MORE '2014-REVIEWS' 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, […]
Here’s something I’ve never done before. For years I’ve been waiting for the moment when a book I loved and reviewed dipped out of print only to come back again. Since I’ve only been doing this gig since 2006 I wasn’t sure what that first book would be. Then, this year, I got my answer. […]
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 […]
The Grudge Keeper By Mara Rockliff Illustrated by Eliza Wheeler Peachtree Press $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-56145-729-8 Ages 4-7 On shelves now. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the phrase, “There’s no use crying over spilled milk” was invented with the intention of comforting a two or three-year-old. Small children, one learns, […]
A Pond Full of Ink By Annie M.G. Schmidt Illustrated by Sieb Posthuma Translated by David Colmer Eerdmans Books for Young Readers $16.00 ISBN: 978-0-8028-5433-9 Ages 7 and up On shelves now International children’s authors are great. They’re just not particularly well known in America. There are various reasons for this. Some of it has […]
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 […]
The Simples Love a Picnic By J.C. Phillipps Houghton Mifflin Harcourt $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-544-16667-7 Ages 3-7 On shelves now I am on a mission. A quest. A journey to find the funniest picture books published for children in a given year. It isn’t an easy thing to do. First, you have to deal with the […]
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, […]