Let’s hand Omar to as many kinds as we can name. Because as far as I’m concerned, funny books that also prove to be smart and socially conscious (not to mention anti-racist) might help us get out of the mess this world is in.
Review of the Day: Planet Omar – Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian, ill. Nasaya Mafaridik
September 11, 2020 by
Review of the Day: Just Like Me by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
June 11, 2020 by
We may have spent the better part of Poetry Month sheltering in place, but that doesn’t mean poetry went to sleep. Instead, books like this one have just been biding their time. Go out. Find it. Discover it. And discover why a book this good deserves some keen adjectives in its arsenal.
Review of the Day: Wink by Rob Harrell
May 28, 2020 by
They say, write what you know. And if what you know is how to lie on a steel table, your head screwed into place, a laser pointed at your face, that might be a good place to start. We live in dark times. How dark are they? SO dark that a book about a kid with a potentially deadly eye cancer is the bit of lighthearted levity we all need and crave.
Review of the Day: Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
May 7, 2020 by
Not every 12-year-old is going to be ready for the abuse and pain addressed in Bradley’s latest. But for those kids that want a book can be honest with them about the world, written at their age-level, with funny parts and a happy ending where things get better, this is that book. It ain’t easy but it’s there for you.
Review of the Day: Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy by Tara Dairman, ill. Archana Sreenivasan
April 30, 2020 by
I honestly think there’s a value in teaching kids the fact that the more you learn, the more you will realize just how much you do not know. That there’s always room for more knowledge. And Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy is a gorgeously wrought, simply written, smart story that does the work of engaging and informing kids alongside their ill-informed parents.
Review of the Day: Shirley & Jamila Save Their Summer by Gillian Goerz
April 14, 2020 by
Firmly rooted in reality, the book tips its hat low to Sherlock Holmes but maintains an originality entirely of its own. Surely kids won’t be asking for more of the same? They most certainly will. And don’t call me Shirley.
Review of the Day: Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk
January 31, 2020 by
Hand this to the kid that yearns for that freedom. For wide-open spaces and mysterious figures hiding in the shadows and snot nosed brothers and lots and lots of puppies. Hand it to someone who needs their own mountain. Even if it’s just a literary one.
Review of the Day: My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero, ill. Zeke Peña
June 29, 2019 by
Children are forever being picked up and taken to new locations without their input or consent. In today’s book review, you can see a kid taking the initiative. A father/daughter tale unlike any other out there today.
Review of the Day: The Line Tender by Kate Allen
April 10, 2019 by
There are books for kids that dare to be more thoughtful than pulse pounding. If chosen freely by a child, they can unlock something inside. Something that means more to the person reading than anyone else. The Line Tender carries this promise in its pages. It’s the right book for the right reader.
Review of the Day: The Happy Book by Andy Rash
March 13, 2019 by
You have other books about emotions that you love, I have no doubt, but seriously consider supplementing them with Rash’s latest. A loving little book unafraid to be happy, sad, angry, scared, and supremely good.
Video Premiere: Creators IRL (Part 3): Identity
January 24, 2019 by
What the heck is ‘Creators IRL’?”. It’s a series Penguin created to “offer a safe space for conversations, questions, revelations, and reflections between readers and some of their favorite creators. Featuring candid discussion from some of the book community’s most beloved creators, each video will center on a particular topic and explore how that topic has influenced the creator’s life and career.” Today, I’m premiering the third video in the series. Its focus? “Identity”.
Review of the Day: Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
August 2, 2018 by
Small Spaces By Katherine Arden G.P. Putnam & Sons (an imprint of Penguin Young Reader’s Group) $16.99 ISBN: 9780525515029 Ages 10-14 On shelves September 25th In fourth grade I sold my soul to the Scholastic Book Club’s Apple paperbacks. There was only one thing in the entire world I ever wanted to read, at that […]
Review of the Day: Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
July 13, 2018 by
Harbor Me By Jacqueline Woodson Nancy Paulsen Books (an imprint of Penguin) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-399-25252-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves August 28th A good book, whether it’s written for a nine-year-old, a nineteen-year-old, or a ninety-year-old can tilt your perspective, if only momentarily. Consider the concept of the “happy ending” and what it’s supposed to resemble. […]
Review of the Day: The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
May 29, 2018 by
The Rabbit Listened By Cori Doerrfeld Dial (an imprint of Penguin Random House) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-7352-2935-8 Ages 4 and up On shelves now Lest we forget, the only reason that children’s books were invented in the first place was to teach small human lessons. That is, in fact, the very backbone of the book business […]
Review of the Day: The Mad Wolf’s Daughter by Diane Magras
February 8, 2018 by
The Mad Wolf’s Daughter By Diane Magras Kathy Dawson Books (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-525-53134-0 Ages 9-12 On shelves March 6th Sometimes you just want to read a book that knows how to run. There are many way to define the term “great writing” as it applies to children’s literature. Eloquent. Ennobling. Distinguished. […]
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