Review of Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas

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Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani; illus. by Maris Wicks Middle School, High School     First Second/Roaring Brook     140 pp. 6/13     978-1-59643-865-1     $19.99 A graphic format admirably propels this lightly fictionalized group biography of “Leakey’s Angels”: Jane Goodall (chimps in Rwanda), and Biruté Galdikas (orangutans [...]

My First Day – review of the week from January

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As a past Caldecott honoree, Steve Jenkins will surely be on the committee’s radar this year. Here’s Danielle Ford’s review of the week of his January 2013 book, My First Day.

Catching up

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The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award announcement at BEA this past weekend reminded me that I’ve been remiss posting links to noteworthy picture books featured in our Wednesday Review of the Week. Over the next few days I’ll post links to all the RotW picture books since January, but for today I’d like to celebrate the [...]

Fiction Reviews of 2013 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Winner and Honor Books

Eleanor & Park

Fiction Winner  Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell High School     St. Martin’s Griffin     328 pp. 2/13     978-1-250-01257-9     $18.99 e-book ed.  978-1-250-03121-1     $9.99 It’s the start of a new school year in 1986 Omaha when sophomores Eleanor and Park meet for the first time on the bus. They are an unusual pair: [...]

Picture Book Reviews of 2013 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Winner and Honor Books

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Picture Book Winner  Building Our House by Jonathan Bean; illus. by the author Primary     Farrar     48 pp. 1/13     978-0-374-38023-6     $17.99     g Drawing on childhood memories from his own family’s house construction (see author’s note), Bean creates an engaging story as well as a glimpse into a warm family setting. A little girl narrates, [...]

Nonfiction Reviews of 2013 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Winner and Honor Books

Electric Ben

Nonfiction Winner Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd; illus. by the author Intermediate     Dial     40 pp. 9/12     978-0-8037-3749-5     $17.99 With a jacket showing Benjamin Franklin as a cross between a mad scientist and a superhero standing amid wild lightning bolts and surrounded by all manner of [...]

Starred reviews, July/August Horn Book Magazine

July/August 2013 Horn Book Magazine cover

The following books will receive starred reviews in the July/August issue of The Horn Book Magazine: Flora and the Flamingo; written and illustrated by Molly Idle (Chronicle) Niño Wrestles the World; written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Porter/Roaring Brook ) The Whole Stupid Way We Are; by N. Griffin (Atheneum) The Thing About Luck; by Cynthia Kadohata; illus. by [...]

Eleanor’s Secret app review

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Eleanor’s Secret (2011), adapted by French developer Chocolapps (formerly So Ouat) from an animated film of the same name, is an engaging story about the power of story itself. When elderly Eleanor dies, she leaves her home to their Nathaniel’s family and a Russian doll to his sister Angelica. Nathaniel, to whom Eleanor used to [...]

2013 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature

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Today, at BookExpo America, The Horn Book’s editor in chief Roger Sutton and 2010 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award-winning author Rebecca Stead (When You Reach Me, Random House) announced the 2013 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winners. “The Boston Globe-Horn Book awards have always had an independent spirit and this year is no different,” said Sutton. “Each [...]

Preview July/August 2013 Horn Book Magazine

July/August 2013 Horn Book Magazine cover

Special Issue: Awards Original cover art by 2013 Caldecott Honoree Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Robin L. Smith, coauthor of the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott blog, looks back at the 2013 Caldecott contenders. Jon Klassen’s Caldecott Medal Acceptance speech. Mac Barnett’s profile of his friend and collaborator, Jon Klassen. Horn Book Magazine executive editor Martha V. Parravano’s [...]