Welcome to another MARVELOUS MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY!
This title was first released by Scholastic in 2017. This 2018 version from Peachtree 
Publishers has a new illustrator, with Poly Bernatene adding his own visual feast to accompany the story. For those of us who love books and bookstores, the tale weaves its own charm.
Property Jones is an eleven-year-old girl with a big secret: She can’t read. Her parents abandoned her at a bookshop when she was five for reasons never revealed. Luckily Michael and his mother Netty took her in and now they are family. Their bookshop though is not doing well. They can hardly believe their turn of fate when they win a contest with the prize being the greatest bookshop in London. End of story? Not by a long shot.
Mr. Montgomery, who built London’s fantastic book emporium has secrets as does Mr. Pink, the villain in this delightful easy to read novel. The bookshop itself is a fun, quirky, and fantastic place to look at books. There are rooms for different genres that rotate and appear like they are hanging on an invisible Ferris wheel. You wait for the door to open and enter. I’d fly off to London in an instant if there really was a bookstore like this.
Perfect as a read aloud or to read surrounded by your own books, THE BOOKSHOP GIRL wraps you up with its whimsical surroundings and doses of humor reminding readers to never forget the power of a good story.
PUBLICATION DATE: 2018 PAGE COUNT: 135
FIVE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT:
THE BOOKSHOP GIRL
- Property is the type of girl you’d like as your own daughter or as a next door neighbor. She is resourceful and a problem solver. A fantastic female protagonist.
- I like a cat with an attitude and here we have one of the best. Don’t mess with her or she may end up on your head.
- Oh the irony… a girl who can’t read lives in a book shop.
- Full page illustrations appear every 8-12 pages or so and they are a delight. The big eyes and revealing expressions of the characters will have you flipping through the pages to see them again.
- The ending was expected but also perfect in its execution. Much to laugh at with many of the lines.
FAVORITE LINES
Property Jones was left in a bookshop when she was five years old. Her parents walked out and left her there – just like that. She was found by Michael Jones, who was ten at the time, and who dutifully put her in the lost property cupboard.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sylvia Bishop
Now I write my stories down, preferably by lamp-light with tea. I only ever really write the bad ones: the good ones write themselves without warning, generally when I was planning to go to bed.I live in London these days, with a motley crew of chums.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR: Poly Bernatene
I was born in 1972, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and have been drawing ever since. I graduated from Buenos Aires’ Art School, where I developed a great interest in managing different techniques and enjoying my work, which has always been based on experimentation and diversity. Therefore my work is constantly changing and developing itself, looking for new ways to tell a story. In my own personal search for a style and field of activity, I have worked within advertisement, animation and comics. During the last couple of years, I established myself an exciting career as professional illustrator, having published more than 60 children books in Argentina, Mexico, Spain, UK, Australia, Denmark, Germany, France, China, Taiwan and USA.
********************************************************************
I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Make a comment if you have time. I enjoy reading all of them. Click on the comments link below.
I’m batting last in the blog tour line-up, and couldn’t be more pleased to have the final words on 
Here are a few news and special feature articles I’ve enjoyed this week:
This new effort by National Geographic Kids hits all the right spots in providing detailed information on topics middle grade kids crave. Along with awe inspiring photos and drawings, each edition features support from a leading in-the-field expert with personal stories, experiences, and knowledge.
First up is a fascinating account of D-DAY by 
At the height of World War I, as battles raged in the trenches and in the air, another struggle for survival was being waged in the most notorious POW camp in all of Germany: Holzminden. A land-locked Alcatraz of sorts, it was home to the most troublesome Allied prisoners—and the most talented at escape. The Grand Escape tells the remarkable tale of a band of pilots who pulled off an ingenious plan and made it out of enemy territory in the biggest breakout of WWI, inspiring their countrymen in the darkest hours of the war.
me. I can easily cover it up with a few fingers. The thing is, other than a certain wimpy kid (Greg Hefley), I finally have another middle grade protagonist sharing my first name. Too bad the neighbors and relatives have asked me to leave the book at home when I’m traveling about. I guess attaching it to the front of my bike or the car’s front bumper was going a bit too far.
There’s something unusual about the newest title from National Geographic. It’s still loaded with science, history, and technology topics we’ve come to expect—ones I’ve championed many times the past few years at 
Trudi Trueit imagined a career as a novelist ever since writing, her first play in the fourth grade. A former TV news reporter and weather forecaster, Trudi has published more than 100 fiction and nonfiction books for young readers.
