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)

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)

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 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).

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 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

I'm over the Moon!

Okay, not really, but I just finished talking with Buzz Aldrin, who really has been over--and on--the Moon. How cool is that? I was interviewing him for the upcoming issue of Notes from the Horn Book, wherein we feature his and Wendell Minor's Look to the Stars.

Everybody has something that will get them talking, and for Mr. Aldrin it was SCUBA-diving.

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.

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).

Star bar

My favorite curmudgeonly critic Norman Lebrecht offers his point of view about the ever-increasing trend toward using stars as critical shorthand:

Of all the devices that devalue the function of criticism, the bar of stars is among the most pernicious. It suggests that artistic creation can be ticked off like a school essay and subjected to a set of SATs, in which the individual, expert guidance of teachers and examiners is set aside for the one-rule-fits-all solution of 21st century politicians.

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 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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Place your bets!

The Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards committee is beginning its round of in-person debate tomorrow, and I'll be able to share the names of the winners with you next week. Any guesses? The awards frequently surprise me, as my involvement with the choices ends with selecting the judges and I'm not privy to their discussions. Because the award's year begins on June 1, it straddles the eligibility frames of the calendar year awards such as the Newbery and Caldecott, and can thus both affirm (or not) and predict (or not) what those awards did or will do. Dates aside, the BGHB awards aren't really comparable with the ALA awards, though, because the criteria are markedly different: fiction, nonfiction, and picture books are judged separately (poetry can fall into any and all of these categories); picture books are for both art and text (and illustrator and author); and books originally published in another country and then republished in the States are eligible. Any guesses?

We also had our July/August star meeting today. Those choices will be yours within a couple of days. Let's just say it was lively.

May/June '07 Stars

Here are the books receiving starred reviews in the May/June '07 issue of the Horn Book Magazine:

Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature (St. Martin's) by Linda Lear

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County
(Kroupa/Farrar) written by Janice N. Harrington, illustrated by Shelley Jackson

Who's Hiding?
(Kane/Miller) written and illustrated by Satoru Onishi

Pictures from Our Vacation
(Greenwillow) written and illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins

Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories
(Porter/Roaring Brook) written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

One Whole and Perfect Day
(Front Street) by Judith Clarke

The Red Shoe
(Porter/Roaring Brook) by Ursula Dubosarsky

The Wolf
(Front Street) by Steven Herrick

Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings
(Harcourt) written and illustrated by Douglas Florian

The Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr
(Groundwood) written and illustrated by Nicolas Debon

Dogs and Cats
(Houghton) written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins