March/April Horn Book Magazine

The March/April issue of the Horn Book Magazine, dedicated to Katherine Paterson, is now out and, selectively, up.

An editorial query

For an upcoming article, we need to compile a list of children's and YA authors and illustrators, living or dead, who are/were vegetarians (don't ask; just subscribe!). Can anyone point me to any such verifiable persons?

March/April starred reviews

The following books will receive starred reviews in the March-April issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

My Garden, by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow)
Once by Morris Gleitzman (Holt)
Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs by Ron Koertge (Candlewick)
The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan; illus. by Peter Sís (Scholastic)
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (Roaring Brook)
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork (Levine/Scholastic)
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad/HarperCollins)
Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer; illus. by Josée Masse (Dutton)

The new look . . .

. . . of the Horn Book Magazine. I've been getting some complimentary emails but am wondering what you all think, especially since we are still tinkering.

January-February starred reviews

The following books will receive starred reviews in the January-February issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

Incarceron; by Catherine Fisher (Dial)

Salt; by Maurice Gee (Orca)

Half-Minute Horrors; edited by Susan Rich (HarperCollins)

A Faraway Island; by Annika Thor (Delacorte)

The Champion of Children: The Story of Janusz Korczak; by Tomek Bogacki (Foster/Farrar)

An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers; by Natasha Wing, illus. by Julia Breckenreid (Holt)

Step away from the bar, ladies

So SLJ is in trouble with some of its readers over their cover photo of some boozin' bloggers. Honestly, you never know what's going to bring in complaints--and Letters to the Editor are far more frequently objections than compliments. As Monica Edinger (first reprobate to the left) points out, you might expect objections to the Sex and the City cast of the cast (all good-lookin' white girls) but who expected this? And too often, when you want to start a discussion--as I did with the Nikki Grimes article about black people and the Caldecott Medal--you get zip.

But here is one of the treasures from our archive, ripped from a subscriber's magazine, label carefully removed (coward), and mailed to me in an anonymous envelope:

Still to Come, My Pretties

Beavering away here at our Fanfare list, which will be announced FIRST in Notes from the Horn Book, so sign up, you slugs. And we--that is, Lolly, mostly--are finishing up the January issue in glamtaborous full color and new features. Lolly has really knocked herself out working on it and the editorial staff has given her plenty of good stuff to design. Right now I am at the point in my editorial where I have to makes choices between things like " . . . the Horn Book" and " . . . The Horn Book." And how is your day?

Years before I had this job, I remember listening to Anita Silvey worry over writing the HB editorial and while I made all the polite responses, inside I was thinking really, how bad could it be? It's only six times a year. I have apologized to Anita for this, publicly and in my head, many, many times in the last fifteen years.

Why Such a Lonely Beach?

The new issue of the Magazine is out (with a cover by Lane Smith that makes me want to watch Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol immediately). You can see the table of contents with links to selected reviews (holiday books!) and articles (fan fiction!) right over here.

How many words would it take?

Inspired by our Martha, Jonathan Hunt has a good post up over at Heavy Medal about the possibility of a picture book ever winning the Newbery Medal.

November-December Stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the November-December 09 issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

Imogene’s Last Stand (Schwartz & Wade/Random) written by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

The Lion & the Mouse (Little) illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

War Games (Random) by Audrey Couloumbis and Akila Couloumbis

Crossing Stones (Foster/Farrar) by Helen Frost

The Storm in the Barn (Candlewick) written and illustrated by Matt Phelan

The Great Death (Holt) by John Smelcer

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have (Egmont) by Allen Zadoff

The Mitten (Scholastic) retold by Jim Aylesworth, illustrated by Barbara McClintock

Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal (Carolrhoda) written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary (Viking) by Elizabeth Partridge

September October Horn Book Magazine

The September/October special issue is out. Trouble is its theme and we've posted a few of its articles, including Betsy Hearne's topic-setting "Nobody Knows . . ." on the website. Take a look.

It's Not How Long You Make It, Is It?

A tangential question that came up when we were discussing digital review copies made me pull out my calculator. How much longer are books getting?

I compared fiction for ages 12 and up reviewed in the Magazine in the September issues of 2009, 1999, 1989 and 1979 (October issue; we were on a different schedule then).

