From Author Rebecca Grabill
This Joyful Mess
A Little Moody over Judy Moody
Very Ramona-the-pest both in tone and content: the every-day becomes huge in a way that takes a child’s moods and struggles seriously.
Witness this!
This book was made up of poems from different points of view and usually in differing and discernible voices all telling one story.
The plot, though ... the story seemed to end at the wrong spot. It ended with...
A Compass of Gold, off to a Good Start: Pullman's Golden Compass
The power of a great opening: Pullman’s The Golden Compass begins, “Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen.” We see a bit of each method of creating conflict. We know...
The Gift of Suffering: The Giver by Lois Lowry
Lowry opens The Giver with a description of fear and immediately cements the unusualness of the world she’s created as well as giving us insight into the young protagonist, Jonas. She also is so deliciously good at creating a Utopia that seems wonderful, at the start, and only slowly...
ChuggaChugga ChooChoo!: Freight Train, the book
Conceptual, informative, this little book teaches object permanence (through the tunnel cut away) and prepositions like through and by, and it uses real...
How to Build a Mosque
The intro is sort of dry, but the melding of fiction and nonfiction with fascinating detail on construction held my interest to the end. Yet why was there such a need for bathing? (I know it’s ritual bathing, but the text doesn’t tell me this.) There’s a ton of info on engineering, but not much...
That's Just Plain Nonsense, Eddie: Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear
Lear was the youngest of 21 children and was brought up by his sister, who cared for him until he was nearly 50. He was an eternal child with “invincible boyishness,” according to the editor. This collection...
Babe, Such a Gallant Pig
The style is hysterically understated and plays off stereotypes of the grumpy farmer and meddlesome wife. I found...
Exquisite Poetry for Two Voices
This is a Charlotte Zolotow book, which is no surprise. Such lovely language, metaphor, all the poetic devices one learns in school. I don’t read music, but this reads like I imagine music to be read...
Riverboat, Riverboat Float Me Away!
Wow, what an afternoon aboard a Mississippi riverboat (see, I know those third grade spelling lessons would come in handy - MI SSI SSI PPI). Good times had by all despite my horror at getting on an old yellow school bus. They smell the same, sound the same, feel ...
Hi, I’m Rebecca. I write books and I write here at This Joyful Mess to inspire everyone to find JOY in the everyday messes of life. Here you’ll find inspiration, educational resources, and so much more. Please explore and connect. I’d love to hear from you!