Hopper and Wilson By Maria van Lieshout Philomel Books (a division of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-399-25184-9 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. Inspiration comes in a variety of different forms though family is probably best source. One author might write a picture book and make all the monsters in it the relatives they knew growing up. [...]
Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace By Anna Grossnickle Hines Henry Holt (Macmillan) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8050-899607 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. Folks will ask for it. Sure they will. You sit at a children’s reference desk in a library long enough and eventually somebody is going to ask you for a book on the [...]
Wonderstruck By Brian Selznick Scholastic Press $29.99 ISBN: 978-0545027892 Ages 9 and up On shelves September 13, 2011 Hype. What’s the point? A publisher believes that a book is going to be big so they crank up the old hype machine and do everything in their power to draw attention to it long before its [...]
What Do You See? By Martine Perrin Albert Whitman & Co. $8.99 ISBN: 978-0-8075-6712-8 Ages 0-4 On shelves now. *Offspring Approved* I have always acknowledged the danger of having a child of my own. You see, as a children’s librarian I deal with parents that truly believe that if their kid does or does not [...]
Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem By Rosalyn Schanzer National Geographic Children’s Books $16.95 ISBN: 978- 1426308697 Ages 10 and up On shelves September 13th Sometimes I wish I could sit down with my 10-year-old self and have a conversation. We’d chat about the improvements that will come to fashion someday (I [...]
Jefferson’s Sons By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Dial (an imprint of Penguin) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-8037-3499-9 Ages 9-12 On shelves September 15th When I was in high school I started reading Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved on my own. At the time, my mother said something about the book that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever [...]
Never Forgotten By Patricia C. McKissack Illustrated by Leon and Diane Dillon Schwartz & Wade $18.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-84384-6 Ages 4 and up On shelves October 11, 2011 The more I read children’s literature the more I come to realize that my favorite books for kids are the ones that can take disparate facts, elements, and [...]
The Unforgotten Coat By Frank Cottrell Boyce Photographs by Carl Hunter and Clare Heney Candlewick Press $15.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5729-1 Ages 9-12 On shelves September 13th. Contemporary Mongolia doesn’t have all that many English language children’s novels to its name. And if you asked me to name everything I knew about Mongolia today, I’d probably find [...]
Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer By Trina Robbins Pencils by Anne Timmons Inks by Mo Oh Lettering by Felix Ruiz and Cayetano Garza Jr. Coloring by Studio C10 Graphic Universe (a division of Lerner) $7.95 ISBN: 978-0-7613-6010-0 Ages 9 and up On shelves November 1, 2011 I was asked [...]
The No. 1 Car Spotter By Atinuke Illustrated by Warwick Johnson Cadwell Kane/Miller (a division of EDC Publishing) $5.99 ISBN: 978-1-61067-051-7 Ages 7-11 On shelves September 1st. When I discovered the amazing, remarkable, one-of-a-kind, never before seen Anna Hibiscus books by Atinuke last year I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. It just didn’t [...]
Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory By George O’Connor First Second (an imprint of Roaring Brook) $16.99 ISBN: 978-1596437241 Ages 9 and up On shelves now. Aw, phooey. Phooey and also consarn it. George O’Connor is making me break my usual rules about reviewing. Generally speaking, when I review the first book in a series [...]
When Life Gives You O.J. By Erica S. Perl Alfred A. Knopf $15.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-85924-3 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. Children’s librarians can be neatly divided into two categories with relatively little difficulty. Basically, they either love and adore dogs and all things doggie related or they don’t. I don’t. I was never the kid [...]
A Little Bitty Man and Other Poems for the Very Young By Halfdan Rasmussen Translated by Marilyn Nelson and Pamela Espeland Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes Candlewick Press $15.99 ISBN: 978-0763623791 Ages 3-8 On shelves now. Denmark! Mention the country and children’s literature in one breath and what would most Americans think of? Well, if they [...]
The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale By Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright Illustrated by Barry Moser Peachtree Press $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-56145-595-9 Ages 7-12 On shelves October 1, 2011 Animal stories. Done well and you get something like Charlotte’s Web or The Incredible Journey. Done poorly and you cannot name for me [...]
The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred By Samantha R. Vamos Illustrated by Rafael Lopez Charlesbridge $17.95 ISBN: 978-1-58089-242-1 Ages 4-8 On shelves now I am lucky to work in a children’s room with a significantly sized bilingual section. The books you’ll find there cover a wide range of languages. Chinese, Arabic, Urdu, you name [...]
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