A Step Toward Falling is a book that is beautifully written and has a wonderful message of friendship and love, of fear and bravery, and of learning to reach out and stand up. This is a book that is well worth reading.

Lucas and Emily. One a successful football player and part of the popular social group at school, the other an academic activist. Now they are connected by one night where they both failed to act when Belinda, a fellow student with developmental disabilities, was being attacked. As Belinda deals with the aftermath of the attack she must decide what direction she wants her life to take, while Emily and Lucas must each deal with their guilt while undertaking community service at a relationship skills class hosted at the local centre for people with disabilities.

While this book is about Emily and Lucas' journey, it is equally, if not more so, about Belinda. It is about falling in love, but it encompasses two love stories not one, and it is also about friendship and learning more about caring for the individuals around you.

Belinda was my favourite character. She is so strong and brave and smart. She has been hurt, but is pretty smart about what she needs to do to move forward and about learning from something bad that ends up bring a lot of good for people. Emily on the other hand kind of drove me nuts. Now, no character in this book is perfect, they all have flaws and quite a bit to learn about being nicer to people, but Emily really takes the cake. She isn't mean on purpose, she just sometimes seems oblivious to how what she says hurts others. I thought she was especially obliviously rude to Lucas. But this book is about becoming aware and Emily does learn to reflect on what she says and assumes, I just found that Belinda is far more aware of this and reads as a much nicer character as a result. Lucas makes a nice contrast to Emily. As the story is not presented from his view point, we never really get much of an insight into his life, just fragments as he talks with Emily. There was a lot more I wanted to know about Lucas, about his home life, his goals for after school and his relationship with his father. Unfortunately we don't get to see much of this, but there are a lot of different stories in this book; Belinda and her mother and grandmother, the respective friendship and class groups at school and of course the Life Skills class group at which Emily and Lucas volunteer. I have to say I learnt a lot about communication and expectations from reading about their interactions, and I loved all the different characters and personalities that emerged as a result.

At first the story really jumps all the the place time wise, moving from Emily's first day at the centre, to just after the attack, to before, to during and back again. As the story continues though, this straightens out, with just a few jumps back to clarify the details of that night. As the story progressed I also became more connected with the characters.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved that it was Belinda's story and that she got to tell it. This is a book that is perfect for changing world views, or maybe just changing how you see and treat the people around you.

The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Ally! By the end of the first page, I was in love with her narrative voice. As I was pulled deeper into the story I fell more in love with this spunky protagonist. The teacher in me ached for her and her struggles with reading and writing...by page 13 I was tearing up and wanted to hug her and tell her she was not stupid! It didn't take long for the little girl in me who struggled with math (and still does) to completely relate to Ally.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt does such a beautiful job capturing the struggle of having learning differences and believing the wrong voices. All her characters have a wonderful balance to them. I can see kids of a span of ages reading the book and relating comfortably to the characters. I believe this should be read by all educators. It will touch you and challenge you to be more mindful of what your students are dealing with. Kids are going to enjoy this too. They'll see that it's okay when your brain works different from others. It's okay to stand up for yourself and for others. That most mean kids have another side to them, but it doesn't excuse their actions. That you have a choice about how you respond and how you treat others, but sometimes you make the wrong choice.

This book goes next to books like Cynthia Lord's Rules as a book that will be impacting lives for years to come. A beautiful example of why we read...to know we are not alone.

Thank you, Lynda Mullaly Hunt for releasing Ally into the world and telling her story.

Archie Greene and the Magician's Secret ...

 I absolutely adore the world D. D. Everest has created in this book - I want to live in it. I haven’t been this desperate to crawl into the pages of a book in a long time. Librarians with magic powers! Flying books! Magical creatures! Pop out/up books!

Apart from the world building (which we’ve established is brilliant) I also thought the characters were great. The descriptions D. D. Everest gave were ideal.

Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret is definitely a story that will keep you entertained from the moment you turn the first page.