Book Reviews
It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way by Kyo Maclear; illus. by Julie Morstad Primary Harper/HarperCollins 48 pp. 10/19 978-0-06-244762-3 $17.99 "In early 1960s America, a country with laws that separated people by skin color," Japanese American artist Gyo Fujikawa (1908–1998) helped break the color barrier...
Green on Green by Dianne White; illus. by Felicita Sala Preschool, Primary Beach Lane/Simon 48 pp. g 3/20 978-1-4814-6278-5 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-6279-2 $10.99 Do we need another picture book about the seasons? When it’s this good, the answer is an emphatic yes. White’s text is written in eminently readable...
Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Feder; illus. by the author High School Dial 202 pp. g 4/20 978-0-525-55302-1 $18.99 This moving and candid graphic memoir offers a refreshingly honest portrayal of grief and growing into adulthood “for anyone struggling with loss who just...
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...
Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley; illus. by the author; color by Whitney Cogar Intermediate, Middle School RH Graphic/Random 223 pp. g 5/20 978-0-593-12524-3 $20.99 Paper ed. 978-1-9848-9684-1 $12.99 e-book ed. 978-1-9848-9686-5 $9.99 This tender graphic novel by Alex Award winner (for Relish) Knisley illuminates the challenges of finding oneself in...
Home Base: A Mother-Daughter Story by Nikki Tate; illus. by Katie Kath Primary Holiday 32 pp. 3/20 978-0-8234-3663-7 $18.99 Although our two protagonists spend little of the book together, they are connected throughout by their hard work and achievement. This family of two starts the day in a groggy daze...
My Mama by Annemarie van Haeringen; illus. by the author; trans. from Dutch by Bill Nagelkerke Preschool Gecko 32 pp. 3/20 978-1-776572-67-0 $17.99 Told from the baby’s point of view (“I’ve known my mama for a long time”), this playful offering explores, through two elephant characters, the strong emotional bond...
Mama Baby by Chris Raschka; illus. by the author Preschool Candlewick 32 pp. g 3/20 978-0-7636-9060-1 $14.99 In this artfully composed picture book, Raschka gets to the emotional core of the relationship between a young child and a trusted adult. Mama, on the verso, looks adoringly at her child, a...
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang; illus. by the author; color by Lark Pien High School First Second/Roaring Brook 446 pp. 3/20 978-1-62672-079-4 $24.99 “I’m just not a sports kind of guy,” begins Yang in this comics-format offering that brilliantly combines journalism, memoir, and sports history. Yang, who taught math...
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