The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom By Christopher Healy Walden Pond Press (an imprint of Harper Collins) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-06-211743-4 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. Since when did fairytales become the realm of the girly? I blame Disney. Back in the days of Grimm your average everyday fairytale might contain princesses and pretty gowns [...]
Goblin Secrets By William Alexander Margaret K. McElderry Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-442434523 Ages 9-12 On shelves now I think it is time to declare the birth of the clockwork children’s novel. If you have been watching the literary trends over the last decade or so, you will note that [...]
The Apothecary By Maile Meloy Illustrated by Ian Schoenherr G.P. Putnam’s Sons (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-399-25627-1 Ages 10 and up On shelves now I can be a very smug librarian sometimes. It can get me into trouble. Take my reaction to the cover of Maile Meloy’s The Apothecary, for instance. Here we [...]
Dragon Castle By Joseph Bruchac Dial Books (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8037-33767-3 Ages 10-14 On shelves now. “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the [...]
With the final Harry Potter movie in theaters making more money than the very nation has in its coffers (or so my lackadaisical understanding of politics leads me to believe) there have been a whole slew of articles about Harry. These include articles on the kids in the movie, on what Rowling’s up to now, [...]
This year we’ve seen a fair number of adapted fairytales, cautionary tales, talking animals, etc. In short, lots of lovely fantasy to sort through. I can’t say I’ve read everything. For example, I’ve yet to read that book that declares itself to be “The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter” (that would be The Unwanteds by [...]
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes By Jonathan Auxier Amulet Books (an imprint of Abrams) $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-4197-0025-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves August 1st. What is the most telling difference between those works of children’s literature written long ago and those written today? Pose this question to a room full of children’s librarians and I [...]
Breadcrumbs By Anne Ursu Illustrated by Erin McGuire Walden Pond Press (an imprint of Harper Collins) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-06-201505-1 Ages 9-12 On shelves September 27, 2011 Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen is, let’s admit it, the world’s greatest puberty metaphor. A boy and girl are friends. Something happens and he grows cold [...]
Kat, Incorrigible By Stephanie Burgis Atheneum (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $16.99 ISBN: 9781416994473 Ages 9-12 On shelves now Early nineteenth-century child and teen novels written with an equal influence of Jane Austen and Diana Wynne Jones are nothing new. Indeed they’ve been around for quite some time. They’re your Sorcery and Cecelia by [...]
Small Persons with Wings By Ellen Booraem Dial (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8037-3471-5 Ages 10-14 On shelves now We’re all sick of vampires right now. We’re also a little tired of zombies and don’t even TALK to me about angels. A couple years ago you could have said the same about child wizards. [...]
Season of Secrets By Sally Nicholls Arthur A. Levine (an imprint of Scholastic) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-545-21825-2 Ages 9-12 On shelves now Sally Nicholls is not a household name here in America. She is possibly not even a name that most children’s librarians, booksellers, and teachers would recognize right off the bat. This, in spite of [...]
Keeper By Kathi Appelt Illustrated by August Hall Atheneum (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4169-5060-8 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. I don’t consider myself a particularly sentimental person. I don’t really cry at movies (E.T. was supposed to go home, for crying out loud). Television shows leave me high and dry (sorry [...]
The Boneshaker By Kate Milford Clarion Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) $17.00 ISBN: 978-0-547-24187-6 Ages 10 and up On shelves May 24th It seems that no successful book is an island. Or, to put it another way, no successful genre of book. In the children’s book world Harry Potter does well and suddenly [...]
Fortune’s Magic Farm By Suzanne Selfors Illustrated by Catia Chien Little, Brown and Company $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-316-01818-0 Ages 8-12 Roald Dahl was a troublemaker of the first degree. Did he really have to be so original? So interesting? Did his books have to fall into such a distinctive age range? And did he have to [...]
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