Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin Middle School, High School Roaring Brook 280 pp. 1/17 978-1-59643-954-2 $19.99 e-book ed. 978-1-59643-955-9 $9.99 Football icon Jim Thorpe is the indisputable star of Undefeated, although other compelling narratives come into play, including those of the infamous […]
Review of Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team
Beginning Readers and the Caldecott
Beginning readers aren’t awarded Caldecott Medals or Honors. Not really. Arnold Lobel did win a Caldecott Honor way back in 1971 for Frog and Toad Are Friends, and the past ten years have seen Caldecott recognition of picture books that also function as beginning readers: Kevin Henkes’s Waiting (2016); Jon Klassen’s This Is Not My Hat (2013); Laura Vaccaro […]
Review of As Brave As You
As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds Intermediate, Middle School Dlouhy/Atheneum 415 pp. 5/16 978-1-4814-1590-3 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-1592-7 $10.99 Reynolds (The Boy in the Black Suit, rev. 3/15; with Brendan Kiely, All American Boys, rev. 11/15) delivers an emotionally resonant middle-grade story of an African American family working to overcome its tumultuous past in […]
Review of Flop to the Top!
Flop to the Top! by Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing; illus. by the authors Primary TOON 38 pp. 9/15 978-1-935179-89-4 $12.95 Wanda is a superstar — in her own mind. Oblivious to her family’s dismay, she forces everyone within arm’s reach to endure invasive photos, rude orders, and diva-like dismissals. After posting a selfie taken […]
Review of Sunny Side Up
Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm; illus. by Matthew Holm; color by Lark Pien Intermediate Graphix/Scholastic 218 pp. 9/15 978-0-545-74165-1 $23.99 Paper ed. 978-0-545-74166-8 $12.99 g e-book ed. 978-0-545-74167-5 $12.99 Set largely during the summer of 1976, this semiautobiographical graphic novel from the brother-and-sister team behind the Babymouse series includes an […]