Around the World By Matt Phelan Candlewick Press $24.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-3619-7 Ages 9 and up On shelves October 11, 2011 Book phenomenons are something, aren’t they? Get the right writer and they can use words alone to inspire people to do the craziest things. Whether it’s Wizard Rock or standing on docks to find out [...]
Heh heh. You know when I said I’d write up the Day of Dialog librarian previews that I saw? Well, I wasn’t kidding. In fact, I’ve decided to be extra efficient and just cram the whole lot of them into one big, superlative, overcompensating post. Before I do, however, I should note that a couple [...]
I Want My Hat Back By Jon Klassen Candlewick Press $15.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5598-3 Ages 4-8 On shelves September 27th. I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! When Caroline Stutson’s Cats’ Night Out was released by Simon & Schuster in 2010 it contained art by [...]
My Side of the Car By Kate Feiffer Illustrated by Jules Feiffer Candlewick Press $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-4405-5 Ages 4-8 On shelves April 26th. Reality is subjective. You learn this when you have children of your own. What may be glaringly obvious to a parent will pass right over a six-year-old’s head (and vice-versa). To a [...]
Oh yeah, you read that right. Not only am I going to try to tackle my stack of librarian previews just waiting to be typed up, but I’m beginning with a company that had its very first preview for the New York librarian set here last week. School Library Journal was kind enough to lend [...]
I did indeed, faithful readers! Just about the time this blog was headed to an all new format I was traipsing the halls of the Javits Center during Book Expo 2010. Being a working librarian and all, I was operating my library’s reference desk for most of BEA, but I was able to escape for [...]
I think the lesson of the day here is that I haven’t been giving Lucy Cousins enough credit. While you may not be immediately familiar with her name, you’ve probably run into Cousins’s most famous creation, Maisy, at some point in your travels. Maisy is a mouse. Maisy is cute. Maisy is beloved by the 0-4 set. You haven’t lived until you’ve worked a reference desk where desperate two-year-olds come up to you like knee high zombies demanding, in their too high voices, your entire section of Maisy-related literature. Now because Maisy is so cute and non-threatening I was not initially impressed when I first heard about Yummy. Ms. Cousins wants to try her hand at fairy tales? Fine. It’ll probably be something along the lines of that Mary Engelbreit Nursery Tales collection. An early child introduction to fairy tales but without any of the original violent aspects. A watered down version, I’m sure. Well slap me upside the head and call me Charlie because I could not have been more wrong. Yummy is, if anything, the veritable antithesis to Engelbreit. With a good-natured, downright jovial tone of voice, Lucy Cousins takes old-fashioned stories and makes them as gruesome and funny as she is able.
The Mystery of the Fool and the Vanisher By David and Ruth Ellwand Candlewick Press $18.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-2096-7 Ages 8 and up On shelves now Sometimes I’ll give a speech at events or conferences about children’s books that break barriers. I’ll talk about titles that don’t neatly slot into award categories and, as a result, [...]
A Visitor for Bear By Bonny Becker Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton Candlewick Press $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-2807-9 Ages 5-9 On shelves now Cute is hard. Picture book cute, that is. A lot of people might disagree with that, but I’m going to make a case here. There’s a perception out there that if you slap [...]
The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm By Laura Amy Schlitz Illustrated by Max Grafe Candlewick Press $16.99 ISBN: 9780763627300 Ages 7-12 One shelves now For the reviewer that reviews for pleasure, every book that sits on your lap has to prove itself to some extent. Even the world’s shortest picture book is an [...]
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