MORE 'REVIEWS-2014' POSTS
Dory Fantasmagory By Abby Hanlon Dial (an imprint of Penguin) $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-8037-4088-4 Ages 6-8 On shelves October 9th Which of the following types of children’s books are, in your opinion, the most difficult to write: Board books, picture books, easy books (for emerging readers), early chapter books, or middle grade fiction (older chapter books)? […]
Bad Bye, Good Bye By Deborah Underwood Houghton Mifflin Harcourt $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-547-92852-4 Ages 3-7 On shelves now As a mother who recently spent the better part of twenty hours in a car with a three-year-old and a three-month-old baby, I feel a special kinship with parents who have also engaged in the ultimate endurance […]
El Deafo By Cece Bell Amulet (an imprint of Abrams) $21.95 ISBN: 978-1-4197-1020-9 Ages 9-12 On shelves September 2nd We appear to exist in a golden age of children’s graphic novel memoirs. Which is to say, there are three of them out this year (El Deafo, Sisters, and The Dumbest Idea Ever). How to account […]
The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee By Barry Jonsberg Chronicle Books $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4521-3351-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves September 9th It often takes a while to figure out when you’re falling in love with a book. A book is a risk. You’re judging it from page one onward, informed by your own personal prejudices and […]
Issun Bôshi: The One-Inch Boy By Icinori Little Gestalten ISBN: 978-3-89955-718-3 $19.95 Ages 4-8 On shelves now In the past, determining a bias in the publication of folk and fairytales was a fairly straightforward business. Too many European maids of hair as fair as the silk of corn on your shelves? Bias. But now we’re […]
S is for Sea Glass By Richard Michelson Illustrated by Doris Ettlinger Sleeping Bear Press ISBN: 978-1585368624 $15.95 Ages 3-8 On shelves now Every small publisher needs a staple. Something to keep them going through hard times. Years ago Sleeping Bear Press hit on the notion of writing books with the [letter] is for [word] […]
The Madman of Piney Woods By Christopher Paul Curtis Scholastic ISBN: 978-0-545-63376-5 $16.99 Ages 9-12 On shelves September 30th No author hits it out of the park every time. No matter how talented or clever a writer might be, if their heart isn’t in a project it shows. In the case of Christopher Paul Curtis, […]
Princess Sparkle-Heart Gets a Makeover By Josh Schneider Clarion (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-544-14228-2 Ages 3-7 On shelves now Sometimes I’ll just sit back and think about how the advent of the internet has affected literary culture. I don’t mean book promotion or reviews or any of that. I’m talking about […]
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation By Duncan Tonatiuh Harry N. Abrams $18.95 ISBN: 978-1419710544 Ages 7-12 On shelves now If I blame my childhood education for anything I suppose it would be for instilling in me the belief that the history worth learning consisted of a set of […]
Absolutely Almost By Lisa Graff Philomel (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-399-16405-7 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. In the stage musical of Matilda, lyricist Tim Minchin begins the show with the following lines about the state of children today: “Specialness is de rigueur. / Above average is average. Go fig-ueur! / Is it some […]