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Review of The Poet and the Bees: A Story of the Seasons Sylvia Plath Kept Bees

The Poet and the Bees: A Story of the Seasons Sylvia Plath Kept Bees by Amy Novesky; illus. by Jessica LovePrimary, Intermediate    Viking    32 pp.2/25    9780593526392    $18.99e-book ed.  9780593526408    $10.99Novesky provides a snapshot of Plath (1932–1963) inspired by her poems and letters about her brief experience with beekeeping. The text...

Review of How Sweet the Sound

How Sweet the Sound by Kwame Alexander; illus. by Charly PalmerPrimary, Intermediate    Little, Brown    48 pp.1/25    9780316442497    $18.99In a reverent celebration of African American music, Alexander’s lyrical free-verse text flows through different eras and genres of sound. This musical tour begins in Africa: “Listen to the fireside chorus / of...

Review of Thunder City

Thunder City [Mortal Engines]by Philip ReeveMiddle School, High School    Scholastic    336 pp.11/24    9781546138235    $19.99e-book ed.  9781546138242    $19.99This prequel to Reeve’s acclaimed postapocalyptic, steampunk Mortal Engines series opens some two hundred years earlier, during the peaceful Golden Age of Traction, as the city of Thorbury is violently boarded and captured by...

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Celebrate with three updated booklists from the Guide/Reviews Database starring the holiday itself, Mexican and Mexican American protagonists, and the Spanish language. We've got recommended fiction and nonfiction titles for primary, intermediate, and older readers. Grade levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion....

Review of Safe Crossing

Safe Crossing by Kari Percival; illus. by the authorPrimary    Chronicle    48 pp.1/25    9781797214566    $18.99Why do amphibians cross a dark, perilous road? To lay their eggs, of course. But sometimes they need help. In the middle of the night, a biracial family dons rain gear over PJs, gathers equipment, and joins...

Review of In the Desert

In the Desert by David Elliott; illus. by Gordy Wright Primary    Candlewick    40 pp. 3/25    9781536223385    $18.99 In fifteen verses, Elliott celebrates creatures who inhabit the Sahara Desert—and, in one introductory poem, the desert itself. As always in this winning series (see At the Poles, rev. 9/23, and eight other...

Review of Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds

Dream a Dress, Dream a Poem: Dressmaker and Poet, Myra Viola Wilds by Nancy Johnson James; illus. by Diana EjaitaPrimary    Cameron/Abrams    32 pp.1/25    9781951836535    $18.99e-book ed.  9798887070674    $17.09James introduces young readers to the life and work of Myra Viola Wilds (1875–1935), a Black woman who became a renowned dress designer...
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2025 Summer Reading List

Find annotations, interview, and more, here.    Picture Books Suggested grade level for all entries: PS–2   Wind Watchers by Micha Archer (Paulsen/Penguin) A Sleepless Night by Micaela Chirif; illus. by Joaquín Camp; trans. from Spanish by Jordan Landsman (Transit) Duckie & Snaps: We Cannot Be Friends by Ame Dyckman; illus. by Tim Miller (Orchard/Scholastic)...

2025 Summer Reading: High School

Picture Books | Beginning Readers and Primary Grades | Intermediate | Middle School   High School Suggested grade level for all entries: 9 and up   Sọmadịna by Akwaeke Emezi (Knopf) Fifteen-year-old Sọmadịna’s beloved twin brother, Jayaike, is stolen away by a sinister figure who aims to consume the twins’...
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