Reviews of the Week
A Bowl Full of Peace: A True Story by Caren Stelson; illus. by Akira Kusaka Intermediate, Middle School Carolrhoda 40 pp. g 8/20 978-1-5415-2148-3 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5415-8219-4 $18.95 Each evening Sachiko’s family gathers around their table in Nagasaki, Japan. Before the Second World War, Grandmother’s bowl is the centerpiece...
War at the Snow White Motel and Other Stories by Tim Wynne-Jones Intermediate, Middle School Groundwood 245 pp. g 5/20 978-1-77306-047-7 $16.95 e-book ed. 978-1-77306-048-4 $11.99 Most of the protagonists in these nine short stories are twelve years old and bumping into the realities of human nature — their own...
Good Guys, Bad Guys by Joanne Rocklin; illus. by Nancy Carpenter Preschool, Primary Abrams 32 pp. g 5/20 978-1-4197-3417-5 $16.99 Rocklin and Carpenter present a rollicking homage to neighborhood kid–summertime play. The story begins on the title-page spread as two children get ready to greet the morning. On the left-hand...
On the Horizon by Lois Lowry; illus. by Kenard Pak Middle School, High School Houghton 80 pp. g 4/20 978-0-358-12940-0 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-12938-7 $9.99 In a poetry collection that’s as much structure as style and theme, Lowry considers two events: the bombings of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. In the...
You’re Invited to a Moth Ball: A Nighttime Insect Celebration by Loree Griffin Burns; photos by Ellen Harasimowicz Primary Charlesbridge 40 pp. g 4/20 978-1-58089-686-3 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-63289-834-0 $9.99 With her latest book, Burns (Tracking Trash, rev. 3/07; The Hive Detectives, rev. 5/10) has earned the right to add...
Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk Intermediate, Middle School Dutton 359 pp. g 4/20 978-0-525-55556-8 $17.99 Since the Great Depression forced twelve-year-old Ellie’s family to move from town up to Echo Mountain, she hasn’t known how to interact with her mother and older sister; they miss their former life and blame...
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....
Ms. Gloria Steinem: A Life by Winifred Conkling Middle School, High School Feiwel 305 pp. g 6/20 978-1-250-24457-4 $19.99 Conkling (Radioactive!, rev. 3/16; Votes for Women!, rev. 3/18) opens this insightful biography of the feminist icon with a close call. In 1956, when she was twenty-two, Steinem called off wedding...
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 357 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-282025-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-282027-3 $10.99 At seventeen, Felix Love feels marginalized as a Black teen, an aspiring artist, and a trans male. His mom left the family when he was ten, and although his...
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