Beware of the Crocodile by Martin Jenkins; illus. by Satoshi Kitamura Primary Candlewick 32 pp. g 3/19 978-0-7636-7538-7 $16.99 Heeding the old adage “when introducing a topic to children, start with what they know,” Jenkins initiates his discussion of crocodiles with their most prominent feature: those fascinating and intimidating teeth, which Kitamura depicts in all […]
About Betty Carter
Betty Carter, an independent consultant, is professor emerita of children’s and young adult literature at Texas Woman’s University.
Review of The Elephant
January 30, 2019 by Leave a Comment
The Elephant by Jenni Desmond; illus. by the author Primary Enchanted Lion 48 pp. 10/18 978-1-59270-264-0 $18.95 In this companion to the author- illustrator’s The Blue Whale and The Polar Bear (rev. 3/17), a brown-skinned boy wearing a red crown introduces readers to one of nature’s endangered wild things: the elephant. In a setup similar to […]
Review of What Do You Do with a Voice like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
November 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment
What Do You Do with a Voice like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan by Chris Barton; illus. by Ekua Holmes Primary, Intermediate Beach Lane/Simon 48 pp. 9/18 978-1-4814-6561-8 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-6562-5 $10.99 This large book, with its lush, vivid, mixed-media illustrations, makes an artistic statement as bold as groundbreaking African American […]
Review of Louisiana’s Way Home
September 18, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo Intermediate Candlewick 230 pp. g 10/18 978-0-7636-9463-0 $16.99 Readers first met Louisiana Elefante in Raymie Nightingale (rev. 3/16) as the orphaned daughter of famous trapeze artists and as one of the Three Rancheros, a steadfast trio of young friends who vowed to always have one another’s backs. In this […]
Review of Thomas Paine and the Dangerous Word
July 4, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Thomas Paine and the Dangerous Word by Sarah Jane Marsh; illus. by Edwin Fotheringham Primary, Intermediate Disney-Hyperion 80 pp. g 5/18 978-1-4847-8144-9 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-368-02251-4 $10.99 Corset maker. Sailor. Tax collector. Husband. Thomas Paine fails at all these pursuits. But what he can do is write and persuade, and when in 1774 he immigrates […]
Review of All That Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff
May 23, 2018 by Leave a Comment
All That Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff by Meghan McCarthy; illus. by the author Primary Wiseman/Simon 48 pp. 2/18 978-1-4814-7752-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-7753-6 $10.99 McCarthy sets her historical scene with three iconic 1980s images: a “speedy white car,” “boxy-looking computers,” and “big hair,” all depicted in […]
Review of Bird Builds a Nest
February 21, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Bird Builds a Nest [A First Science Storybook] by Martin Jenkins; illus. by Richard Jones Preschool, Primary Candlewick 32 pp. g 2/18 978-0-7636-9346-6 $16.99 Striking mixed-media illustrations, collage-like and muted with earth tones, depict a burnt-orange sun rising in the east and a bird perched on a tree branch, perfectly representing the opening sentence of […]
Review of The Magician and the Spirits: Harry Houdini and the Curious Pastime of Communicating with the Dead
October 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The Magician and the Spirits: Harry Houdini and the Curious Pastime of Communicating with the Dead by Deborah Noyes Middle School Viking 152 pp. 8/17 978-0-8037-4018-1 $18.99 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Spiritualist movement swept the nation. Noyes (Ten Days a Madwoman, rev. 1/16) uses Harry Houdini’s attempts to discredit the […]
Review of Robinson
September 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Robinson by Peter Sís; illus. by the author Primary Scholastic 48 pp. g 9/17 978-0-545-73166-9 $17.99 Building on a childhood memory, Sís writes of a school costume party where he and his friends decide to go as pirates. Intervening, his mother reminds him of his love for adventure. Why not go as Robinson Crusoe, from […]
Review of Eye of the Storm: NASA, Drones, and the Race to Crack the Hurricane Code
August 23, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Eye of the Storm: NASA, Drones, and the Race to Crack the Hurricane Code [Scientists in the Field] by Amy Cherrix Middle School Houghton 73 pp. 4/17 978-0-544-41165-4 $18.99 When thirteen-year-old Angela Dresch walks out on the Staten Island Beach on the afternoon of October 29, 2012, neither she nor readers know that in a […]
