Book Reviews
Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail by Lesléa Newman, illus. by Susan Gal Primary Charlesbridge 32 pp. 1/20 978-1-58089-882-9 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-63289-742-8 $9.99 On Passover, inside his warm and cozy house, a boy waits expectantly for his family’s Seder. Outdoors, a kitten waits alone for the moon...
The Old Truck by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey; illus. by the authors Preschool, Primary Norton 40 pp. 1/20 978-1-324-00519-3 $17.95 e-book ed. 978-1-324-00520-9 $12.15 The author-illustrator brothers tell the story of a family farm and the truck that assists with chores. As the hard-working truck ages, so does the...
My Best Friend by Julie Fogliano; illus. by Jillian Tamaki Preschool Atheneum 32 pp. 3/20 978-1-5344-2722-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-2723-5 $10.99 What begins on the title spread as a small redheaded girl hesitantly approaching another girl on a tire swing becomes an ode to making friends. Our narrator gleefully shares this discovered joy:...
A Girl like Me by Angela Johnson; illus. by Nina Crews Preschool, Primary Millbrook 40 pp. g 2/20 978-1-5415-5777-2 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5415-7891-3 $18.99 It seems not even the sky’s the limit for the imaginative, adventurous, inventive girls depicted in this inspirational picture book. Johnson’s upbeat text, paired with Crews’s...
Johnny’s Pheasant by Cheryl Minnema; illus. by Julie Flett Primary Minnesota 32 pp. g 11/19 978-1-5179-0501-9 $16.95 Minnema (a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) and Flett (of Cree-Métis descent) present an engaging and humorous intergenerational story of patience, hope, and surprise. Johnny spots a motionless pheasant in...
Pluto Gets the Call by Adam Rex; illus. by Laurie Keller Primary Beach Lane/Simon 48 pp. 11/19 978-1-5344-1453-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-1454-9 $10.99 Rex and Keller dramatize Pluto’s demotion to dwarf planet status in this smart and playful offering of informational comedy. Rex’s wry and engaging text is told completely...
Freedom Bird by Jerdine Nolen; illus. by James E. Ransome Primary Wiseman/Simon 32 pp. 1/20 978-0-689-87167-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-0222-4 $10.99 Nolen presents an original story about flight and freedom — the former an enduring motif, the latter a recurrent theme, in African American folklore. Millicent and John worked alongside...
Black Is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy; illus. by Ekua Holmes Primary Roaring Brook 40 pp. 1/20 978-1-62672-631-4 $17.99 A young girl sits on her stoop contemplating the colors of the rainbow, then notes, “But my color is black…and there’s no black in rainbows.” There is, however, black in...
Bedtime for Sweet Creatures by Nikki Grimes; illus. by Elizabeth Zunon Preschool Sourcebooks Jabberwocky 32 pp. g 1/20 978-1-4926-3832-2 $17.99 Grimes puts an animal-centric spin on a youngster’s innovations for bedtime stalling. This lushly illustrated story, on double-page spreads full of bold, saturated color, opens with an African American child’s...
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