Publications about books for children and young adults
It was the little black velvet drawstring purse that caught my eye. The strip of antique-y eyelet cloth on which it sat was a quaint touch, to be sure, but the purse was what beckoned me. The purse, its mysterious contents, and cloth were secured with a black grosgrain ribbon around Holly Black’s newest book, [...]
A blurb on the back of The Pocket Bible Doodle Book (Zonderkidz/Zondervan, January) states, “The story of creation, Noah’s ark, the plagues, and more make this Bible-based collection of doodles fun for everyone.” I can’t decide if I should laugh or be offended—the plagues can be fun? Okay… As the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, [...]
Sharp-eyed intern Jamie caught this gem when opening boxes.
Here’s how K. T. Horning begins her review of The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth in the November/December 2011 Horn Book Magazine: “If ever there were a twentieth-century children’s book that deserved an annotated edition, it’s Juster and Feiffer’s masterpiece, first published fifty years ago.” And what did the Horn Book have to say about said masterpiece [...]
Greenhaven Press publishes an exhaustive number of books about contemporary social problems. Series titles include: At Issue, Issues That Concern You, Social Issues Firsthand, Issues on Trial, Current Controversies, Opposing Viewpoints, Introducing Issues with Opposing Viewpoints, Global Viewpoints, Perspectives on Modern World History, etc. Topics cover everything from teenage pregnancy to drug abuse, human trafficking, [...]
After posting last week about Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer movie tie-in books, I went to see how Judy translated to the big screen. I had already read some less-than-stellar reviews of the movie, and the novelization based on the screenplay didn’t live up to the original nine books. Even these warnings did [...]
While perusing Cliques by Toney Allman, part of Lucent Books’ long-running Hot Topics series for middle-schoolers, I noticed this poor girl, presumably being teased about her hair. “Why is it always the redhead?” thought I. From Anne Shirley (and doesn’t it look like this little lady’s ready to break her slate over somebody’s head?), to [...]
Karl Beckstrand’s bizarrely funny picture book Bad Bananas (Premio, June) shows how good bananas go wrong. Fresh from the grocery store, they’re sweet and “conform nicely to the bunch,” but before you know it they’re “borrowing” the fruit bowl for joyrides and loitering in “dimly lit lunchboxes.” The fair trade and organic labels of their [...]
Higher! Higher! by Charlie Sheen At the playground, young swinger Charlie gets so high that he breaks through Earth’s atmosphere and high-fives a fellow rock star from Mars. Mommy Loves You More than Your Grades (I Promise) by Amy “Tiger Mom” Chua A tiger cub is herded through a jam-packed day of school, homework, violin [...]
