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Mexique: A Refugee Story from the Spanish Civil War by María José Ferrada; illus. by Ana Penyas; trans. from Spanish by Elisa Amado Primary, Intermediate Eerdmans 40 pp. g 10/20 978-0-8028-5545-9 $17.99 In the spring of 1937, the ship Mexique sailed from France to Mexico with 456 Spanish refugees, all...
The Big One: The Cascadia Earthquakes and the Science of Saving Lives [Scientists in the Field] by Elizabeth Rusch Intermediate, Middle School Houghton 80 pp. g 8/20 978-0-544-88904-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-33579-5 $9.99 Off the Pacific Northwest coast, running about six hundred miles from British Columbia to Northern California, lies...
Plasticus Maritimus: An Invasive Species by Ana Pêgo and Isabel Minhós Martins; illus. by Bernardo P. Carvalho; trans. from Portuguese by Jane Springer Intermediate, Middle School Greystone Kids 176 pp. g 9/20 978-1-77164-643-7 $19.95 e-book ed. 978-1-77164-644-4 $9.99 Pêgo, a marine biologist, warns of the impact of “invasive” plastics on...
Mammoth Science: The Big Ideas That Explain Our World by David Macaulay; illus. by the author Intermediate DK 160 pp. g 8/20 978-1-4654-9146-6 $19.99 A unique and amusing encyclopedia of general scientific topics from master draftsman Macaulay, geared to a slightly younger audience than the author’s The Way Things Work...
Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math by Jeannine Atkins Intermediate, Middle School Atheneum 320 pp. g 8/20 978-1-5344-6068-3 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-6070-6 $10.99 Atkins’s (Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science, rev. 7/16) latest collective biography in verse spotlights seven “women who used math to frame and solve problems, fix...
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...
My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World by Rebecca Bond; illus. by Salley Mavor Preschool Houghton 40 pp. g 9/20 978-0-544-94906-5 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-35905-0 $13.99 “My bed rocks on the water. / My bed sways in the breeze. / My bed’s beneath a curtain. / My...
Chance: Escape from the Holocaust by Uri Shulevitz; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Farrar 336 pp. g 10/20 978-0-374-31371-5 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-0-374-31370-8 $9.99 Shulevitz was just four when the Nazis invaded Poland in September of 1939, forcing his family members to flee their homeland. Thus began nearly...
Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball by Jen Bryant; illus. by Frank Morrison Primary, Intermediate Abrams 40 pp. g 10/20 978-1-4197-4108-1 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-64700-161-2 $15.54 “Things can change in time.” For NBA great Elgin Baylor, named for his father’s favorite wristwatch, the segregated parks, playgrounds, schools, and...
You Poop Here by Paul Meisel; illus. by the author Preschool Holiday 32 pp. g 11/20 978-0-8234-4601-8 $17.99 A parade of animals pooping in their natural habitats leads to human toddlers proudly sitting on the potty. No, this isn’t a rehash of Taro Gomi’s classic Everyone Poops (1993), though the...
How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure by John Rocco; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Crown 264 pp. g 10/20 978-0-525-64741-6 $29.99 Library ed. 978-0-525-64742-3 $32.99 e-book ed. 978-0-525-64743-0 $17.99 In seven parts arranged chronologically, Rocco delivers...
Night Walk to the Sea: A Story About Rachel Carson, Earth's Protector by Deborah Wiles; illus. by Daniel Miyares Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5247-0147-5 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-0148-2 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-0149-9 $10.99 A boy shouts, stomps, and plays monsters to hide his fear of a...
Your Place in the Universe by Jason Chin; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Porter/Holiday 40 pp. g 9/20 978-0-8234-4623-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4878-4 $11.99 The relative sizes of objects can be endlessly fascinating to curious young minds. How many books tall is an eight-year-old? How many eight-year-olds standing on...
Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth; illus. by the author Middle School, High School Levine Querido 352 pp. g 10/20 978-1-64614-013-8 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-64614-004-6 $18.99 Gansworth, an enrolled member of the Onondaga Nation, grew up on the Tuscarora reservation, making him always “the outsider inside.” The theme...
I Heard a Sound by David J. Ward; illus. by Eric Comstock Primary Holiday 40 pp. g 7/20 978-0-8234-3704-7 $18.99 Bright, eye-catching digital illustrations provide the first signs of a stimulating adventure. Ward delivers on this promise but also offers a solid and informative introduction to one of the five...
