MORE 'BEST-BOOKS-OF-2020' POSTS
Sharp and smart. Kind and caustic. Occasionally acidic, but in a nice way, today's review is of the kind of book that wakes up dreamy readers and forces the darned kids to think a little. Precisely what we would have all been waiting for, had we but known to want it.
Right now, in the Spring, when the world seems scary, this may be the comforting book about what’s beyond our back doors that we all need right now.
Behold a story that runs, caterwauls, spies, sneaks, rides, and generally has a wonderful time. This is a book I can’t show my colleagues at work because my 8-year-old won’t let it out of her sight. A fairly high bit of praise, if I do say so myself.
I've read snail picture books before, but few have plumbed their humor quite as well as Tabor has in "Snail Crossing". Less a story of persistence than a lesson in karma, this may well be the first snail-adjacent picture book that has ever made me AND my kids laugh out loud for long periods of time. I can think of not better praise than that.
I’ve no doubt that there will be plenty of folks out there that take one look at its simple cover, flip through, scoff, and set it down. More fool they. If you want a book that gives your children raw, unblemished poetry in a form they CAN’T understand and love NOT understanding, this is the book for them.
No series of rote facts, Overground Railroad puts you in the shoes of the ordinary people that had to leave everything and everyone they knew in search of a better life. Historical events like The Great Migration are vague. This book hands young readers not just specifics. It hands them people they can get to know and care about.
Great writing for kids, when you encounter it, reminds you that there is always a new way to look at this old, familiar world of ours. If you buy only one bee book for the rest of your life, make it this one.
Today's list consists of all the 2020 comics I've seen so far that made me inordinately happy. Please note that a lot of these aren't out quite yet. Consider them something to look forward to then.
Hand this to the kid that yearns for that freedom. For wide-open spaces and mysterious figures hiding in the shadows and snot nosed brothers and lots and lots of puppies. Hand it to someone who needs their own mountain. Even if it’s just a literary one.
Taking a common hand rhyme and turning it into a story with a satisfying plot would be a difficult challenge for anyone but for Ms. Carmen Agra Deedy's Rita & Ralph's Rotten Day it’s a breeze. A marvelous addition to any storytime roster, no matter where you are.