MORE '2014-REVIEWS' POSTS
The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza By James Kochalka First Second (an imprint of Roaring Brook) $17.99 ISBN: 978-1626721036 Ages 7-11 On shelves now James Kochalka has always had a penchant for the outright silly. If nothing else his Johnny Boo series of books have said as much. He’s not afraid to go for the […]
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, […]
Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems Selected by Paul B. Janeczko Illustrated by Melissa Sweet Candlewick Press $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-4842-8 Ages 4-8 On shelves now Is reviewing works of poetry essentially a ridiculous thing to attempt? I’m not trying to be facetious or anything, I honestly want to know. It took me a […]
The Night Gardener By Jonathan Auxier Illustrated by Patrick Arrasmith Amulet Books (an imprint of Abrams) $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-4197-1144-2 Ages 10 and up On shelves May 20th For whatever reason, 2014 is a dark year in children’s middle grade fiction. I speak from experience. Fantasy in particular has been steeped in a kind of thoughtful […]
Sparky! By Jenny Offill Illustrated by Chris Appelhans Schwartz & Wade (an imprint of Random House) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-87023-1 Ages 4-8 On shelves March 11th The sloth is not a noble animal. Few people spend time contemplating their heroic qualities and distinguished countenances. Had I an Oxford English Dictionary on hand I’d be mighty interested […]
The Griffin and the Dinosaur: How Adrienne Mayor Discovered a Fascinating Link Between Myth and Science By Marc Aronson with Adrienne Mayor Illustrated by Chris Muller National Geographic $18.99 ISBN: 978-1-4263-1108-6 Ages 9-12 On shelves April 8th. I remember back in 2007 when the American Museum of Natural History in NYC premiered a show called […]
Nightingale’s Nest By Nikki Loftin Razorbill (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISNB: 978-1-59514-546-8 Ages 10-14 On shelves now. Magical realism in children’s novels is a rarity. It’s not unheard of, but when children’s authors want fantasy, they write fantasy. When they want reality, they write reality. A potentially uncomfortable mix of the two is harder […]