Sound: Shhh…Bang…POP…BOOM! by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv; illus. by the authors; trans. from Ukrainian by Vitaly Chernetsky Primary Handprint/Chronicle 64 pp. g 10/20 978-1-4521-7978-0 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-7972-0271-6 $13.99 With a color scheme featuring bright pink, teal blue, lemon yellow, and pops of orange, this attention-grabbing informational book starts...
Marie’s Ocean: Marie Tharp Maps the Mountains Under the Sea by Josie James; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Ottaviano/Holt 48 pp. g 9/20 978-1-250-21473-7 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-250-80619-2 $9.99 This picture-book biography of geologist and oceanographic cartographer Marie Tharp (1920–2006), who revolutionized the world’s understanding of the ocean’s floor,...
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 288 pp. g 10/20 978-1-5362-0945-7 $24.99 An author of picture books, easy readers, and middle-grade novels, Soontornvat (A Wish in the Dark, rev. 5/20) here presents a compelling work of nonfiction....
How Women Won the Vote: Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and Their Big Idea by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; illus. by Ziyue Chen Primary, Intermediate Harper/HarperCollins 80 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-284130-8 $18.99 This well-sourced account of the fight for American women’s suffrage begins in 1909 at a protest march in London. It...
Democracy for Dinosaurs: A Guide for Young Citizens by Laurie Krasny Brown; illus. by Marc Brown Primary Little, Brown 32 pp. g 9/20 978-0-316-53452-9 $17.99 Sharing, fairness, choice, respect, truthfulness — most young people are well acquainted with these concepts; the Browns (Dinosaurs Divorce; Dinosaurs Go Green!; and many others)...
Feel the Fog by April Pulley Sayre; photos by the author Preschool, Primary Beach Lane/Simon 40 pp. g 9/20 978-1-5344-3760-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-3761-6 $10.99 Immersive photographs (most taken by the author) pull viewers into the experience of a foggy day in Sayre’s latest weather-focused title (Raindrops Roll and others)....
Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote by Veronica Chambers and members of the staff of the New York Times; illus. by various artists Intermediate, Middle School Versify/Houghton 144 pp. g 8/20 978-0-358-40830-7 $18.99 e-book ed....
Cubs in the Tub: The True Story of the Bronx Zoo’s First Woman Zookeeper by Candace Fleming; illus. by Julie Downing Primary, Intermediate Porter/Holiday 48 pp. g 8/20 978-0-8234-4318-5 $18.99 “Helen and Fred Martini longed for a baby,” begins this engaging picture-book biography. Fred spends his days working at the...
Stay Curious!: A Brief History of Stephen Hawking by Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer; illus. by Boris Kulikov Primary, Intermediate Crown 40 pp. g 9/20 978-0-399-55028-7 $17.99 Library ed. 978-0-399-55029-4 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-0-399-55030-0 $10.99 Physicist Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) was brilliant and iconoclastic from the get-go: as a child, he...
The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding; illus. by Britta Teckentrup Primary, Intermediate Candlewick Studio 48 pp. g 9/20 978-1-53621-274-7 $17.99 The titular dwelling was the weekend home of Harding’s great-grandparents in Germany, built by his great-grandfather nearly a century ago. Readers experience the peace and idyll of the...
Packs: Strength in Numbers by Hannah Salyer; illus. by the author Primary Houghton 48 pp. 1/20 978-1-328-57788-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-358-16695-5 $12.99 For some animal species, there are evolutionary advantages to social groupings. “Packs, herds, huddles, and pods. Together, we are better.” Salyer introduces young readers to many of the...
Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box by Evette Dionne Middle School, High School Viking 176 pp. g 4/20 978-0-45148-154-2 $19.99 In her preface, “Not the History You Learned in School,” Dionne sets the historical scene with the 2016 presidential campaign. Having...
The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love & Truth edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson Intermediate, Middle School Crown 128 pp. g 8/20 978-0-593-12161-0 $18.99 Library ed. 978-0-593-12162-7 $21.99 e-book ed. 978-0-593-12163-4 $9.99 In the African American community, parents and caregivers engage their children in conversations aimed at helping...
Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis by K. R. Gaddy Middle School, High School Dutton 294 pp. g 1/20 978-0-5255-5541-4 $18.99 The Edelweiss Pirates were groups of German youth who protested the Nazi regime through actions ranging from simple mischief...
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade; illus. by Cozbi A. Cabrera Primary, Intermediate Abrams 48 pp. g 4/20 978-1-4197-3411-3 $17.99 Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) grew up on the South Side of Chicago “with little money to spare,” but her childhood home was rich in volumes of...
Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation by Candy J. Cooper with Marc Aronson Middle School, High School Bloomsbury 243 pp. g 5/20 978-1-5476-0232-2 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5476-0233-9 $13.29 Imagine: a deadly health crisis hits and the government delays, makes light...
How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion by Ashima Shiraishi; illus. by Yao Xiao Primary Make Me a World/Random 40 pp. g 4/20 978-1-5247-7327-4 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-7328-1 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-7329-8 $10.99 With a voice that’s distinctive, lyrical, and inspiring, teenage rock-climber Shiraishi...
A Sporting Chance: How Ludwig Guttmann Created the Paralympic Games by Lori Alexander; illus. by Allan Drummond Intermediate, Middle School Houghton 128 pp. g 4/20 978-1-328-58079-5 $17.99 Before Dr. Ludwig Guttmann (1899–1980), there was no treatment for a broken spine; paraplegics were deemed incurable and usually died in a matter...
The Fabled Life of Aesop by Ian Lendler; illus. by Pamela Zagarenski Primary Houghton 64 pp. g 3/20 978-1-328-58552-3 $18.99 Lendler gives depth to a collection of Aesop’s fables by incorporating them into the story of their teller’s life. Working off what few facts scholars have pieced together from historical...
Race Through the Skies: The Week the World Learned to Fly by Martin W. Sandler Middle School Bloomsbury 185 pp. g 7/20 978-1-5476-0344-2 $24.99 The rate of innovation during the first decade of flight is as astounding now as it must have been at the time. Sandler’s compelling look at...
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...
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...
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...
How to Find a Bird by Jennifer Ward; illus. by Diana Sudyka Preschool, Primary Beach Lane/Simon 48 pp. g 8/20 978-1-4814-6705-6 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-6706-3 $10.99 “There are a lot of ways to find a bird.” The two children in this enticing and beautiful picture book demonstrate how. After doing...
Sharuko: El arqueólogo Peruano Julio C. Tello / Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello by Monica Brown; illus. by Elisa Chavarri; trans. into Spanish by Adriana Domínguez Primary, Intermediate Children’s/Lee & Low 40 pp. g 8/20 978-0-89239-423-4 $19.95 This picture-book biography of Peruvian archaeologist and educator Julio C. Tello (1880–1947) forefronts...
Cityscape: Where Science and Art Meet by April Pulley Sayre Preschool, Primary Greenwillow 40 pp. g 5/20 978-0-06-289331-4 $17.99 Sayre (Warbler Wave, rev. 3/18; Being Frog, rev. 1/20) has a knack for pairing minimalist poetry with dramatic photographs. Here she turns her attention to urban settings where “science, math, art...
Whose Footprint Is THAT? by Darrin Lunde; illus. by Kelsey Oseid Preschool, Primary Charlesbridge 32 pp. 10/19 978-1-58089-834-8 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-63289-721-3 $9.99 Following the format of Whose Poop Is THAT? (rev. 3/17), Lunde poses the title question seven times about seven different animals in a series of four-page sequences,...
Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington; illus. by Theodore Taylor III Primary Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills 48 pp. 11/19 978-1-62979-558-4 $18.99 This picture-book biography of renowned African American entomologist Turner (1867–1923) begins with a signature quote: “The study of biology trains the powers...
Most Wanted: The Revolutionary Partnership of John Hancock & Samuel Adams by Sarah Jane Marsh; illus. by Edwin Fotheringham Intermediate Little, Brown 80 pp. g 3/20 978-1-368-02683-3 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-368-06129-2 $12.99 Here readers meet the original American political odd couple: Samuel Adams, the serious and staunch patriot, and John...
In Search of Safety: Voices of Refugees by Susan Kuklin; photos by the author Middle School, High School Candlewick 246 pp. g 5/20 978-0-7636-7960-6 $24.99 Hewing to a definition of refugees as “people who are forced to leave their country because they are being persecuted,” Kuklin profiles five such young...
