May 22, 2013

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Pick of the Day: Zebra Forest

birch trees, arrow in foreground with Zebra Forest on it

A novel about two siblings and their presumed-dear father that captures the nuances of family dynamics in spare prose

Pick of the Day: Courage Has No Color (Audio)

courage has no color

Learn about the Triple Nickles, a group of unsung African-American soldiers who became part of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion during World War II in the starred audiobook review of Courage Has No Color, written by Tanya Lee Stone and narrated by JD Jackson.

Hans Christian Andersen Award Nominees Announced | News Bites

hans christian anderson award logo

The Hans Christian Andersen Award shortlist has been revealed; the Christopher Awards names six winners in the Books for Young People category; and Shmoop, a publisher of digital curriculum and test prep, is offering a new SAT math practice tool—Math Shack. All of this and more in this week’s News Bites column.

Review: Black Helicopters

Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston. Candlewick Press. 2013. Reviewed from ARC from publisher. The Plot: “I’m Valkyrie White. I’m fifteen. Your government killed my family.” Valley has been bathed, so that she doesn’t smell of wood smoke and instead smells like other teen girls. Valley has been dressed, in jeans and a T-shirt and a hoodie, [...]

Pick of the Day: Look Up!

Look Up! in large letters on left

A fun and informative guide to observing and sketching birds

Pick of the Day: Sky Color (DVD)

sky color

The starred DVD version of Peter H. Reynold’s picture book, Sky Color , celebrates art and the power of creative thinking and is a wonderful prelude to a class art project.

Pick of the Day: Personal Effects (Audiobook)

Sepia tone book cover with teen

The expert narration coupled with a powerful and heartfelt story make E.M. Kokie’s Personal Effects audiobook a must-have for all high school and public library collections.

Pick of the Day: The Goldilocks Variations

bands of pastel colors

AHLBERG, Allan. The Goldilocks Variations. illus. by Jessica Ahlberg. 40p. Candlewick. 2012. RTE $17.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6268-4.
PreS-Gr 2
–With whimsical illustrations and interactive features such as flaps, pop-ups, and pull tabs, the Ahlbergs showcase six silly variations on the classic tale. The standout of the bunch has the heroine wandering into the “trood (or spaceship) of The Three Bliim.” Full of silly alien words, the tale begs to be read aloud. In other adventures, Goldilocks takes on 33 bears, the furniture (chair, [...]

Review of the Day – Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made By Stephan Pastis Candlewick Press $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-6050-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves February 26th Call it the attack of the syndicated cartoonists. For whatever reason, in the year 2013 we are seeing droves of escapees from the comic strip pages leaping from the burning remains of the newspaper industry into [...]

Teaser: Quintana of Charyn

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta (Candlewick Press, 2013) will be published April 2013. My full review will appear then; in the meanwhile, my tease — and tease it is — is I loved Quintana and loved this conclusion to the Lumatere series. You’ll be seeing this as a Favorite Books Read in 2013. Reviewed from [...]

Pick of the Day: Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers

courage has no color

STONE, Tanya Lee. Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers. 160p. appendix. bibliog. chron. notes. photos. reprods. Candlewick. Jan. 2013. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5117-6; ebook $24.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6405-3.
Gr 5 Up
–A moving, thoughtful history of the United States military’s first black paratrooper unit. During World War II, African American soldiers were mostly relegated to service and security jobs, generally denied the same training and active-combat positions that were available to their white counterparts. [...]

Pick of the Day: Splendors & Glooms (Audiobook)

Audiobook cover- kids on puppet strings with red background

Splendors & Glooms. By Laura Amy Schlitz. 10 cassettes or 10 CDs. 12 hrs. Recorded Books. 2012. cassette: ISBN 978-1-4498-3568-2, CD: ISBN 978-1-4498-3572-9. $108.75
Gr 4-8–Set in a Dickensian London, Davina Porter is the perfect narrator to capture the nuances of the characters and the time period in Schlitz’s exceptional Victorian fantasy (Candlewick, 2012). Listeners will ache for the orphan children, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, when they come up with money after pawning a watch. Should they have a proper meal [...]

Beyond Courage

Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust by Doreen Rappaport Candlewick, September 2012 Reviewed from an ARC With five starred reviews, this was an easy auto-contenda to spot. Rappaport looks at the active, heroic roles Jewish people played during the years of the Holocaust. She shares 21 stories — many involving [...]

Pick of the Day: See You at Harry’s (Audiobook)

Finished milkshake on blue checkered tablecloth

See You at Harry’s. By Jo Knowles. 5 CDs. 5:49 hrs. Brilliance Audio. 2012. ISBN 978-1-4558-8958-7. $49.97.
Gr 7 Up–Twelve-year-old Fern is quiet and conciliatory, and often taken for granted. Left to take care of whatever the rest of the family members are too busy to deal with, she feels alone and resentful. Dad is constantly trying to boost business for the family restaurant, Mom is always escaping to meditate, Sarah is spending an embarrassing post-high school gap year working in [...]

December Blahs

One of the things I find frustrating about this blogging thing is the December blahs. At this point in the game, I have a sense of what the year has brought us. I’m not a seer, so I don’t know what books will take the RealPrintz (and judging by last year, don’t listen even if [...]

Review of the Day: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

Splendors and Glooms
By Laura Amy Schlitz
Candlewick Press
$17.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5380-4
Ages 10 and up
On shelves now.
Do you remember that moment in the film version of The Princess Bride where the grandfather is trying to convince his stubborn grandson that the book he’s about to read is fantastic? He lures the kid in by saying the book [...]

Review of the Day: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

Splendors and Glooms By Laura Amy Schlitz Candlewick Press $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5380-4 Ages 10 and up On shelves now. Do you remember that moment in the film version of The Princess Bride where the grandfather is trying to convince his stubborn grandson that the book he’s about to read is fantastic? He lures the kid [...]

Review of the Day – Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover by Cece Bell

Child-with-CellPhone_147274323

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover
By Cece Bell
Candlewick Press
$14.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5475-7
Ages 5-8
On shelves now
It would be simpler if kids read at exact levels at all times. Wouldn’t it be grand if you had a kid go strategically from easy books to early chapter books to older chapter books without so much as a glitch in [...]

Review of the Day – Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover by Cece Bell

Child-with-CellPhone_147274323

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover
By Cece Bell
Candlewick Press
$14.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5475-7
Ages 5-8
On shelves now
It would be simpler if kids read at exact levels at all times. Wouldn’t it be grand if you had a kid go strategically from easy books to early chapter books to older chapter books without so much as a glitch in [...]

Nonfiction roundup

Well, perhaps less of a round up than an offering of two books — two books that I don’t think will go the distance in PrintzLand (although of course only time will tell). We’re looking at the Freedman book on Lincoln and Douglass and the Aronson book on J. Edgar Hoover. My problems with each [...]
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