Mundie Moms

Monday, February 27, 2012

Must Have Middle Grade Reads

Welcome to this week's edition of Must Have Middle Grade Reads, a weekly feature here on Mundie Moms where I spotlight last week's middle grade books I reviewed on Mundie Kids. This week's Must Have Middle Grade reads are: Sadly I only reviewed one MG read on Mundie Kids this past week which was:


Illustrated by: Evette Gabriel
Published by: Midlandia Press
Released on: November 15th, 2011
Ages: 8 & up
4 stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Latasha and the Little Red Tornado tells the story of Latasha Gandy, a precocious and inventive third-grader who lives in Pittsburgh with her hardworking mother and a naughty puppy named Ella Fitzgerald. At eight years old, Latasha cannot wait to grow up. Ella, on the other hand, absolutely refuses to! When Ella's antics push the Gandy's landlady, Mrs. Okocho, to her wits' end, Latasha realizes that she must turn her mischievous mutt into a model dog. Latasha enlists the help of a classmate and neighbor, Ricky, in her efforts to train Ella. Their friendship grows as Ricky joins the girls on their adventures in the park. But after Latasha and Ricky have a falling out, Latasha decides to take Ella out on her own, a choice that proves to have grave consequences. At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this tale of friendship and maturity follows Latasha as she struggles with Ella, school, and her mother's absence from home. -quoted from Goodreads

This is such a heart warming, wonderful story for younger readers. It's a story kids will be able to relate to, and one they'll enjoy spending time with as they get to know Latasha, the story's main character. Young Latasha, who's now eight years old has a lot to deal with. She has an unruly faithful pup named Ella Fitzgerald (named after Latasha's favorite singer) who likes to do things puppies do like get into things they're not suppose to... meaning the trash and the down stairs neighbor/landlord's flowerbed. Not only does Latasha do the best she can to teach her friendly dog manners, she also tries to be a huge help to her single mother who's recently started a new job, and keep a good attitude about spending more time their elderly down stairs neighbor Ms. Okocho.

You can read the rest of my review here.

Next week I hope to have a lot more MG reviews to share with you. I'm gearing up for my Mundie Kids Middle Grade March Madness feature. More info will be posted on Mundie Kids shortly.


Middle Grade Monday:
Don't miss my Marvelous Middle Grade Monday meme on Mundie Kids, a weekly meme hosted by author Shannon Messenger's. You can check out this week's Mundie Kids feature here

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing about this. We're supposed to get our first dog this spring. I've never had one. Maybe I'd better read this for tips. Thanks for sharing about Middle Grade Monday on your blog. It does a lot to promote middle grade books.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This one is on my must read list. Thanks for featuring it today!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've never heard of this book before. Thanks for the heads up! http://1000wrongs.blogspot.com (Fellow MMGM poster)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ugh blogger deleted my replies to your comments Natalie and Deb. Thank you so much for stopping by!

    Laurisa- It's a cute one! I hope you enjoy it :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Welcome to our Middle Grade Monday collective, Mundie Moms. I look forward to all your reviews.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds like a sweet book. I will check it out. Thanks for the suggestion.

    ReplyDelete

Labels