Solar Story: How One Community Lives Alongside the World’s Biggest Solar Plant by Allan Drummond; illus. by the author Primary Farrar 40 pp. 3/20 978-0-374-30899-5 $18.99 Expanding his series of picture books on environmentally friendly community projects (see Green City, rev. 1/16; and Pedal Power, rev. 1/17), Drummond takes readers...
Hello, Neighbor!: The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers by Matthew Cordell; illus. by the author Primary Porter/Holiday 40 pp. g 5/20 978-0-8234-4618-6 $18.99 This authorized biography of Fred Rogers opens as did his iconic television program, with a stoplight flashing yellow, signaling that it is time to slow...
Tiny Bird: A Hummingbird’s Amazing Journey by Robert Burleigh; illus. by Wendell Minor Primary Ottaviano/Holt 40 pp. 4/20 978-1-62779-369-8 $18.99 In the late days of summer in the northeastern United States, a ruby-throated hummingbird (here called Tiny Bird) “feels a pull and knows it must go” on its migration journey...
Tracking Pythons: The Quest to Catch an Invasive Predator and Save an Ecosystem by Kate Messner Intermediate, Middle School Millbrook 64 pp. 3/20 978-1-5415-5706-2 $31.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5415-8379-5 $31.99 This thoroughly engrossing field guide takes readers into the “scrublands and swamps” of South Florida, where scientists are battling the explosive...
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...
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...
Ants Don’t Wear Pants! [Giggle and Learn] by Kevin McCloskey; illus. by the author Primary TOON 40 pp. 9/19 978-1-943145-45-4 $12.95 In this fifth entry in the Giggle and Learn series of nonfiction early-reader comics (most recently, Snails Are Just My Speed, rev. 7/18), two peppy young people investigate ants’...
On Wings of Words: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Berne; illus. by Becca Stadtlander Primary, Intermediate Chronicle 48 pp. 2/20 978-1-4521-4297-5 $18.99 Berne’s picture-book biography is a lyrical appreciation of Dickinson’s skill with words, painting a vivid picture of the poet’s special abilities (“With the power of...
Comics: Easy as ABC!: The Essential Guide to Comics for Kids by Ivan Brunetti; illus. by the author and various artists Intermediate TOON 56 pp. 4/19 978-1-943145-44-7 $16.95 Paper ed. 978-1-943145-39-3 $9.99 Brunetti, comics educator and cartoonist of TOON titles Wordplay and 3x4, offers a noteworthy and intriguing comics how-to...
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...
Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming; illus. by Eric Rohmann Primary Porter/Holiday 40 pp. 2/20 978-0-8234-4285-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4304-8 $11.99 A worker bee breaks out of her honeycomb cell and begins a task-filled life in her colony. The “teeming, trembling flurry” of bees within the...
Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford; illus. by Michele Wood Primary, Intermediate Candlewick 56 pp. g 4/20 978-0-7636-9156-1 $17.99 “I entered the world a slave…I was a slave because my countrymen had made it lawful, in utter contempt of the declared will of heaven.” Our...
Nesting by Henry Cole; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Tegen/HarperCollins 40 pp. 3/20 978-0-06-288592-0 $17.99 Every spring, across North America, robins mate, build nests, lay eggs, and nurture their young. Cole illustrates this sequence of events with a pair of robins, employing gentle black-and-white crosshatching and one dramatic pop...
Feed Your Mind: A Story of August Wilson by Jen Bryant; illus. by Cannaday Chapman Primary, Intermediate, Middle School Abrams 48 pp. 11/19 978-1-4197-3653-7 $17.99 Beloved African American playwright August Wilson, known for his ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle and other dramas, is introduced to young readers in this elegant picture-book biography....
Oil by Jonah Winter; illus. by Jeanette Winter Primary Beach Lane/Simon 40 pp. g 3/20 978-1-5344-3077-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-3078-5 $10.99 When the Exxon Valdez runs aground in 1989 and dumps oil along the Alaskan coast, the damage done is brutal, extensive, and long-lasting. With confidence in his young audience’s...
The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne by Lesa Cline-Ransome; illus. by John Parra Primary Wiseman/Simon 48 pp. 1/20 978-1-4814-6289-1 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-6290-7 $10.99 Ethel L. Payne grew up on the South Side of Chicago surrounded by stories from her parents and from...
Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights by Karen Blumenthal High School Roaring Brook 373 pp. g 2/20 978-1-62672-165-4 $19.99 Multiple legal, social, religious, and medical strands comprise the history of reproductive rights in America. Blumenthal, in her trademark straightforward journalistic style (Tommy: The Gun That Changed...
Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon by Kim Chaffee; illus. by Ellen Rooney Primary Page Street 40 pp. 4/19 978-1-62414-654-1 $17.99 This stirring picture-book biography introduces Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with an official race number. “Running was magic” to twelve-year-old Kathrine, but...
A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa by Andrea D’Aquino; illus. by the author Primary Princeton 40 pp. 9/19 978-1-61689-836-6 $17.95 D’Aquino offers young readers “the story of an artist you may have never heard of”: Ruth Asawa (1926–2013), a Japanese American creator of nature-inspired wire sculptures....
Rise!: From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou by Bethany Hegedus; illus. by Tonya Engel Primary, Intermediate Lee & Low 48 pp. 8/19 978-1-62014-587-6 $20.95 In propulsive free verse and vibrant illustrations, Hegedus and Engel present the life and legacy of Maya Angelou (1928–2014). The book opens...
The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America by Kathleen Krull; illus. by Alexandra Bye Primary, Intermediate Atheneum 48 pp. 2/20 978-1-4814-9151-8 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-9152-5 $10.99 President Roosevelt usually gets credit for the New Deal programs that helped pull America out of the...
Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children by Jonah Winter; illus. by Nancy Carpenter Primary, Intermediate Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. 2/20 978-0-449-81291-4 $17.99 g Library ed. 978-0-449-81292-1 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-0-449-81293-8 $10.99 Creating a first-person narration (partly adapted from the labor activist’s letters and speeches, as explained in...
The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard; illus. by Oge Mora Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. g 1/20 978-1-5247-6828-7 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-6829-4 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-6830-0 $10.99 As an enslaved child on an Alabama plantation, Mary Walker would look up at the...
Not a Bean by Claudia Guadalupe Martínez; illus. by Laura González Preschool, Primary Charlesbridge 32 pp. 9/19 978-1-58089-815-7 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-63289-667-4 $9.99 “Jumping beans” are not in fact beans but moth larvae that have burrowed into the seedpods of the yerba de la flecha shrubs found alongside arroyos in...
Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson by Katherine Johnson Intermediate, Middle School Atheneum 250 pp. 7/19 978-1-5344-4083-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-4085-2 $10.99 To help her older brother with his math work at school, Katherine Johnson hatched a plan. She joined his class for a day...
Ruth Objects: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Doreen Rappaport; illus. by Eric Velasquez Primary, Intermediate Disney-Hyperion 48 pp. 2/20 978-1-4847-4717-9 $17.99 Velasquez’s riveting jacket portrait of Ginsburg, superimposed on a facsimile of the U.S. Constitution, conveys a woman of purpose; Rappaport’s biography, largely focused on Ginsburg’s work for...
Review of The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America's Presidents
The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America’s Presidents by Kate Messner; illus. by Adam Rex Primary Chronicle 48 pp. 3/20 978-1-4521-7488-4 $18.99 “No matter who holds the job right now, the presidents of tomorrow are always out there somewhere.” There are picture books aplenty about United...
Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace by Ashley Bryan; illus. by the author Middle School, High School Dlouhy/Atheneum 107 pp. 10/19 978-1-5344-0490-8 $21.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-0491-5 $10.99 Ashley Bryan was a nineteen-year-old art student when he was drafted into a segregated army unit of...
Anna & Samia: The True Story of Saving a Black Rhino by Paul Meisel; illus. by the author Primary Farrar 32 pp. 10/19 978-0-374-30577-2 $17.99 When a newborn black rhinoceros is abandoned in a Kenyan rhino sanctuary in 1985, conservationist Anna Merz steps in to rescue and raise the baby...
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz; adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese Middle School, High School Beacon 270 pp. 7/19 Paper ed. 978-0-8070-4939-6 $18.95 e-book ed. 978-0-8070-4940-2 $14.99 Mendoza and Reese, children’s literature scholars and bloggers at American Indians in Children’s...
