And now, a look back at what I reviewed in August 2011: The West Memphis Three: A look at the case includes a brief review of The Devil’s Knot by Mara Leveritt: “filled in a lot about the case and gave much more background and details. It addresses questions such as why Echols was a suspect from [...]
Review: Anna & Froga: I Dunno…What Do You Want to Do?
By on August 6, 2013
Anna & Froga: I Dunno…What Do You Want to Do? By Anouk Ricard Drawn & Quarterly/Enfant, $14.95 In format, the new Anna & Froga book resembles a cross between a children’s picture book and a comic book, with a hard cover, a big, almost 8 x 10 inch size, and captioned, painted illustrations following each [...]
Review: Wise Young Fool
By on August 6, 2013
Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin. Little, Brown. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Ritchie Sudden is locked up for ninety days. He’s about to tell you why he got here. Well, eventually. Ritchie is about to tell you about his senior year. And how he and his best friend, Elliot Hella, started a [...]
Review of the Day: The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
By on August 5, 2013
The Day the Crayons Quit By Drew Daywalt Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers Philomel (an imprint of Penguin) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-399-25537-3 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. It is possible to read too much into a picture book. A funny statement since what were talking about is literature for people who haven’t even seen a decade of [...]
Review: The Lucy Variations
By on August 1, 2013
The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr. Little, Brown. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Eight months ago, Lucy Beck-Moreau stopped playing the piano. Teens do that all the time, right? Except Lucy Beck-Moreau, 16, isn’t your typical teen. She was a concert pianist, who was in Prague for a major event when she [...]
Review: Mad Super Spectacular: Superman, Man of Steel #1
By on July 31, 2013
Written and drawn by The Usual Gang of Idiots DC Comics, $4.99 DC uses the occasion of a release of yet another Superman feature film, the franchise’s sixth, to gather-up and repackage a slew of their previous Superman movie parodies into this themed special that’s cover-to-cover Superman jokes, dating as far back as 1966 and [...]
Review of the Day: Locomotive by Brian Floca
By on July 30, 2013
Locomotive By Brian Floca Atheneum (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $17.99 ISBN: 978-1-4169-9415-2 Ages 4 and up On shelves September 3rd Many childhood obsessions come down to sheer scale. Whether it’s dinosaurs or trucks (the modern, smog belching dinosaur equivalent) or even princesses (adults are large, no matter how you approach them), size matters. [...]
Review: Uses for Boys
By on July 30, 2013
Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt. St. Martin’s Griffin. 2013. The Plot: Slut. That’s the word thrown at Anna. Cutting as a knife. Creating a barrier between herself and the world. Except for the boys. Desmond, Joey, Todd, and the others. Yes, they take something, but they also give her something she needs. Warmth; [...]
Review: The Malevolent Mr. Burns
By on July 29, 2013
The Malevolent Mr. Burns #1 Written by Gail Simone, Ian Boothby, Nathan Kane, Dean Rankine Drawn by Mike Kazaleh, Chris Houghton, Tone Rodriguez, Rankine, Jason Ho and Mike Rote Bongo Comics, $3.99 In its 24 seasons on the air (so far), The Simpsons has gradually generated one of the biggest and richest supporting casts [...]
Review of the Day: The Center of Everything by Linda Urban
By on July 26, 2013
The Center of Everything By Linda Urban Harcourt Children’s Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-547-76348-4 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. There are only two things I require from life: Donuts and good books. Obviously that statement is false, but it sure sounds good. I like donuts. I like good books. And [...]
Guest Post by Beth Bauman
By on July 26, 2013
One of the things I really like New Adult is the conversations it inspires. While I’ve joked about how “sexytimes” figures into whether a book is Young Adult or New Adult, I’m dead serious about young adult books and female sexuality. Want to see me rant? Just drop the s-word when talking about teenage girls. [...]
Review: Fuse
By on July 25, 2013
Fuse: Book 2 of the Pure Trilogy by Julianna Baggott. Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group. 2013. Review copy from conference. Sequel to Pure. Part of my “vacation reads,” books for adults to read during their vacation — hey, it’s summer vacation! Also, this is a sequel to an Alex Award winner; [...]
Flashback July 2008
By on July 24, 2013
Review: Batman ’66 #1
By on July 23, 2013
Batman ’66 #1 Written by Jeff Parker, drawn by Jonathan Case DC Comics, $3.99 Rated E, for Everyone Congratulations, Comic Books! You have apparently finally made it! For years, for decades, for at least a generation, the medium as a whole has been haunted by the success of the campy, comedic 1966-68 Batman TV show, [...]
Review of the Day: Yes, Let’s by Galen Goodwin Longstreth
By on July 23, 2013
Yes, Let’s By Galen Goodwin Longstreth Illustrated by Maris Wicks Tanglewood Publishing $15.95 ISBN: 978-1-933718-87-3 Ages 3-7 On shelves now It’s tempting, when you look at the sheer number of picture books published in a given year, to assume that every topic under the white hot sun has been covered by this point in time. [...]
Review: Plague In The Mirror
By on July 22, 2013
Plague in the Mirror by Deborah Noyes. Candlewick Press. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publishers. The Plot: May is spending the summer in Florence with family friends. It’s not just a great chance to be in Florence, it’s also a way to be away from home, away from Vermont, away from her friends, and away [...]
Review of the Day: Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents by Marilyn Singer
By on July 19, 2013
Rutherford B., Who Was He? Poems About Our Presidents By Marilyn Singer Illustrated by John Hendrix Hyperion Books for Children $17.99 ISBN: 978-142317100-3 Ages 7 and up On shelves December 17th There is a brief moment of doubt when you first cast eyes upon the title of this book. It’s partly the design of the [...]
Review: Dark Triumph
By on July 18, 2013
Dark Triumph: His Fair Assassins, Book II by Robin LaFevers. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Nantes, Brittany, 1489. Lady Sybella is deep in danger and intrigue. Part of it is because she has been trained by the convent of Saint Mortain to be an assassin. Part of it is [...]
Flashback July 2009
By on July 17, 2013
And now, a flashback to what I was reading in July 2009. Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd HerdEdited by Holly Black & Cecil Castellucci. From my review: “In this collection of short stories, we meet all sorts of people who are interested in something to the point of obsession. Interested to the point where it seems [...]
Review: Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
By on July 17, 2013
Star Wars: Jedi Academy By Jeffrey Brown Scholastic ISBN: 9780545505178 $12.99 Grades 3-6 In Stores September, 2013 Find it at: Schuler Books Books with ties to popular television or movie franchises are a dime a dozen. Well, maybe five dollars for 12, but you get the idea. They’re usually pretty straightforward affairs and more often [...]
