Book Reviews
Mel Fell by Corey R. Tabor; illus. by the author Primary Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 40 pp. g 2/21 978-0-06-287801-4 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-308952-5 $12.99 This playful and innovatively designed book tells the story of a small bird who is eager to fly. When Mama leaves the tree one day, Mel...
Keeping the City Going by Brian Floca; illus. by the author Primary Dlouhy/Atheneum 40 pp. g 4/21 978-1-5344-9377-3 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-9378-0 $10.99 Caldecott winner Floca (Locomotive, rev. 9/13) presents a love letter to New York City and its essential workers during COVID-19. “We are here at home now, watching...
The Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen; illus. by the author Primary Candlewick 96 pp. g 4/21 978-1-5362-1562-5 $18.99 In this collection of five connected short stories, clocking in at over ninety pages and composed solely of dialogue, Klassen introduces readers to a turtle, an armadillo, and a snake...
Bear Island by Matthew Cordell; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Feiwel 48 pp. g 1/21 978-1-250-31716-2 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-250-82193-5 $10.99 As in his Caldecott Medal–winning Wolf in the Snow (rev. 11/16), Cordell begins his story before the title page, a series of wordless images telling of loss and...
The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel; illus. by Sean Rubin Primary Porter/Holiday 40 pp. g 1/21 978-0-8234-4562-2 $18.99 This reimagining of I. L. Peretz’s 1904 Yiddish story “Der Kunzen-Macher” (“The Magician”) follows Muriel, a young girl living in Washington, D.C., during the Great Depression. On the first night of Passover,...
Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham; illus. by the author Primary Roaring Brook 48 pp. g 1/21 978-1-250-79835-0 $18.99 “Something strange happened on an unremarkable day just before the season changed. Everybody who was OUTSIDE…went INSIDE.” The “something strange” is, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic, as safety protocols were put into...
Watercress by Andrea Wang; illus. by Jason Chin Primary Porter/Holiday 32 pp. g 3/21 978-0-8234-4624-7 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-5054-1 $11.99 Transcending space and time, memories bring a Chinese American family together. A girl in cutoffs and a T-shirt is embarrassed when her parents stop the car to pick wild watercress...
Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña; illus. by Christian Robinson Primary Putnam 40 pp. g 2/21 978-0-399-54908-3 $18.99 Spanish ed. 978-0-593-35462-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-399-54909-0 $10.99 Harold and the Purple Crayon meets twenty-first-century urban realism in this picture book by the Last Stop on Market Street (rev....
Northbound: A Train Ride Out of Segregation by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein; illus. by James E. Ransome Primary Candlewick 40 pp. g 10/20 978-0-7636-9650-4 $17.99 In this picture book set in the 1960s (and inspired by the author’s childhood memories), Michael and his granddaddy are fascinated by the...
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