Publications about books for children and young adults
I’m so pleased to see the “kooky chapter books” Elissa Gershowitz reviews above. First, because they’re chapter books: while there is hand-wringing about the state of picture book publication and The Hunger Games is dominating the media, chapter books—which I define in A Family of Readers as the first place “kids get to be on [...]
Staid and predictable chapter books these aren’t. Oddball characters (a pair of hands?!), weird situations, and off-kilter settings make these selections stand out from the crowd. In Sonya Hartnett’s Sadie and Ratz, the titular characters are the pair of hands that belong to Hannah — and get her into trouble. Most especially, they try to [...]
Two of these picture book “sequels” feature old friends, two introduce a new friend into a familiar setting, and one keeps on truckin’ with a popular subject. All five will be eagerly greeted by their preschool fans. Olivier Dunrea welcomes a new gosling to his series of books that began with Gossie and Gossie & [...]
There’s nothing cozier than curling up with a good story. But four new YA titles shake up their book-loving protagonists, pulling them out of their armchairs and into adventures of their own. Ophelia and her eccentric bookseller aunt Emily, both poets, also share a connection to the supernatural in Michael Bedard’s The Green Man. Emily [...]
Part of the appeal of baseball is its storied history. These three old-timey baseball books add to the lore of the game for young fans. Audrey Vernick’s Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team highlights the Acerra family of Long Branch, New Jersey. In 1938, the oldest nine boys (there [...]
To tell the complex story of her great-uncle, bookseller Lewis Michaux, 2010 Coretta Scott King Author Award–winner (for Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal) Vaunda Micheaux Nelson employs an amalgamation of historical research, family stories, and her own imagination. No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and [...]
Five questions for Vaunda Micheaux Nelson No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illus. by R. Gregory Christie, Carolrhoda LAB, 12 years and up. Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. MarshalI, written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, [...]
