Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt Middle School Clarion 216 pp. g 2/19 978-0-544-79085-8 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-328-52691-5 $9.99 Sixth grader Carter Jones misses his soldier father, currently deployed in Germany; he misses his dead brother; he misses any semblance of normalcy in his life. When Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick, a butler bequeathed to his […]
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 Found.
January 28, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Found. by Jeff Newman; illus. by Larry Day Preschool, Primary Simon 48 pp. 11/18 978-1-5344-1006-0 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-1007-7 $10.99 A sense of isolation permeates the opening spreads of this wordless story as a girl gazes out at a rain-drenched city street from an apartment window. She soon spots a little lost dog, and a […]
Review of The Bell Rang
January 7, 2019 by Leave a Comment
The Bell Rang by James E. Ransome; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Dlouhy/Atheneum 40 pp. 1/19 978-1-4424-2113-4 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-7671-3 $10.99 “The bell rings, / and no sun in the sky. / Daddy gathers wood. / Mama cooks. / We eat.” Ransome paints a heartbreaking picture of an enslaved family existing within the […]
Review of The Little Barbarian
January 2, 2019 by Leave a Comment
The Little Barbarian by Renato Moriconi; illus. by the author Preschool Eerdmans 48 pp. 8/18 978-0-8028-5509-1 $17.00 The little barbarian strides in, page left. Armed with sword and shield, he mounts his handsome black steed and proceeds through a malevolent world. Spread after spread, he gallops over and under hazards and monsters — a deep […]
Review of Kitten and the Night Watchman
December 17, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Kitten and the Night Watchman by John Sullivan; illus. by Taeeun Yoo Preschool Wiseman/Simon 32 pp. 9/18 978-1-4814-6191-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-6192-4 $10.99 A night watchman spies a stray kitten one night, and they befriend each other. As the man makes his rounds of the construction site, the kitten accompanies him […]
Review of All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah
December 3, 2018 by Leave a Comment
All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah by Emily Jenkins; illus. by Paul O. Zelinsky Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. 9/18 978-0-399-55419-3 $17.99 Library ed. 978-0-399-55420-9 $20.99 e-book ed. 978-0-399-55421-6 $10.99 “When darkness comes, it will be the first night of Hanukkah, 1912.” This original picture book based on Sydney Taylor’s beloved characters serves as a perfect standalone […]
Review of Love to Everyone
November 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Love to Everyone by Hilary McKay Intermediate, Middle School McElderry 330 pp. 9/18 978-1-5344-2710-5 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5344-2712-9 $10.99 In Binny in Secret (rev. 7/15), McKay introduced us to Clarry, her brother Peter, and their beloved cousin Rupert in a subplot set during World War I in London. Here, McKay gives us the full story […]
Review of The Patchwork Bike
November 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The Patchwork Bike by Maxine Beneba Clarke; illus. by Van Thanh Rudd Primary Candlewick 40 pp. 9/18 978-1-5362-0031-7 $15.99 A child in an unnamed “village where we live inside our mud-for-walls home” describes the diversions of daily life: “whooping and shrieking and laughing” on the sand hill, exploring the desert, and playing atop an abandoned […]
Review of Saving Winslow
November 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Saving Winslow by Sharon Creech Intermediate Cotler/HarperCollins 165 pp. 9/18 978-0-06-257070-3 $16.99 Library ed. 978-0-06-257072-7 $17.89 e-book ed. 978-0-06-257073-4 $9.99 Creech interweaves the stories of three fragile babies. Two strands are backstories, and one is front, center, present, and loud. Louie had been a premature baby. Now he’s eleven, but the family story of his […]
