Review: The Renegade Reporters

 The Renegade Reporters

by Elissa Brent Weissman

Dial Books (Penguin Random House)

Category: Middle Grade
Reviewer: Stacy Mozer

When Ash and her best friend Maya are suspended from the school news team for accidentally sharing an inappropriate report, they know in their hearts they can't stay away from the news. They decide to become renegade reporters, and create their own online news program. When a story about the company that gives the school its software falls in their laps, they have to decide whether they will continue to report alone or if they will do what is best for the story. This book would be a perfect addition to a library media curriculum that explores online safety and digital citizenship.

The Judaism in this story is built into the character. As Ash is following her news story, she is also celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and sharing her family's traditions. The book has positive and authentic Jewish religious or cultural content, is appropriate for the intended grade level in style, vocabulary, format, and illustration, and is solidly rooted in authentic and accurate detail through scholarship and research by the author.

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Reviewer Stacy Mozer a veteran elementary school teacher, currently teaching third grade. In addition to teaching, she is a middle grade author and a book blogger.

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