Average number of pages in books for teens reviewed in 1979: 151
1989: 157
1999: 233
2009: 337

Now, part of this is the current preponderance of fantasy, which has always tended to run longer--the longest book reviewed in the '79 issue was Robert Westall's (fabulous) Devil on the Road, at 245pp. But when I took fantasy and sf out of the 2009 sample, I still came up with 280 pp. average for realistic YA fiction, almost twice as long as it was thirty years ago.

The success of Harry Potter must take some of the heat for this; another factor could be that YA has gotten older: there is much more published for older high school students than there was even ten years ago. Plus, realistic YA seems more character-driven than it used to be in the old problem novel days, and while this has given the genre undeniable depths, it may also have encouraged a certain amount of yammering on. And people are also blaming the nexus of word-processing, larger lists, and smaller editorial staffs combining to mean less pruning. What else? I suppose we have to consider the possibility that the current crop of Horn Book editors and reviewers likes longer books, but surely you know us better than that.

Happy to help!

M.T. Anderson tipped me to this thoughtful NYT piece about the state of trade books in the classroom (wow, that phrase sounds as antiquated as whole language) and the fact that the Horn Book gets a shout out on the third page. We are of course always gratified when teachers find us helpful in their work, but the fact that a student found us so . . . well, there are no words.

September/October Stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the September/October issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

All the World written by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee (Beach Lane/Simon).

Fire by Kristin Cashore (Dial).

The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge (Bowen/HarperCollins).

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters written by Lenore Look, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (Schwartz & Wade/Random).

T-Minus: The Race to the Moon written by Jim Ottaviani, illustrated by Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon (Aladdin/Simon).

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck (Dial).

Thumb and the Bad Guys written by Ken Roberts, illustrated by Leanne Franson (Groundwood).

Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) written by Lisa Yee, illustrated by Dan Santat (Levine/Scholastic).

The Frog Scientist written by Pamela S. Turner, illustrated with photos by Andy Comins (Houghton).

Not to mention the flaming cheese. Opa!

Back from ALA but barely. Returned to Boston Tuesday evening then spent Wednesday on the phone for a Horn Book board meeting; faced today with two hundred pages of Guide editing and my Simmons class coming over to talk about reviewing in situ. It was a great conference--the author interviews went very well despite some problems with the sound system and Katrina was a selling demonette. Saw lots of old friends (including one I hadn't seen in thirty years, only at ALA via her library-architect girlfriend) and made plenty of new ones, too. Nikki Grimes's Horn Book article started kicking up a fuss on Monday when we published the new issue, and I hope the conversation continues. More later, with photos.

July Notes

The latest Notes from the Horn Book is out, with an interview with Rebecca Stead; four more great books about New York City; summer reading for middle-schoolers; picture books about food; and a tip of the hat to the Coretta Scott King Awards, celebrating their fortieth birthday this year.

In a first, you will find the CSK acceptance speeches in the July issue of the Magazine but DON'T LOOK YET, as it cannot be published until Monday, after the Newbery and Caldecott speeches are given at ALA in Chicago. I'm told you can get a copy hot off the presses at our booth (#2259) that day if you sign over your first-born or sign up for a subscription.

The Twits

I'm currently experimenting with Twitter as @Hornbook. Have already been asked by one user if our site is "SFW," given our salacious name, I suppose. If you're on there, say hello.

In between twats I and the other Mag editors have been beavering away at the September special issue, theme song "Trouble." It's gonna be great--cover by Harry Bliss and articles by Betsy Hearne (Fifty years of children's book trouble), Pat Scales (What Makes a Good Banned Book), Susan Patron ("Why didn't I get in trouble that time I used uterus?"), Stephen Roxburgh (how much trouble could Roald Dahl be?), Marc Aronson (authors versus the internet), Leonard Marcus (interviewing Jean Feiwel, who brought you Goosebumps) and much more. Stay tuned!

