She works as a teacher-librarian in Asheville City Schools.If you have a child in elementary or middle school, you’ve probably heard of the Vanderbeekers-and for good reason. Kirsten LeClerc is a mother, writer, and avid reader. Look for these books at your local library. With another installment coming in Fall 2020, this series is highly recommended for middle grade readers. Whether creating a Rube Goldberg invention, tending a secret garden, or traipsing all over their Harlem neighborhood by themselves, there is never a dull moment with the free-ranging Vanderbeeker kids. This series has become a favorite of my 10-year-old daughter. Chickens, kittens, guinea pigs, and a dog are mixed into the family’s lively chaos as the children attempt to save their mother’s baking business. More animals come into the Vanderbeekers’ lives in the third book, “The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue” (HMH, 2019). Perhaps just as appealing as the children in the series are the family’s band of pets: George Washington, a cat Franz, an overweight basset hound and Paganini, a bunny. The reasoning behind the family’s eviction is quite serious, which the author handles with gentle sensitivity. The children do their best to convince him: they create a petition, attempt to give him breakfast in bed, and even give him a kitten. Beiderman decides not to renew their lease, and the children make it their mission to change his mind.

In the first installment of the series, “The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), Mr. Beiderman, a curmudgeonly old man who lives a life of isolation on the top floor.

The family rents part of a brownstone from Mr. The five children range in age from 4 to 12 years old. The Vanderbeekers books feature a biracial family living in a vibrant Harlem neighborhood. Karina Yan Glaser’s “The Vanderbeekers” is one of those series. Books with lots of siblings, like Jeanne Birdsall’s “The Penderwicks” or Gertrude Chandler Warner’s classic “Boxcar Children.” Books with crises that seem unfixable at the climax but wrap up neatly at the end with a feeling that everything is as it should be. There is something to be said for sweet, quiet chapter books.

Karina yan glaser the vanderbeekers