BookBar's blog

To call this subject a “sensitive” one might be appropriate, if a little lackluster. Calling it a “goddamn minefield” might be a little more honest. Nevertheless, it rises up again and again, in think pieces, blogs, non-sequitur tweets, and worst of all–hundreds-long comment chains on Facebook. No matter how dormant your social media presence might be, post an opinion on this topic and you’re suddenly wearing a suit of stale bread at the beach. Read More...

Our own Bookworm Griffin wrote his review for Wishtree below, but for the more visual types, he was kind enough to do a video review as well! 

Spoiler alert. You shouldn’t read this book unless you’re prepared to cry a little. Read More...

There’s an awful lot of documentation on the history of banned books on the internet.

Shhh. Don’t tell Nicole this, but my favorite bookstore in all the world is Libros del Lago, a tiny bookstore along Calle Santander in Panajachel, Guatemala. It’s sandwiched between an ice cream shop and street vendors, and is my go-to store for books to develop my Spanish fluency and literacy. In Guatemala, independent bookstores don’t compete against big chains and online retailers, they compete against literacy rates among the worst in the hemisphere.

Labor Day was invented back in the early 1920s to by the fashion industry to convince rich white-collar workers to buy more expensive, colorful clothes. It’s a little-known fact that white-collar workers used to wear exclusively white clothes to work until Labor Day was popularized. It was later co-opted by the poor working class in the 1880s as a means of fighting for better working conditions. By 1894, it became a federal holiday, and it wasn’t long before everyone forgot why it was started in the first place.

I, Emma the BookWorm, a young woman who refuses to do anything but hide in her room and read stories about Jack the Ripper while drinking tea, a girl who has only ever read two romances in her entire life (three if you count The Scarlet Letter) declare that a romantic comedy was an excellent read. Read More...

It's difficult not to wonder if this story is more poignant today than it might have been say, six months ago. That isn't to suggest this story stood any less strong when published in 2013, but it's a cogent reminder that progress attained is never permanent. Progress doesn't preclude regression, and a regression feels a little less like a morbid fantasy daily.... Read More

Hannah, BookBar’s summer intern, has some great recommendations for kids to fill out their Reading Without Walls Summer Reading Bingo Challenge this summer! Grab a card at BookBar and mark your calendars for our end-of-summer scavenger hunt party with Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, author of The Book Scavenger and The Unbreakable Code!

A few months ago, I sat with a group of four nine-year-olds on tiny chairs. Most of them were meeting for the first time with the intention of picking out new books and takling about the books they had read...  READ MORE

I have a propensity for reading mere portions of a book, sometimes because I’ve grown bored with it, other times because I’m just lazy. I’ll often find nearly any excuse to not read, even when I want to. One more Twitter refresh to see what horrifying news story just broke. I don’t understand, and generally once I’m reading, I always regret not starting earlier. Such is life.

Imagine this: a juggler has three red balls, a bowling pin, his left shoe, a lit candle, and a full glass of beer in the air. How's he going to catch it all without either burning himself or spilling any of his beer. This juggler is Matthew Sullivan and throughout his novel, he has multiple plots points in the air. He tricks you throughout the book by making you think he's going to drop that bowling pin or a drop of that beer is going to spill, but Sullivan doesn't drop a single thing. He catches everything flawlessly in front of an amazed and mystified audience.

As an aspiring young writer, getting the chance to meet authors and learn their writing tips is to me the best way to help me better my writing style... Read More

This story is about a boy named Toby who lives with his uncle, Gabriel.  Toby wanted to be a detective and his idol is a detective named Hugh Abernathy...  Read More

Surviving the tormentous teenage years can be hard enough for the typical developing child. But consider if you are autistic. And your mother lost parental custody when you were nine. And you’ve been in the foster system trying to find your forever family. And you find a wonderful family. But then you have an opportunity to reconnect with your biological mom. What choices do you make? Continue reading...