Esquivel!: Space-Age Sound Artist by Susan Wood; illus. by Duncan Tonatiuh Primary, Intermediate Charlesbridge 32 pp. 9/16 978-1-58089-673-3 $17.95 e-book ed. 978-1-60734-825-2 $9.99 Growing up in Mexico, Juan Garcia Esquivel got an earful of mariachi, but he wanted to create his own sound. Self-taught and persistent, he was playing piano at a radio station at […]
Review of 88 Instruments
August 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
88 Instruments by Chris Barton; illus. by Louis Thomas Primary Knopf 32 pp. 8/16 978-0-553-53814-4 $17.99 Library ed. 978-0-553-53815-1 $20.99 g e-book ed. 978-0-553-53823-6 $10.99 Move over, kid in the candy shop: a child has been unleashed in a music store, and the sight of its many — eighty-eight — instruments has the effect of […]
Review of Snappsy the Alligator: Did Not Ask to Be in This Book!
February 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Snappsy the Alligator: Did Not Ask to Be in This Book! by Julie Falatko; illus. by Tim Miller Primary Viking 40 pp. 2/16 978-0-451-46945-8 $16.99 g The omniscient narration begins normally enough: “Snappsy the alligator wasn’t feeling like himself.” After a bit more in this vein, Snappsy turns to the reader: “This is terrible!…Why is […]
Review of Don’t Call Me Grandma
February 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Don’t Call Me Grandma by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson; illus. by Elizabeth Zunon Primary Carolrhoda 32 pp. 2/16 978-1-4677-4208-5 $17.99 g e-book ed. 978-1-4677-9559-3 $19.99 Ninety-six-year-old great-grandmother, Nell, doesn’t answer to “Grandma.” She doesn’t do hugs and kisses. She growls her disapproval at her great-granddaughter, who narrates this book. But belying Nell’s starchy exterior is the […]
Review of First Grade Dropout
August 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
First Grade Dropout by Audrey Vernick; illus. by Matthew Cordell Primary Clarion 32 pp. 7/15 978-0-544-12985-6 $16.99 “I can’t stop thinking about it. How everyone laughed and slapped their desks and stomped their feet. And pointed. At me.” The narrator’s social infraction? “I. Called. My. Teacher. MOMMY!!!” It’s a typical-enough blunder among kids new to […]
Review of Last Stop on Market Street
March 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña; illus. by Christian Robinson Primary Putnam 32 pp. 1/15 978-0-399-25774-2 $16.99 CJ, a young black boy, has a flurry of questions for his grandmother one rainy day: “How come we gotta wait for the bus in all this wet?” […]
