Julie Hakim Azzam
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Now we KNOW awards season is heating up...
Betsy is absolutely right: there are SOOO many wonderful, award-worthy 2023 books for the Caldecott committee to consider. But she's honed her predictions (after spring and summer), and here they are. And we will be covering all her choices on Calling Caldecott this season. What do you notice about Betsy's Fall...
A Refresher on Caldecott Criteria
Every Caldecott season, I get super excited about a picture book and think it’s Caldecott-worthy only to realize that it’s not eligible for the award for one reason or another (usually it’s because the illustrator is not a resident or citizen of the US), so let’s take a minute to...
Calling Caldecott, and Calling You!
Hello from me, your new coauthor, and welcome to the 2023 season of Calling Caldecott from me! Julie who?, you might be asking. As another Julie taking on Calling Caldecott, I feel I have some big shoes to fill, and want to take a minute to thank Julie Danielson for...
Welcome back!
As you can see from the byline, it's a new season here at Calling Caldecott, in more ways than one. Yes, we will have three co-authors this year! with Julie Hakim Azzam and Kitty Flynn joining the CC team. Julie has been a Horn Book contributor (to the magazine and the...
Review of I Am Kavi
I Am Kavi by Thushanthi PonweeraIntermediate Holiday 272 pp.9/23 9780823453658 $18.99e-book ed. 9780823457274 $11.99At ten years old, Kavi has already experienced her share of trauma and heartbreak. Her father spent a decade at the front lines in the Sri Lankan civil war and returned to their rural home an amputee,...
PREMIUM
Review of Grounded
Grounded by Aisha Saeed, Huda al-Marashi, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, and S. K. AliMiddle School Amulet/Abrams 272 pp.5/23 9781419761751 $18.99e-book ed. 9781647006693 $15.54The (fictional) Zora Neale Hurston Airport is bustling with travelers, many of whom are Muslim American families heading home after the annual MONA (Muslims of North America) conference. Twelve-year-old Feek...
Review of When You Can Swim
When You Can Swim by Jack Wong; illus. by the author Primary Orchard/Scholastic 48 pp. 5/23 9781338830965 $18.99 e-book ed. 9781338830989 $18.99 With poetic text and gorgeous, inclusive illustrations, Wong invites readers to learn how to swim — to conquer fear of the water, and also to reclaim aquatic spaces...
PREMIUM
Review of Boomi’s Boombox
Boomi’s Boombox by Shanthi SekaranIntermediate, Middle School Tegen/HarperCollins 272 pp.5/23 9780063051584 $18.99e-book ed. 9780063051607 $10.99It’s 2021 in San Francisco, the “second spring of the pandemic,” and twelve-year-old Boomi Gopalan is grieving the loss of her father, a physician who recently died of COVID-19. She’s also feeling dejected about a botched...
PREMIUM
Review of Wild Poppies
Wild Poppies by Haya Saleh; trans. from Arabic by Marcia Lynx QualeyMiddle School Levine Querido 176 pp.6/23 9781646142019 $17.99Brothers Omar and Sufyan find their lives upended by the Syrian civil war. After their home in Raqqun is bombed, killing their father, the family moves to the more rural village of...
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