Jane the Fox and Me By Fanny Britt Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault Translated by Christelle Morelli and Susan Ouriou Groundwood Books ISBN: 978-1-55498-360-5 $19.95 Ages 9-12 On shelves September 1st Isn’t it strange how few children’s graphic novels are published in a given year? This is one of those phenomena that defy the basic tenants [...]
Flora and Ulysses By Kate DiCamillo Illustrated by K.G. Campbell Candlewick Press ISBN: 978-0-7636-6742-5 $17.99 Ages 9-12 On shelves September 24th I like a bit of subtlety with my “meaning”. What I mean by that is that when I pick up a book for kids, it’s tough on me, as a reader, to go through [...]
A Funny Little Bird By Jennifer Yerkes Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-4022-8013-9 Ages 3-7 On shelves now When I was a kid I tried to learn how to draw by reading Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. A lot of the book was dedicated to showing your average [...]
Native Americans: A Visual Exploration By S.N. Paleja Intro by Kevin Loring Annick Press $19.95 ISBN: 978-1-55451-485-4 Ages 9-12 On shelves now Nonfiction trends in children’s literature are oddities. For all that children make up such a large swath of the American population, relatively few people specialize solely in creating works of nonfiction for them [...]
Hold Fast By Blue Balliett Scholastic $17.99 ISBN: 978-0545299886 Ages 9-12 I honestly don’t think you can be a reviewer without being honest about your own personal prejudices first. When I pick up a book for children I have to cut through a thick swath of issues infecting my brain that may have little to [...]
Cowboy Up!: Ride the Navajo Rodeo By Nancy Bo Flood Photography by Jan Sonnenmair Wordsong (an imprint of Highlights) $17.95 ISBN: 978-1-59078-893-6 Ages 8-12 On shelves now Sometimes I think half my job simply consists of making lists. Not that I’m complaining. I love lists. I love making them, and checking them, and adding to [...]
A Girl Called Problem By Katie Quirk Eerdmans Books for Young Readers $8.00 ISBN: 97800-8028-5404-9 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. Who says that mystery novels for kids all have to include the same tropes and settings? I tell you, half the time when a kid comes up to a reference desk asking for a mystery [...]
Giant Dance Party By Betsy Bird Illustrated By Brandon Dorman Greenwillow (an imprint of Harper Collins) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0061960833 Ages 3-7 On shelves now. Gotcha! I’m just messing with you. No, I’m not going to actually review my book here. I’m not going to wax rhapsodic over the hidden meanings lurking behind the mysterious cupcake [...]
Maria Had a Little Llama / Maria Tenia Una Llama Pequena By Angela Dominguez Henry Holt (an imprint of Macmillan) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8050-9333-9 Ages 4-8 On shelves August 20th Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you a humbled woman. A woman who “knew” certain facts but, until she saw them working in her own personal [...]
No Fits, Nilson! By Zachariah Ohora Dial (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8037-3852-2 Ages 3-7 On shelves June 13th The small child is a frightening beast. A truly terrifying creature that can level the most powerful adult with the mere pitch of their fury laden screams. As a children’s librarian I used to tell [...]
The Water Castle By Megan Frazer Blakemore Illustrated by Jim Kay Walker Books for Young Readers (an imprint of Bloomsbury) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8027-2839-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves now Where does fantasy stop and science fiction begin? Is it possible to ever draw a distinct line in the sand between the two? A book with a [...]
The Dark By Lemony Snicket Illustrated by Jon Klassen Little Brown & Co. $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-316-18748-0 Ages 4-8 On shelves April 2nd You do not know the temptation I am fighting right now to begin this review with some grandiose statement equating a fear of the dark with a fear of death itself. You have [...]
Hank Finds an Egg By Rebecca Dudley Peter Pauper Press, Inc. $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4413-1158-0 Ages 3-7 On shelves May 1st Photography in children’s literature holds a real fascination for me. No work of pure photography has ever won a Caldecott Award or Honor and, when it comes right down to it, there are only two [...]
Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People By Susan Goldman Rubin Abrams Books for Young Readers $21.95 ISBN: 978-0-8109-8411-0 Ages 10 and up On shelves now National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15th to October 15th. How many folks could tell you that off the top of their heads? Meanwhile, few awards are specifically [...]
One Came Home By Amy Timberlake $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-86925-9 Ages 10 and up On shelves now I like children’s books that sock you in the gut. Not the books that telegraph their hits or do the old one-two punch you can see coming from a mile away. No way, man, I’m talking about the books [...]
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