Reviews+

Here's SLJ's latest reviews of books for preschool through grade four.

A stand-alone novel based on H.G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau, told from his teen daughter's point of view.

Permanent Record by Leslie Stella. Amazon Children’s Publishing. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: Bud Hess is starting a new school: Magnificat Academy. The official story is to give him a better education than he was getting in public school. The real story is a bit more complicated. It has to do with [...]

Are you a fan of SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books? Do you read adult books and wish there was such a contest for you? Look no further! March may find us still shivering & gloomy in the northeast, but it DOES bring The Morning News Tournament of Books. The TOB kicks off today — [...]

The fourteenth volume of Papercutz’s Smurfs collections introduces a brand-new character into the village, a character who the volume is named after: Baby Smurf. And where, exactly, do baby Smurfs come from? Well, a stork delivers this Baby Smurf, on the night of a blue moon, which cartoonist Peyo’s translated narration assures us is when [...]

Just a quick note of congratulations to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, which was announced as the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction on Thursday. This blog has been a huge supporter of Fountain’s novel, giving it a starred review and naming it one of the best Adult [...]

A couple of summers ago I was invited to visit New Zealand and speak at the SLANZA Conference. I will never forget the warm welcome, the energy, and the passion of the librarians I met in Auckland.  While I was there I toured the National Library of New Zealand and had the pleasure of meeting [...]

For many teens, prom night is the biggest night of their high school lives. There are so many things to think about—what to wear, who to ask, and how it’s all going to fit on a budget. Some things (like who’ll make their entrance in a pink Hummer limo or who’ll be elected prom queen andThe Prom Book king) can’t be planned for, but for everything else, there’s The Prom Book: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need (Zest Books, distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99 paperback; 9781936976287).

The Horror Writers Association have announced the final ballot for the 2012 Bram Stoker Awards. The finalists for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel: Bray, Libba – The Diviners (Little Brown). From my review: “Evie, Evie, Evie. Evie is an interesting girl, throwing herself boldly into the brave new world of the Jazz Age, embracing fashion, [...]