July-August stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the July-August Horn Book Magazine:

Thunder-Boomer! (Clarion) written by Shutta Crum, illustrated by Carol Thompson
Machines Go to Work (Holt) written and illustrated by William Low
The Sleepy Little Alphabet: A Bedtime Story from Alphabet Town (Knopf) written by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
When You Reach Me (Lamb/Random) by Rebecca Stead
The Eternal Smile (First Second/Roaring Brook) written by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Derek Kirk Kim
Sky Magic (Dutton) selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Mariusz Stawarski
Mission Control, This Is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon (Viking) written by Andrew Chaikin and Victoria Kohl, illustrated by Alan Bean

May/June Horn Book Magazine

The May/June issue is out, bedecked with a pastelly portrait of Frances the badger digging into her bread and jam. Along with the articles you can read online--an interview with Sarah Dessen, Jack Gantos on booze and books, Janet Hamilton on science books--the print edition includes an essay by Linda Sue Park about food, glorious food in children's books with associated anecdotes by Lynne Rae Perkins and Peter Sis and a heartbreaking poem by Arnold Adoff; Lizza Aiken writing about her mother Joan; and writer Debby Dahl Edwardson on what raising children in the Arctic taught her about the who-can-write-what-about-whom debates. Caldecott Honor winner (and once co-conspirator with me in creating the perfect birthday present for Elizabeth) Melissa Sweet contributes the Cadenza, "4 p.m." Subscribe, already.

A belated secret message

To the person who mailed us an anonymous submission in response to my query for suggestions for changes to the Horn Book Magazine: while we could, if warranted, publish an article by an Anonymous, we would need to verify who you are before doing so. But I do thank you for the very helpful thoughts.

Anyone else?

May/June stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the May/June issue of The Horn Book Magazine:

Not All Animals Are Blue (Kane/Miller) written and illustrated by Béatrice Boutignon

Tacky Goes to Camp (Houghton) written by Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger

Bubble Trouble (Clarion) written by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Hook (Porter/Roaring Brook) written and illustrated by Ed Young

A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson (HarperTeen) by Barbara Dana

The Carbon Diaries 2015 (Holiday) by Saci Lloyd

Hannah’s Winter (Kane/Miller) by Kierin Meehan

Heart of a Shepherd (Random) by Rosanne Parry

The Uninvited (Candlewick) by Tim Wynne-Jones

Button Up!: Wrinkled Rhymes (Harcourt) written by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Petra Mathers

Redwoods (Porter/Roaring Brook) by Jason Chin

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (Jackson/Atheneum) by Brian Floca

The Rights of the Reader (Candlewick) written by Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake, translated from the French by Sarah Adams

March Notes

The latest issue of Notes from the Horn Book should or could be in your inbox now. Bon appetit, he says, already deep into laying out the May Magazine, which features an essay about food (and a recipe) by Linda Sue Park along with madeleines from Arnolf Adoff, Jack Gantos, Lynne Rae Perkins and Peter Sis.

Go Outside!

I wish I could, but in the meantime here's Claire's latest booklist, The Great Outdoors. Look forward, too, to the next issue of Notes, in which I get the lowdown from Mo Willems about playing outside.

We're undergoing construction in the office starting Monday, and while the Magazine editorial space gets reconfigured, Claire and I are going to be roommates. I hope she doesn't snore.

March/April 2009 Horn Book Magazine

The Horn Book has a snow day today but our latest issue is out and, partly, up. We've posted an intelligently bristling argument from Farah Mendlesohn what's wrong with contemporary YA SF as well as veteran Joanna Rudge Long's thoughts on what to look for in a "Three Little Pigs." The print Magazine also includes Susan Fletcher's moving account of her epistolary friendship with Elvand, an Iranian writer and translator and we solicited stories of similar friendships from a handful of other authors for children. Catherine Murdock weighs in on the absence of mothers in children's books--it's A Good Thing--and Elizabeth Wein looks back in time. In better bookstores, bathrooms, and libraries now (or soon).

January/February Stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the January/February issue of The Horn Book Magazine:

The Tale of Two Mice (Candlewick) written and illustrated by Ruth Brown
Quinito, Day and Night / Quinito, día y noche (Children’s Book Press) written by Ina Cumpiano, illustrated by José Ramírez
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes (Harcourt) written by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Little Panda (Houghton) written and illustrated by Renata Liwska
Ways to Live Forever (Levine/Scholastic) by Sally Nicholls
Heroes of the Valley (Hyperion) by Jonathan Stroud
Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered (Feiwel) written by Barry Denenberg, illustrated by Christopher Bing
Christo and Jean-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond (Flash Point/Roaring Brook) by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan
Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith (Holt) by Deborah Heiligman


Let me particularly commend your attention to the last, Charles and Emma, which wins my personal award for Book Least Likely to Capture My Interest but Did. I'm thinking it might make a nice retirement gift for the soon-to-be-former First Couple.