By and By: Charles Albert Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music by Carole Boston Weatherford; illus. by Bryan Collier Primary Atheneum 48 pp. 1/20 978-1-5344-2636-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-2637-5 $10.99 Born to a free mother in 1851 Maryland, Charles Albert Tindley was technically considered free. However, the law didn’t protect...
To Dance by Siena Cherson Siegel; illus. by Mark Siegel Intermediate, Middle School Atheneum 86 pp. 10/19 978-1-4814-8663-7 $19.99 Paper ed. 978-1-4814-8664-4 $11.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-8665-1 $8.99 Even more effectively than the original, this special edition of the 2006 graphic memoir about Cherson Siegel’s youth as a School of American...
The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candace Fleming Middle School, High School Schwartz & Wade/Random 364 pp. g 2/20 978-0-525-64654-9 $18.99 Library ed. 978-0-525-64655-6 $21.99 e-book ed. 978-0-525-64656-3 $10.99 Stitching together important life events, insightful anecdotes, and primary sources, Fleming (Amelia Lost, rev. 3/11; The Family Romanov, rev....
Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great War by Duncan Tonatiuh; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Abrams 40 pp. 9/19 978-1-4197-3682-7 $18.99 Growing up Mexican American in Texas at the turn of the twentieth century meant racism and discrimination to José de la Luz Sáenz:...
Being Frog by April Pulley Sayre; photos by the author Preschool, Primary Beach Lane/Simon 32 pp. 2/20 978-1-5344-2881-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-2882-9 $10.99 A green frog moves through its woodland environment, its motions described in short rhyming sentences that match the pace of the creature as it hunts, crawls, jumps,...
The Poison Eaters: Fighting Danger and Fraud in Our Food and Drugs by Gail Jarrow Middle School, High School Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills & Kane 155 pp. g 10/19 978-1-62979-438-9 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-68437-895-1 $11.99 Formaldehyde in milk, cocaine in toothache drops, sausage made from pulverized meat scraps swept off factory...
How Many?: A Different Kind of Counting Book [Talking Math] by Christopher Danielson; photos by Scott Dorrance Preschool, Primary Charlesbridge 40 pp. 9/19 978-1-58089-943-7 $15.99 Paper ed. 978-1-58089-945-1 $7.99 e-book ed. 978-1-63289-813-5 $6.99 Danielson upends the traditional counting book format by letting viewers decide for themselves what to count. Take,...
The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come by Sue Macy; illus. by Stacy Innerst Primary Wiseman/Simon 48 pp. 10/19 978-1-4814-7220-3 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-7221-0 $10.99 “Kum aher. Sit down. I want to tell you a story.” With a storyteller’s cadence, Macy (Miss...
Thurgood by Jonah Winter; illus. by Bryan Collier Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. 9/19 978-1-5247-6533-0 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-6534-7 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-6535-4 $.10.99 Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993) — who grew up to “change the law of the land” — was a skilled debater and orator from a young age....
Born to Draw Comics: The Story of Charles Schulz and the Creation of Peanuts by Ginger Wadsworth; illus. by Craig Orback Primary Ottaviano/Holt 40 pp. 9/19 978-1-250-17373-7 $18.99 From the time he was born, Charles Schulz’s (1922–2000) name was connected to comic strips, thanks to his uncle nicknaming him “Sparky”...
Red Rover: Curiosity on Mars by Richard Ho; illus. by Katherine Roy Primary, Intermediate Roaring Brook 40 pp. 10/19 978-1-250-19833-4 $18.99 Debut author Ho and experienced illustrator Roy (Neighborhood Sharks, rev. 11/14; Otis and Will Discover the Deep, rev. 3/18) deliver an informative and surprisingly tender portrayal of Curiosity, the...
Todos iguales / All Equal: Un corrido de Lemon Grove / A Ballad of Lemon Grove by Christy Hale; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Children’s/Lee & Low 40 pp. 8/19 978-0-89239-427-2 $19.95 Hale’s storytelling shines in this account of Mexican American resistance against racism in the 1930s. Inspired by...
Best Friends by Shannon Hale; illus. by LeUyen Pham; color by Hilary Sycamore Intermediate, Middle School First Second/Roaring Brook 250 pp. 8/19 978-1-250-31745-2 $21.99 Paper ed. 978-1-250-31746-9 $12.99 In this follow-up to her graphic memoir Real Friends (rev. 5/17), Hale straps in to the roller coaster rides, both real and...
