campbell skating with her friends at the ice skating rink and thinking about how her father taught her how to skate and play hockey . . . and realizing how much she misses it. Tired of being the perfect daughter, Katie quits the flag team and tries out for the boys hockey team.

This particular book took me back to my childhood. There were so many situations that were realistic such as the girl's talking about bras in the locker room after flag practice. I remember overhearing conversations about bras in the locker room when I was in middle school, so I could totally relate to this particular scene in Face-Off! (Girl Talk, #2). Other realistic examples were how the girls acted around the boys they liked and how the kids acted at the restaurant & cafeteria. I loved the fact that the game Girl Talk was played during the sleepover. I had completely forgotten about those little red stickers that the players had to put on their face to represent zits.

When I was a kid, there weren't too many times that a girl attended a try out for an all male sports team, let alone made the team. Nowadays, you see more females on a sports team dominated by males like football. I enjoyed the fact that Allison stood up to the hockey coach on Katie's behalf and mentioned Title IX. As a kid, I had no idea what this was, much less that it was a law, and was glad that the author included an explanation of it as I'm sure that other young children don't know about it. The only complaint I have about Face-Off! (Girl Talk, #2) is that I felt like the pacing was a bit off.

Four out of five stars is the rating I gave Face-Off (Girl Talk, #2) by L.E. Blair. If you enjoyed this book, I recommend Wild Hearts (Wild Hearts, #1) by Cherie Bennett.

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