MORE 'BEST-BOOKS-OF-2022' POSTS
Beware the mobs. Beware joining them. Beware and aware of what they’re capable of, and don’t disregard them either. But beware your worst instincts most of all.
What happens when a book takes tall tales and liar’s tales and then ties all of that into some of the finer examples of trash talk and blacktop exaggeration? The Legend of Gravity by Charly Palmer is that link.
The Lock-Eater is a marvelous example of how you may render old ideas new, if only you’ve the ability to combine smart, timely writing with the current zeitgeist. Our kids are lucky they get to tap into books like this. Let’s hope for more of the same.
“Maybe because blue has such a complicated history of pain, wealth, invention, and recovery, it’s become a symbol of possibility, as vast and deep as the bluest sea, and as wide open and high as the bluest sky.” I consider a truly gorgeous bit of picture book history in the magnificently written and illustrated BLUE.
Utterly carefree and ridiculous, this is a book that never takes itself too seriously. Which, naturally, means that I’m about to.
"...it’s a story I’ve lived, of being a kid and having this moment in your life where you are suspended in the air for maybe just a few hours, surrounded by a group of strangers, but your life is going to be completely different after." We're talking on the blog today with Lourdes Heuer about her latest picture book ON THIS AIRPLANE.
Read the plot of Kick Push on paper and it sounds like something you’ve seen a hundred times before. Read the actual book and there’s nothing to compare.
I review the latest from Kyle Lukoff and, yes, there will be spoilers. A brave title for a time when we need brave books for kids more than ever.
Today we consider a picture book that will convince you that while the state of the world may go up in flames shortly, at least the state of some contemporary and current picture books is just fine.
It is the easiest thing in the world to write a mediocre picture book biography. Writing one that’s as good as Out of the Shadows, that knows precisely where to cut the story, how to present the art, and then allows you to fall in love with the subject? Such books are uncommon little gems.