MORE 'REVIEWS' POSTS
With Halloween nigh, I hereby dedicate this week to Halloween-related postings. Reviews, news items, the whole kerschmozzle. It’s a spooky time of year, so let’s get a couple good spooky books on the shelves. Here’s today’s contribution. The Scary States of America By Michael Teitelbaum Delacorte Books (Random House imprint) $7.99 ISBN: 978-0385733311 Ages 10 […]
First Light By Rebecca Stead Wendy Lamb Books (Random House imprint) $15.99 ISBN: 978-0375840173 For Ages 9 and up On shelves now Sometimes I stop myself in the middle of the day and think random thoughts. Thoughts like, "Why am I so freaked out by pigeons with deformed feet?" or, "Is there a logical reason […]
(CONTINUED FROM PART ONE) There were a couple problems here and there, of course. For example, I did feel that there was some difficulty in this book when it came to separating names of characters. Particularly characters of the dog-like persuasion. In Gracehope the dogs, or Chikchu, are special companions to the humans. Each person […]
Grumpy Bird By Jeremy Tankard Scholastic Press $12.99 ISBN 978-0439851473 Ages 4-8 On shelves now Grumpy Bird and me, we got off to a rough start. I first laid eye on the impossibly irritable fowl one day while traipsing about a local bookstore. There on an upper shelf sat, “Grumpy Bird”. He was grumpy. He […]
The Aurora County All-Stars By Deborah Wiles Harcourt, Inc. $16.00 Ages 8-12 On shelves now Idolizing an author, any author, does no one any good. The reader who expects only pearls of infinite wisdom to drop from the fingertips of their self-appointed god too soon finds that most writers are only human in the end. […]
(CONTINUED FROM PART ONE) Don’t get me wrong. There were things I liked in the book as well. I imagine the character of House being played by a twelve-year-old Gary Cooper. House has the same good-hearted reticence as Cooper, complete with strong short sentences and a kind of basic decency you look for in an […]
Little Skink’s Tail By Janet Halfmann Illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein Sylvan Dell Publishing $15.95 ISBN: 978-0976882381 Ages 4-8 On shelves now The skink does not often get its due. Here you have an animal that can remove its own tail and grow it back again, yet how much cred does it get in the […]
I Am Not Joey Pigza By Jack Gantos Farrar, Straus & Giroux (an imprint of Macmillan) $16.00 ISBN: 978-0374399412 Ages 11 and up On shelves now A good author has the ability to piss off their fans. Pissing off fans is a delicate art, though. On the one hand, if you can emotionally engage your […]
A Coyote Columbus Story By Thomas King Illustrated by William Kent Monkman Groundwood Books $6.95 978-0-88899-830-9 Ages 5 and up On shelves now Happy Fiorello H. LaGuardia Day!* One of the perks that came with attending the Kidlitosphere Conference was free goodies. For example, Ellen Klages was kind enough to hand me The Coyote Road: […]
Town Boy By Lat First Second (an imprint of Roaring Brook) $16.95 ISBN: 978-1596433311 Ages 9 and Up On Shelves Now Last year I went gaga over a Malaysian comic from the seventies. Doesn’t a sentence that like sound cool? Like I’m some kind of obscure comic enthusiast with a penchant for the best overseas […]