The Classroom Bookshelf
Tag: 2009 reviews
Review of the Day – Dreamdark: Silksinger by Laini Taylor
Dreamdark: Silksinger By Laini Taylor Illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo G.P. Putnam’s Sons (a division of Penguin) $18.99 ISBN: 978-0-399-24631-9 Ages 10 and up On shelves now. There was a boy. He came into my library branch. Couldn’t have been more than ten years of age. A good kid. He knew to come up to […]
Review of the Day: Raiders’ Ransom by Emily Diamand
Raiders’ Ransom By Emily Diamand Scholastic $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-545-14297-7 Ages 10 and up On shelves now Sometimes you just want to read a book that starts off with a bang and then proceeds to run its legs off. A book that’s able to work realistic emotions and characters into a narrative, while also advertising high-concept […]
Review of the Day: Layla’s Head Scarf by Miriam Cohen
Layla’s Head Scarf By Miriam Cohen Illustrated by Ronald Himler Star Bright Books $15.95 ISBN: 978-1059572-177-8 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. Picture books serve all kinds of purposes. Some are meant to entertain. Others to instruct. Some deal with concrete subjects, and others are more emotional. Today I was asked at my library to come […]
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Review of the Day: Big Wolf and Little Wolf by Nadine Brun-Cosme
Big Wolf and Little Wolf By Nadine Brun-Cosme Illustrated by Olivier Tallec Enchanted Lion Books $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-59270-084-4 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. It’s seems strange to say that different countries produce different flavors of children’s literature, but it’s true. The Dutch books feel one way, the Japanese another. And the French books… well, where […]
Reviews of the Day: “Mommy, Mama, and Me” AND “Daddy, Papa, and Me” by Leslea Newman
Daddy, Papa and Me Mommy, Mama, and Me By Leslea Newman Illustrated by Carol Thompson Tricycle Press $7.99 ISBN: 978-1582462639 ISBN: 978-1582462622 Ages 0-2 On shelves now What is the purpose of your average everyday board book? It’s not really a crazy question. In the history of printed literature, board books are relative newcomers. I […]
Review of the Day: The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
The Curious Garden By Peter Brown Little, Brown and Company $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-316-01547-9 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. They say that children’s books are inherently didactic. Particularly those of the picture book variety. There’s an idea that you can’t tell a story to a child without including some of your own personal values in the […]
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Review of the Day – Yummy by Lucy Cousins
I think the lesson of the day here is that I haven’t been giving Lucy Cousins enough credit. While you may not be immediately familiar with her name, you've probably run into Cousins's most famous creation, Maisy, at some point in your travels. Maisy is a mouse. Maisy is cute. Maisy is beloved by the 0-4 set. You haven't lived until you've worked a reference desk where desperate two-year-olds come up to you like knee high zombies demanding, in their too high voices, your entire section of Maisy-related literature. Now because Maisy is so cute and non-threatening I was not initially impressed when I first heard about Yummy. Ms. Cousins wants to try her hand at fairy tales? Fine. It’ll probably be something along the lines of that Mary Engelbreit Nursery Tales collection. An early child introduction to fairy tales but without any of the original violent aspects. A watered down version, I’m sure. Well slap me upside the head and call me Charlie because I could not have been more wrong. Yummy is, if anything, the veritable antithesis to Engelbreit. With a good-natured, downright jovial tone of voice, Lucy Cousins takes old-fashioned stories and makes them as gruesome and funny as she is able.
Review of the Day – Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy
Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet By Alexandra Siy Charlesbridge ISBN: 978-1-57091-462-1 $18.95 Ages 9-12 Sometimes I think that adult authors of children’s non-fiction subjects get so wrapped up in their material that they forget (or, more likely, never knew how) to make the thing they are talking about palatable to kids. Here’s a […]
Review of the Day: Good Egg by Barney Saltzberg
Good Egg By Barney Saltzberg Designed and lettered by Netta Rabin Workman Publishing $9.95 ISBN: 978-0-7611-5406-8 Ages 3-8 On shelves now You know, in the old days a children’s librarian would sooner saw off her right arm than be caught adding a “novelty” book to her children’s room. We are the standard bearers. The folks […]
Review of the Day: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
When You Reach Me By Rebecca Stead Wendy Lamb Books (Random House imprint) $15.99 ISBN: 978-0-385-73742-5 Ages 11-14 I’ve been struggling over how to begin this review. I want to get it exactly right. I want to convey to you precisely what it is that I mean to say. If you’ve read any of my […]
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