So You Don't Have To

Rachel watches the web for pertinent links to articles in the current issue of the Horn Book Magazine. Abe and Mary Todd on Facebook, even.

November/December Horn Book Magazine

The new issue is wending its way to your mailbox and we've posted selected excerpts online, including a three-way take on e-books and our annual list of the best holiday books. Does this mean I can finally start listening to Christmas carols?

November/December 08 stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the November/December issue of the Horn Book Magazine.

The Pencil written by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman (Candlewick).

Old Bear written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow).

Who Made This Cake? written by Chihiro Nakagawa, illustrated by Junji Koyose (Front Street).

The Graveyard Book written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean (HarperCollins).

Rapunzel’s Revenge written by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale (Bloomsbury).

Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve (Scholastic).

There’s A Wolf at the Door written by Zoë B. Alley, illustrated by R. W. Alley (Porter/Roaring Brook).

The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade/Random).

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out (Candlewick).

She's got her eye on you.

Legendary huntress Rachel Smith again stalks the series of tubes to bring you some web content that goes down great with the latest issue of the Horn Book Magazine.

Making connections

between the July-August issue of the Horn Book Magazine and the wild reaches of the world wide web, Rachel Smith offers the latest Web Watch.

September/October starred books

The following books will receive starred reviews in the September/October issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

Traction Man Meets Turbodog (Knopf) written and illustrated by Mini Grey
Ghosts in the House (Roaring Brook) written and illustrated by Kazuno Kohara
The Cardboard Piano (Greenwillow) written and illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins
Dinosaur vs. Bedtime (Hyperion) written and illustrated by Bob Shea
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves (Candlewick) by M. T. Anderson
The Hunger Games (Scholastic) by Suzanne Collins
Tender Morsels (Knopf) by Margo Lanagan
Nation (HarperCollins) by Terry Pratchett
All Stations! Distress!: April 15, 1912: The Day the Titanic Sank (Flash Point/Roaring Brook) written and illustrated by Don Brown
The Way We Work (Lorraine/Houghton) written and illustrated by David Macaulay

July/August Horn Book Magazine

Get your collector's edition now! While the limitations of technology (and the absence of a thrilling soundtrack and a screaming crowd) means that the tour de force with which Brian Selznick opened his Caldecott speech won't have quite the same effect on paper, those same images can still be yours for as long as the acid-free paper holds out. Likewise, you won't get the same dramatic impact of Laura Amy Schlitz's bravura performance, but you will get every single word she rather breathtakingly memorized for a notes- or paper-free delivery. (As I've noticed about prior speeches, the thing on the page can be astoundingly different from the thing as written--what drew laughs in Schlitz's speech Sunday night often provokes a more meditative response in print.)

You will only find the speeches in the printed Magazine, (which can be ordered from khedeen at hbookdotcom) but we have uploaded a selection of other articles, including profiles of Selznick and Schlitz by their editors, Simmons prof Amy Pattee on Sweet Valley High (and reflections by several authors on their own adolescent "guilty pleasure" reading) and my editorial on just why Newbery girls and the swingin' teens of Sweet Valley are sisters under the skin.

Tasha Tudor

I met her once--she was holding court at a Little, Brown party at an ALA, dressed to the nines in an old-fashioned gown and lace in her hair, seated regally in a wing chair while we gathered at her feet. We commemorate her passing with an article she wrote for the Horn Book more than sixty years ago.

Web Watch June '08

Rachel's latest edition of Web Watch, our online feature which links content from around the Internet with the books, authors and topics featured in the latest issue of the Horn Book Magazine, is up.

July/August 08 stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the July/August issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

Minders of Make-Believe (Houghton) by Leonard Marcus

Little Brother (Tor) by Cory Doctorow

Well Witched (HarperCollins) by Frances Hardinge

Would You (Lamb/Random) by Marthe Jocelyn

Skim (Groundwood) written by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki

Way Up and Over Everything (Houghton) written by Alice McGill, illustrated by Jude Daly

Duel!: Burr and Hamilton’s Deadly War of Words (Walker) written by Dennis Brindell Fradin, illustrated by Larry Day

No Choirboy (Holt) by Susan Kuklin

Lady Liberty: A Biography (Candlewick) written by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Matt Tavares

Craigslist or Freaky Friday?

