Publications about books for children and young adults
Louise Erdrich’s new book, Chickadee (HarperCollins, 8–12 years), takes place in 1866, a generation after the first three books in her Birchbark House series. Omakayas is now the mother of twin eight-year-old boys, Chickadee and Makoons, but she and her extended Ojibwe family are still living in the Northern Forest and following their traditional, nomadic [...]
I’d like to invite Notes subscribers to sign up for Look Out!, our third annual Horn Book at Simmons Colloquium, occurring in tandem with the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, September 28th and 29th at Simmons College here in Boston. The BGHB awards will be presented on Friday evening; the colloquium held the next day offers [...]
Five Questions for Louise Erdrich The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, Hyperion, 8–12 years. The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich, HarperCollins, 8–12 years. The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich, HarperCollins, 8–12 years. Chickadee by Louise Erdrich, HarperCollins, 8–12 years. Little Town on the Prairie written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illus. by Garth Williams, HarperCollins, [...]
Folktale lovers needn’t give up on the genre when their reading interests turn toward young adult concerns. Here are four new folklore-inspired books—three novels and a poetry collection—for those who like their tales sophisticated and dark. Ron Koertge retells, in free verse and from various points of view, twenty-three familiar tales (mostly Grimm, Andersen, and [...]
A middle-school mystery full of spies and intrigue (or is it?); a mash-up of sci-fi/fantasy and realistic family drama; an all-consuming-first-love story; and middle-grade-humor-done-right: these four novels you’ve been waiting for from favorite authors have arrived with a bang. In Newbery and Boston Globe Horn Book Award–winner Rebecca Stead’s new novel Liar & Spy, Brooklyn [...]
Four recent nonfiction books give children a glimpse into the lives of birds. The following selections present complex topics, from cognition and communication to migration and species survival, in accessible, intriguing ways. Each August, fledgling puffins make their first journey to their winter home. However, bright lights cause some to lose their way. In Puffling [...]
Preschoolers + animal tales = story-time success. Here are four new books that add up to silly fun for both group sharing and bedtime reading. In Mem Fox’s Two Little Monkeys, Cheeky and Chee are happily playing on the savanna until—“something’s prowling— / what could it be?” Off they dash up a “big old tree.” [...]
