MORE 'BEST-BOOKS-OF-2014' POSTS
Roller Derby Rivals By Sue Macy Illustrated by Matt Collins Holiday House $16.95 ISBN: 978-0-8234-2923-3 Ages 5 and up On shelves July 1st In my next life I will come back as a roller derby queen. Since the majority of my adult life has come and gone in complete and utter ignorance of this sport, […]
brown girl dreaming By Jacqueline Woodson Nancy Paulsen Books (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 978- 0399252518 Ages 9-12 On shelves August 28th What does a memoir owe its readers? For that matter, what does a fictionalized memoir written with a child audience in mind owe its readers? Kids come into public libraries every day […]
West of the Moon By Margi Preus Amulet Books (an imprint of Abrams) $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-4197-0896-1 Ages 10 and up On shelves now. These are dark times for children’s literature. Pick up a book for the 9-12 year-old set and you just don’t know what you’re going to find. Whether it’s the murderous foliage of […]
My Country, ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights By Claire Rudolf Murphy Illustrated by Bryan Collier Henry Holt and Company (an imprint of Macmillan) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-8050-8226-5 Ages 7 and up On shelves June 3rd It doesn’t matter how long you’ve worked as a children’s librarian. It doesn’t matter […]
The Great Greene Heist By Varian Johnson Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-545-52552-7 Ages 10 and up On shelves May 27th What is the ultimate child fantasy? I’m not talking bubble gum sheets or wizards that tell you you’re “the chosen one”. Let’s think a little more realistically here. When […]
The Most Magnificent Thing By Ashley Spires Kids Can Press $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-55453-704-4 Ages 3-7 On shelves now I was at a conference of math enthusiasts the other day to discuss kids and the state of math related children’s books. Not my usual scene but I was open to it. Despite what some might fear, […]
Boys of Blur By N.D. Wilson Random House Books for Young Readers $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-449-81673-8 Ages 9-12 On shelves April 8th. I like a kid’s book with ambition. It’s all well and good to write one about magic candy shops or goofy uncles or simpering unicorns or what have you. The world is big and […]
Rules of Summer By Shaun Tan Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic) $18.99 ISBN: 978-0-545-63912-5 Ages 4 and up On shelves April 29th When I was a young teen my favorite book was Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. Steeped in Bradbury’s nostalgia for his youth, I was in the throes of adolescence, probably on […]
Grandfather Gandhi Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus Illustrated by Evan Turk Atheneum (an imprint of Simon and Schuster) $17.99 ISBN: 978-1-4424-2365-X Ages 4-8 On shelves now. Are you familiar with the concept of booktalking? It’s a technique librarians developed to get people interested in books they might otherwise not pick up. The whole concept is […]
Curiosity By Gary Blackwood Dial (an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8037-3924-6 Ages 9-12 On shelves April 10th Blackwood’s back, baby! And not a minute too soon. Back in 1998, the author released The Shakespeare Stealer which would soon thereafter become his best-known work. A clever blending of historical fiction and adventure, […]