Missed Connections: leaving Stony Brook station around 6:00 PM yesterday. Me, tall middle-aged man in a bowtie listening to iPod. You, medium-height young woman reading the Horn Book.

Any authors out there ever similarly catch a reader unawares?

May/June 08 Horn Book Magazine

should be winging its way to you; in the meantime, we have posted some appetizers on our site.

May/June Stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the May/June issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

The London Eye Mystery (Fickling/Random) by Siobhan Dowd

Forever Rose (McElderry) by Hilary McKay

Princess Ben (Houghton) by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Sunrise over Fallujah (Scholastic) by Walter Dean Myers

The Last of the High Kings (Greenwillow) by Kate Thomspon

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball (Jump at the Sun/Hyperion) written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

March/April 08 Horn Book

The new issue of the Horn Book is out; online articles include Lolly Robinson's guide to alphabet books and Madelyn Travis's profile of Michael Rosen (the British one), including a gorgeous poem of his about reading:

. . . Some of these things
you may have never seen before.
But now you know them.
Some are as familiar to you as potatoes.
But these potatoes are different.

There's much more in the print edition, including a fascinating oral-history portrait of Ursula Nordstom compiled by Leonard S. Marcus from interviews he did with Nordstrom's writers and colleagues. As a companion (although she would probably sniff to see what company we're putting her in), we've resurrected the equally legendary Edna Albertson and the rejection letters that made generations of authors shake in their shoes. Save yourself from Edna's scorn and read all the web extras.

People Lust for Fame Like Athletes in a Game

Is or is not "Stars" the most lugubrious song Janis Ian ever wrote? And that is saying a lot.

In either event, here are the starred books from the March/April Horn Book Magazine:

Dog and Bear: Two’s Company (Porter/Roaring Brook) written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Rex Zero, King of Nothing (Kroupa/Farrar) by Tim Wynne-Jones

On the Farm (Candlewick) written by David Elliott, illustrated by Holly Meade

Frogs (Scholastic) written and illustrated with photos by Nic Bishop

Spiders (Scholastic) written and illustrated with photos by Nic Bishop

What To Do about Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy (Scholastic) written by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City (Knopf) written by Janet Schulman, illustrated by Meilo So

If you're in need of a sign of spring, go with Pale Male, one of my favorite books thus far this year. It makes you want to take a walk in the park with Janet Schulman (who I never thought of as a walk-in-the-park kind of gal) and Meilo So's watercolors have never been so rich.

January/February '08 Horn Book Magazine

is out, and the table of contents with links to selected features is up on our site.

December Web Watching

Zoe's been at it again.

Update: and Claire kicks off a new occasional series of booklists about world religions with one on Islam.

Fanfare 2007

is up for your reading pleasure. This list will be published in the January/February issue of the Horn Book Magazine.

Starred Books, January/February '08 Horn Book

The following books will receive starred reviews in the January/February issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

Becca at Sea (Groundwood) by Deirdre Baker

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You (Foster/Farrar) by Peter Cameron

How the Hangman Lost His Heart (Walker) by K. M. Grant

Jabberwocky (Jump/Hyperion) illustrated by Christopher Myers

When Fish Got Feet, Sharks Got Teeth, and Bugs Began to Swarm: A Cartoon Prehistory of Life Long Before Dinosaurs (National Geographic) written and illustrated by Hannah Bonner

Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas (Clarion) by Russell Freedman

War in the Middle East: A Reporter’s Story (Candlewick) by Wilborn Hampton

The Nov/Dec 2007 Horn Book Magazine

is out and we've posted some selections on our website along with a nifty bunch of web extras (who knew Astrid Lindgren could be such a . . . oh, go look for yourself and fill in the blank).

And that Christmassy cover of Olivia is giving me complete permission to ramp up the carols on Miss Pod. A great way to get into the seasonal spirit: try singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun."

Merriman is gay?

