All Ears, All Eyes by Richard Jackson; illus. by Katherine Tillotson Preschool, Primary Dlouhy/Atheneum 40 pp. 3/17 978-1-4814-1571-2 $17.99 g e-book ed. 978-1-4814-1572-9 $10.99 “An owl hoots in our dim-dimming woods. / Who-who.” As the sun sets in a forest, viewers must keep their senses alert to catch all the activity in Tillotson’s atmospheric pictures, […]
Review of 5 Little Ducks
July 28, 2017 by Leave a Comment
5 Little Ducks by Denise Fleming; illus. by the author Preschool Beach Lane/Simon 40 pp. 11/16 978-1-4814-2422-6 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-2423-3 $10.99 Listeners familiar with the traditional nursery rhyme and song know the general plotline: every day ducks go out; every day the returning group shrinks by one. But the particulars — highlighted in glorious […]
Review of Are You an Echo?: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko
May 26, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Are You an Echo?: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko poems by Misuzu Kaneko; narrative by David Jacobson; illus. by Toshikado Hajiri; trans. from the Japanese by Sally Ito and Michiko Tsuboi Primary, Intermediate, Middle School Chin Music Press 64 pp. 9/16 978-1-634905-962-6 $19.50 Part biography, part poetry collection, this book introduces Japanese children’s poet […]
A Second Look: The Egypt Game
March 17, 2017 by Leave a Comment
I was in second grade the first time I went to Egypt. Every Friday, I took a bus to another elementary school across town in order to attend a Gifted and Talented Education program. Once a week, I lived a separate school life, at a different campus with a different teacher and different friends. My […]
Kenn Nesbitt on One Minute till Bedtime
March 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment
In our January/February 2017 issue, our editors asked poet and selector Kenn Nesbitt about the wide (and somewhat surprising) range of contributors to his new anthology One Minute till Bedtime. Read the full review. Horn Book editors: Not everyone in the collection is someone you’d necessarily think of as a poet. How did you select […]
Review of One Minute till Bedtime: 60-Second Poems to Send You Off to Sleep
March 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment
One Minute till Bedtime: 60-Second Poems to Send You Off to Sleep selected by Kenn Nesbitt; illus. by Christoph Niemann Preschool, Primary Little, Brown 168 pp. 11/16 978-0-316-34121-9 $19.99 A former Children’s Poet Laureate has compiled over 120 short and engaging poems by an impressive number of today’s children’s writers. Here you won’t find the […]
Review of Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer
March 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer by Diane Stanley; illus. by Jessie Hartland Primary Wiseman/Simon 40 pp. 10/16 978-1-4814-5249-6 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-5250-2 $10.99 Stanley emphasizes Ada Lovelace’s right- and left-brain pedigree (her father, whom she never knew, was the poet Lord Byron; her mother, a scientist and mathematician) beginning with the […]
Review of Ada’s Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World’s First Computer Programmer
March 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Ada’s Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World’s First Computer Programmer by Fiona Robinson; illus. by the author Primary Abrams 40 pp. 8/16 978-1-4197-1872-4 $17.95 e-book ed. 978-1-61312-913-5 $15.54 Whisked away as a newborn by Anne Milbanke, her strait-laced mathematician mother, Ada Lovelace (1815–1852) never knew her father, the impetuous Romantic poet Lord Byron. […]
Review of The House of Months and Years
February 28, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The House of Months and Years by Emma Trevayne Intermediate, Middle School Simon 274 pp. 2/17 978-1-4814-6255-6 $16.99 g e-book ed. 978-1-4814-6257-0 $10.99 After the tragic deaths of her aunt and uncle, Amelia and her parents move out of their own home and in with Amelia’s orphaned cousins. Nudiustertian House (nudiustertian meaning “relating to the […]
Review of You DON’T Want a Unicorn
February 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment
You DON’T Want a Unicorn by Ame Dyckman; illus. by Liz Climo Primary Little, Brown 40 pp. 2/17 978-0-316-34347-3 $16.99 g Dyckman and Climo’s tongue-in-cheek exposé reveals the “reality” of life with a unicorn. And the truth is a lot less wonderful than pro-unicorn propaganda (magic! rainbows! glitter!) would have you believe. The story begins […]
