The Magical Ms. Plum By Bonny Becker Illustrated by Amy Portnoy Knopf (an imprint of Random House) $12.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-85637-2 Ages 7-10 On shelves now. Oh, magical grown-ups. You never get old. There is a long and strong tradition of grown-ups with extraordinary powers helping (or hindering) their young charges in the annals of children’s [...]
Fusenews: Tidying Up the Loose Ends
December 31, 2009 By 9 Comments
You may notice a fair amount of reviews this week. Well, the clock is tick-tick-ticking and I’ve got to get my lazy fingers up and reviewing as much as possible before the anvil falls. That’s what drops in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, right? An anvil? Wouldn’t know. I tend to spend such evenings [...]
Review of the Day: When it’s Six o’Clock in San Francisco by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu
December 30, 2009 By 2 Comments
When it’s Six o’ Clock in San Francisco: A Trip Through Time Zones By Cynthia Jaynes Omololu Illustrated by Randy DuBurke Clarion Books $16.00 ISBN: 978-0-618-76827-1 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. Arg. Concept books. They’re dangerous dealings. A concept book is meant to have a single purpose: to inform. If they amuse, that’s nice, but [...]
Review of the Day: Do! by Gita Wolf, Ramesh Hengadi, and Shantaram Dhadpe
December 30, 2009 By 2 Comments
Do! By Gita Wolf, Ramesh Hengadi, and Shantaram Dhadpe (with help from Rasika Hengadi and Kusum Dhadpe) Tara Books $14.95 ISBN: 978-81-907546-1-3 Ages 3-8 On shelves now Every year almost all the children’s book publishers put out a whole lotta picture book schlock alongside some tiny gems. If you are a librarian, your job is [...]
Review of the Day: The Farwalker’s Quest by Joni Sensel
December 29, 2009 By 1 Comment
The Farwalker’s Quest By Joni Sensel Bloomsbury $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-59990-272-2 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. I’ll confess something to you. I’m a children’s librarian who reads a lot of children’s books in a given year. I don’t get a chance to review them all, which is too bad. So my To Be Reviewed shelf in [...]
What 2009 Book Should I Review?
December 28, 2009 By 58 Comments
Review of the Day: Henry in Love by Peter McCarty
December 28, 2009 By 7 Comments
Henry in Love By Peter McCarty Balzer and Bray (a Harper Collins imprint) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-06-114288-8 Ages 4-8 On shelves now Now when I was a little kid I was single-mindedly determined to pair off the world. If I could continually put together two people and marry them off, that was all I wanted out [...]
Video Sundays 2009: Best of the Fuse
December 27, 2009 By 4 Comments
Ho Ho Ho! You know the rest.
December 24, 2009 By 5 Comments
Every year I steadily collect holiday-related blog postings, storing them up until Christmas. Some are great. Some are so-so. But all are wonderfully topical. Enjoy! As with any holiday, it’s always worthwhile to take a trip over to Golden Age Comic Book Stories to see what Mr. Door Tree has up and running. This month [...]
Fusenews: Notable Quotables
December 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I got this email just the other day and I couldn’t help but post it here. Imagine a whole host of talented authors giving your manuscript in-depth feedback. Sound too good to be true? Check it: "For the next twelve months, The Longstockings will workshop the manuscript of one of our readers. And then, in [...]
Review of the Day: Pouch! by David Ezra Stein
December 22, 2009 By 1 Comment
Pouch! By David Ezra Stein G.P. Putnam’s Sons (a division of Penguin) $15.99 ISBN: 978-0-399-25051-4 Ages 3-7 On shelves now Today I had to tackle a preschool storytime. I am not a particularly brave librarian, though. If I find a picture book that works, I have to really work at not using it over and [...]
Best of the Decade: A Look Back at Children’s Literature from 2000-2009
December 21, 2009 By 29 Comments
Recently Entertainment Weekly put out an issue that looked back over the decade from a popular culture standpoint. It got me to thinking: Why haven’t any of the children’s periodicals, publications, and blogs done the same? 2000-2009 was a terrible decade in a lot of ways, but in terms of children’s and YA literature it [...]
Video Sunday: Beats being named Janice anyway
December 20, 2009 By 1 Comment
Adults Go Wild Over Latest In Children’s Picture Book Series Everyone was talking about this Onion News piece this week. And as someone who writes reviews of picture books that are far longer than the books themselves . . . well, this is just fantastic. Thanks to all the folks who sent it on to [...]
Review of the Day: Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers
December 19, 2009 By 2 Comments
Looking Like Me By Walter Dean Myers Illustrated by Christopher Myers Egmont $18.99 ISBN: 978-1-60684-001-6 Ages 4-8 On shelves now Says the parent to the librarian, "I need something for my child to improve their self-esteem." Uh-huh. Fine. Self-esteem. That’s the kind of topic that inspires the worst possible books for kids, you know. Cute [...]
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