Julie Hakim Azzam
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Review of The Cat Man of Aleppo
The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha; illus. by Yuko Shimizu Primary, Intermediate Putnam 32 pp. g 4/20 978-1-9848-1378-7 $17.99 In 2012, civil war comes to Aleppo, then the largest city in Syria. Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel is an ambulance driver who remains behind while many of his neighbors...
Review of The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival
The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess with Laura L. Sullivan High School Bloomsbury 384 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5476-0453-1 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5476-0455-5 $13.99 This suspenseful memoir, set between 1992 and 1998, opens just before the author’s northwestern Bosnian town of...
Review of Your Name Is a Song
Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow; illus. by Luisa Uribe Preschool, Primary Innovation 40 pp. g 7/20 978-1-943147-72-4 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-943147-91-5 $10.99 Roll call can be difficult for a child with an unusual name. A young girl describes how her name “got stuck” in her teacher’s mouth...
Review of Ten Ways to Hear Snow
Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper; illus. by Kenard Pak Preschool, Primary Kokila/Penguin 32 pp. g 10/20 978-0-399-18633-2 $23.99 e-book ed. 978-0-593-11123-9 $11.99 When she wakes to discover that it blizzarded the night before, Lina isn’t deterred from her plans to walk to see her grandmother (in Arabic,...
Review of Bo the Brave
Bo the Brave by Bethan Woollvin; illus. by the author Primary Peachtree 32 pp. g 4/20 978-1-68263-182-9 $17.99 When Bo’s two older brothers, Erik and Ivan, set off from the castle on a quest to hunt a monster, they refuse to allow her to join, sneering that she’s too little....
Review of With a Star in My Hand: Rubén Darío, Poetry Hero
With a Star in My Hand: Rubén Darío, Poetry Hero by Margarita Engle Middle School, High School Atheneum 150 pp. g 2/20 978-1-5344-2493-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-2495-1 $10.99 Written in first person, this heartfelt verse novel tells the fictionalized story of Rubén Darío (based on his autobiography), who was born...
Review of In My Anaana's Amautik
In My Anaana’s Amautik by Nadia Sammurtok; illus. by Lenny Lishchenko Preschool Inhabit Media 24 pp. 4/20 978-1-77227-252-9 $16.95 A baby’s perspective of being held in its anaana’s (mother’s) amautik (“the pouch in the back of a woman’s parka where a baby can be carried”) is explored in lulling, sensory-rich...
Review of Leaving Lymon
Leaving Lymon by Lesa Cline-Ransome Intermediate, Middle School Holiday 199 pp. 1/20 978-0-8234-4442-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4633-9 $10.99 Lymon Caldwell, a secondary character in Finding Langston (rev. 9/18), tells his story in this companion novel that explores the question, “Are bullies born or are they made?” Lymon lives with his...
Review of Just like Me
Just like Me by Vanessa Brantley-Newton; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Knopf 40 pp. g 1/20 978-0-525-58209-0 $17.99 Library ed. 978-0-525-58210-6 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-0-525-58211-3 $10.99 Each poem in this collection is narrated by a different young girl about some aspect of her identity that she celebrates (“I am...