Oops, wrong fantasy*. But in honor of the upcoming extravaganza with Susan Cooper and Gregory Maguire, Kitty and Claire have put online some of the Horn Book Magazine's finest fantasy articles, including Susan Cooper on Tolkien and Tom's Midnight Garden, Gregory Maguire on Philip Pullman, Philip Pullman on The Republic of Heaven, and several more esteemed writers on the whole doom-and-unicorns shebang. They won't be up forever, so read 'em now.

*But I still maintain that, in Susan Cooper's time fantasy King of Shadows, young hero Nat and the Bard of Avon totally had it going on, if you know what I'm saying.

Read Zoe

Our new Web Watcher. This month, she's found lots 'o links for our special issue on Boys and Girls.

November-December stars

Kitty here. While Roger is communing with ISBNs in VT and Blogger is currently cooperating, I'm happy to present you with a list of the books that will receive starred reviews in the November-December issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

Picture books:

On Angel Wings (Candlewick) written by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Quentin Blake
First the Egg (Porter/Roaring Brook) written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
The Arrival (Levine/Scholastic) illustrated by Shaun Tan

Fiction:

Little Rat Makes Music (Harcourt) written by Monika Bang-Campbell, illustrated by Molly Bang
Being Bee (Holiday) by Catherine Bateson
Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic) by Christopher Paul Curtis
Passion and Poison: Tales of Shapeshifters, Ghosts, and Spirited Women (Cavendish) written by Janice M. del Negro, illustrated by Vince Natale
Red Spikes (Knopf) by Margo Lanagan

Folklore and Poetry:

The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm (Candlewick) retold by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrated by Max Grafe
Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose (Harcourt) selected and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon

Nonfiction:

Whale Port (Lorraine/Houghton) written by Mark Foster, illustrated by Gerald Foster

Hear Us Roar

The inaugural Horn Book Podcast is up for your listening pleasure. Lolly is setting it up with iTunes so you'll be able to subscribe; for now, go to the podcast page on our site to hear my interview with Jon Scieszka.

I interviewed Jon for our special September issue, Boys and Girls. That too is now just out and you can see the table of contents here and web extras here. I think this is one of the best issues we've done.

September-October stars

The following books will receive starred reviews in the (jumbo-sized special issue) September-October issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

At Night (Farrar) written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean
Cowboy & Octopus (Viking) written by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith
The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio (Holt) by Lloyd Alexander
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little) written by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Ellen Forney
Mistik Lake (Kroupa/Farrar) by Martha Brooks
A Darkling Plain (Eos/HarperCollins) by Philip Reeve
Aunt Nancy and the Bothersome Visitors (Candlewick) written by Phyllis Root, illustrated by David Parkins
The Wall: Growing Up behind the Iron Curtain (Foster/Farrar) written and illustrated by Peter Sís

Wanna get spoiled?

Actually, she doesn't give all that much away, but Claire Gross' review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is up. The review will appear in the September/October issue of the Horn Book Magazine.

July/August '07 Horn Book

The July-August issue of the Horn Book Magazine is out; selected snippets can be found on our website but, c'mon, subscribe already.

Also new: assistant editor cum tea-dumping subversive Claire Gross gets all in the (British) government's face with a reading list of books about the events of 1776.

July/August stars, '07

Reviews of the following books will be starred in the July/August issue of the Horn Book Magazine.

Picture Books:

Fred Stays with Me! (Little) written by Nancy Coffelt, illustrated by Tricia Tusa
Orange Pear Apple Bear (Simon) written and illustrated by Emily Gravett
Follow the Line through the House (Viking) written and illustrated by Laura Ljungkvist
Starring Miss Darlene (Porter/Roaring Brook) written and illustrated by Amy Schwartz

Fiction:

Jack Plank Tells Tales (di Capua/Scholastic) written and illustrated by Natalie Babbitt
The Plain Janes (Minx/DC Comics) written by Cecil Castellucci, illustrated by Jim Rugg
Pure Spring (Groundwood) by Brian Doyle
The Wednesday Wars (Clarion) by Gary D. Schmidt
The Lion Hunter (Viking) by Elizabeth E. Wein

Nonfiction:

May I Pet Your Dog?: The How-to Guide for Kids Meeting Dogs (and Dogs Meeting Kids) (Clarion) written by Stephanie Calmenson, illustrated by Jan Ormerod
Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale Retold (Houghton) retold and illustrated by James Rumford