Firefighters’ Handbook by Meghan McCarthy; illus. by the author Primary Wiseman/Simon 48 pp. 9/19 978-1-5344-1733-5 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-1734-2 $10.99 McCarthy (Astronaut Handbook, rev. 7/08; All That Trash, rev. 5/18) brings her recognizable illustration style (bug-eyed humans with sideways grins) to the kid-captivating topic of firefighting. Friendly, direct-address text covers...
A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation by Barry Wittenstein; illus. by Jerry Pinkney Primary, Intermediate Porter/Holiday 48 pp. g 8/19 978-0-8234-4331-4 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-8234-4374-1 $11.99 This superbly executed picture book takes readers behind the scenes of the writing of Dr....
The Magnificent Migration: On Safari with Africa’s Last Great Herds by Sy Montgomery; photos by Roger Wood and Logan Wood Intermediate, Middle School Houghton 162 pp. 6/19 978-0-544-76113-1 $24.99 Montgomery takes readers on safari, joining a group led by eminent scientist Dr. Richard Despard Estes to follow wildebeest migrations through...
Liberty Arrives!: How America’s Grandest Statue Found Her Home by Robert Byrd; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Dial 40 pp. g 6/19 978-0-7352-3082-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-5255-5451-6 $10.99 Byrd (Boston Globe–Horn Book Nonfiction Award winner for Electric Ben, rev. 11/12) approaches his topic as systematically and artistically as did...
Crossing On Time: Steam Engines, Fast Ships,
and a Journey to the New World by David Macaulay; illus. by the author Intermediate, Middle School Roaring Brook 128 pp. 5/19 978-1-59643-477-6 $24.99 Macaulay chronicles his own mid-twentieth-century immigration story in full color and a wide trim size—along with plenty of diagrams...
Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir by Nikki Grimes High School Wordsong/Boyds Mills 325 pp. 10/19 978-1-62979-881-3 $19.99 As poetically written as Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming (rev. 9/14) with a story as hard-hitting as Sapphire’s Push. In her author’s note, poet Grimes (winner of the 2017 Children’s Literature Legacy Award) says that...
Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children’s Ship” by Deborah Heiligman Intermediate, Middle School Godwin/Holt 291 pp. g 10/19 978-1-62779-554-8 $19.99 Nonfiction maestro Heiligman (Charles and Emma, rev. 1/09; Vincent and Theo, rev. 3/17) here tells a riveting wartime survival story. As World War...
What Miss Mitchell Saw by Hayley Barrett; illus. by Diana Sudyka Primary Beach Lane/Simon 40 pp. 9/19 918-1-4814-8759-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-8760-3 $10.99 Born in the early part of the nineteenth century “on the fog-wrapped island of Nantucket,” Maria Mitchell was a learner, expanding her educational horizons from her family...
Born to Fly: The First Women’s Air Race Across America by Steve Sheinkin; illus. by Bijou Karman Middle School Roaring Brook 264 pp. g 9/19 978-1-62672-130-2 $19.99 “There were about nine thousand licensed pilots in the United States in 1929. Fewer than one hundred of them were women. Of those,...
Guts by Raina Telgemeier; illus. by the author; color by Braden Lamb Intermediate Graphix/Scholastic 215 pp. g 9/19 978-0-545-85251-7 $24.99 Paper ed. 978-0-545-85250-0 $12.99 e-book ed. 978-0-545-85253-1 $7.99 In this graphic memoir chronicling her fourth-grade year, Telgemeier (Smile; Sisters, rev. 11/14) shares her childhood experiences with anxiety. A bout with...
The Miracle & Tragedy
of the Dionne Quintuplets by Sarah Miller Middle School, High School
Schwartz & Wade/Random 309 pp. 8/19 978-1-5247-1381-2 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-1382-9 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-1383-6 $10.99 The “miracle” referred to in the title was of course the birth of the five identical Dionne sisters in...
The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney by Alice B. McGinty; illus. by Elizabeth Haidle Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. 5/19 978-1-5247-6831-7 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-6832-4 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5247-6833-1 $10.99 Making smart use of the liberty that a picture-book biography can choose to take by...
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