Ben Rides On By Matt Davies A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press (an imprint of Macmillan) $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-59643-794-4 Ages 3-7 On shelves now. The cartoonist as great children’s book author is not a given. Consider the sad case of Berkeley Breathed, for example. He achieved levels of unattainable brilliance when he penned Bloom [...]
Review: Dragon Ball 3-in-1 Volume 1
By on August 30, 2013
Son Goku lives alone in the wilds, away from civilization, when he literally runs into Bulma, a girl on her summer vacation, searching for the 7 legendary Dragon Balls. If the balls are found and brought together, the dragon Shenlong will appear and grant one wish. Goku has one of the balls, but he’s not [...]
Review: Pain, Parties, Work
By on August 29, 2013
Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder. HarperCollins. 2013. Personal Copy. Vacation reads — when I review not-teen books that people may be interested in reading! It’s About: In June, 1953, Sylvia Plath was a guest editor for the fashion magazine, Mademoiselle. The guest editor program was prestigious. The [...]
Review: Batman Beyond Universe #1
By on August 28, 2013
Batman Beyond Universe #1 Written by Kyle Higgins and Christos N. Gage Drawn by Thony Silas and Dan Coello DC Comics, $3.99 Rated T, for Teen Of all the Batman animated series to come and go from television since Batman: The Animated Series debuted in 1992, Batman Beyond was the shortest lived, at just 52 [...]
Review of the Day: Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
By on August 28, 2013
Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table By Jacqueline Briggs Martin Illustrated by Eric-Shabazz Larkin Readers to Eaters Books ISBN: 978-0-9836615-3-5 $17.95 Ages 4-8 On shelves September 10th It shouldn’t be this hard. You walk to a biography section of a children’s room, any children’s room, and you start searching for biographies of living people [...]
Review: The Infinite Moment of Us
By on August 27, 2013
The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle. Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams. 2013. Review from ARC from publisher. The Plot: It’s the summer after high school graduation. Wren is a good girl, who has always done the right thing, especially when it comes to her parent’s expectations. Come fall, she’s supposed to be [...]
Review: The Boxcar Children Graphic Novels
By on August 26, 2013
The Boxcar Children Graphic Novels Based on the books by Gertrude Chandler Warner Published by Albert Whitman and Company The Boxcar Children were a beloved children’s series when I was growing up, and these graphic-novel adaptations have a sort of old-fashioned charm to them. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone to update them [...]
Review: The Bear’s Song by Benjamin Chaud
By on August 26, 2013
The Bear’s Song By Benjamin Chaud Chronicle Books ISBN: 9781452114248 $17.99 Grades PreK-1 In Stores September 17, 2013 Find it at: Schuler Books | Your Library *Best New Book* Ah, the element of surprise – of all the weapons at an author’s disposal, surprise is one of the most potent. Originally published in France, The [...]
Review of the Day – Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger
By on August 23, 2013
Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad By Monica Edinger Illustrated by Robert Byrd Candlewick Press $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5038-4 Ages 9-12 On shelves October 8th It’s no secret that nonfiction in children’s literature is the buzzword of the day. Thanks to the rise of interest in the Core Curriculum State Standards, kids are [...]
Flashback August 2008
By on August 23, 2013
And now, a look back at what I reviewed in August 2008: Ten Gallon Bart and the Wild West Show by Susan Stevens Crummel, illustrated by Dorothy Donohue. From my review: “Ten Gallon Bart is bored, and finds excitement in the Wild West Show. Ten Gallon Bart’s dilemma: to be in the Wild West Show, he not only [...]
Review of the Day: Rifka Takes a Bow by Betty Rosenberg Perlov
By on August 21, 2013
Rifka Takes a Bow By Betty Rosenberg Perlov Illustrated by Cosei Kawa Kar-Ben Publishing (a division of Lerner) $17.95 ISBN: 978-0-7613-8127-3 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. History is written by the winners, they say. I’m going to lump personal history into that too. As far as I can tell, if you live long enough to [...]
Summer Reading
By on August 21, 2013
Oh, Summer Reading. Summer is ending and most public library summer reading programs being finished. I’ve read many tweets and posts and articles about Summer Reading Programs and libraries and I’ve just been thinking about it, and SRP in general. Summer Reading Program: one set of words for many different things. Which, you know, sounds [...]
Review: March Book One
By on August 20, 2013
Growing up, I didn’t learn much about the civil rights movement beyond the dates, important events, and of course what was achieved. It was only as a librarian, when I started to delve into the topic so we could share it with our students, that I pored over primary source photos, read news accounts, and [...]
Review: My Friend Dahmer
By on August 20, 2013
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf. Abrams Comic Arts. 2012. Personal copy. Graphic Novel. Alex Award Winner. It’s About: A graphic novel memoir by Derf Backderf, a classmate of Jeffrey Dahmer. This is not the story of a serial killer; it is a look at the childhood and teen years of Jeffrey Dahmer, before his [...]
Review of the Day: God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant
By on August 16, 2013
God Got a Dog By Cynthia Rylant By Marla Frazee Beach Lane Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $17.99 ISBN: 978-1-4424-6518-3 Ages 9 and up On shelves October 29th I’ve been thinking a lot lately about whom children’s books are really for. Kids, obviously. And parents that will have to (hopefully, potentially) read those [...]
Review | Fairy Tale Comics
By on August 15, 2013
Fairy Tale Comics By Graham Annable, Emily Carroll, Gigi D.G., Vanessa Davis, Chris Duffy, Ramona Fradon, Charise Mericle Harper, Brett Helquist, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Karl Kerschl, Joseph Lambert, Bobby London, David Mazzucchelli, Luke Pearson, Jillian Tamaki, Raina Telgemeier, and Craig Thompson Edited by Chris Duffy First Second One of the wonderful things about fairy [...]
Review: Leonard Peacock
By on August 15, 2013
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. Little, Brown. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: It is Leonard Peacock’s birthday. No one remembers. He has wrapped up four gifts, to give to his four best friends. And he is bringing his grandfather’s handgun to school. Today is the day he will shoot Asher [...]
Flashback August 2009
By on August 14, 2013
And now, a look back at what I reviewed in August 2009: Julie & Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell. Little Brown, 2005. Paperback edition renamed Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. From my review: “I really enjoyed Powell’s memoir; what led her to start cooking Julia Child’s book, and to blog about [...]
Review: Spirit and Dust
By on August 13, 2013
Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House. 2013. Review from ARC from publisher. Companion to Texas Gothic (2011). The Plot: Daisy Goodnight is seventeen (so, so close to 18!), a college freshman, and a psychic consultant to the FBI. Yep, that’s right. Daisy, like all the Goodnight women, has a [...]
Review of the Day – Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
By on August 12, 2013
Lockwood & Company: The Screaming Staircase By Jonathan Stroud Hyperion Books for Children $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4231-6491-3 Ages 10 and up On shelves September 17th I’m sick of historical fiction. I’m sick of contemporary fiction. I’m sick of realism and science fiction. Fantasy I watch with a wary eye. I don’t always feel this way but [...]
