MORE '2007-REVIEWS' POSTS
Grumpy Bird By Jeremy Tankard Scholastic Press $12.99 ISBN 978-0439851473 Ages 4-8 On shelves now Grumpy Bird and me, we got off to a rough start. I first laid eye on the impossibly irritable fowl one day while traipsing about a local bookstore. There on an upper shelf sat, “Grumpy Bird”. He was grumpy. He […]
I Am Not Joey Pigza By Jack Gantos Farrar, Straus & Giroux (an imprint of Macmillan) $16.00 ISBN: 978-0374399412 Ages 11 and up On shelves now A good author has the ability to piss off their fans. Pissing off fans is a delicate art, though. On the one hand, if you can emotionally engage your […]
A Coyote Columbus Story By Thomas King Illustrated by William Kent Monkman Groundwood Books $6.95 978-0-88899-830-9 Ages 5 and up On shelves now Happy Fiorello H. LaGuardia Day!* One of the perks that came with attending the Kidlitosphere Conference was free goodies. For example, Ellen Klages was kind enough to hand me The Coyote Road: […]
Let It Shine By Ashley Bryan Atheneum (Simon & Schuster imprint) ISBN: 9780689847325 $16.99 Ages 4-8 On shelves now You could take the amount that I know about African-American spirituals and fit it into the hollow of the ear of a flea with room to spare, I think. Put bluntly, I don’t know much. As […]
The Qwikpick Adventure Society By Sam Riddleburger Dial Books (Penguin imprint) Ages 9-12 $16.99 ISBN: 0803731787 On shelves now As a children’s book reviewer there is one fact that you must keep at the forefront of your mind at all times: You are not a kid. Not usually anyway. And because you are not a […]
Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice By Frank Asch Illustrated by Devin Asch Kids Can Press $17.95 ISBN: 978-1-55453-022-9 Ages 4-8 On shelves now I used to think that employing a computer to handle all your illustrating needs in a picture book was a risky proposition. Then we entered into 2007 and suddenly there were books like Bow-Wow […]
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf By Jennifer L. Holm Illustrated by Elicia Castaldi Comics by Matthew Holm Ginee Seo Books, (Simon & Schuster) $12.99 Ages 9 and up On shelves now I remember being 13 or so and talking with a much older cousin of mine. When he asked me what grade I was […]
Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle By Pija Lindenbaum Translated by Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegaard R & S Books (distributed by Farrar, Straus and Giroux) $16.00 Ages 4 and up On shelves today There are so few good quality picture books with gay characters in them that, quite frankly, it’s a bit shocking. When people come […]
Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson Random House $15.99 Ages 9 to 14 I am a traitor to my sex. I must be. All evidence clearly points in that direction. If 2007 is remembered as anything, for me it will be the year of Boy Books That I Adored While My Female Friends Slowly Shook Their […]
Si, Se Puede! Yes We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A. By Diana Cohn Illustrated by Francisco Delgado Essay by Luis J. Rodriguez Cinco Puntos Press $7.95 ISBN: 978-0938317890 Ages 4-8 On shelves now In discussing not only the Justice For Janitors Campaign of 2000 but also the need for strong unions in America today, this […]