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August 27, 2014

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Bellweather Rhapsody

Bellweather Rhapsody

A mystery that takes place during a high school music festival set in an old resort hotel during a snowstorm? The Bellweather is certainly less terrifying than The Overlook of The Shining fame, but it holds its own secrets–especially room 712. In the introduction to her novel’s playlist on Largehearted Boy, Kate Racculia shares that she played the bassoon [...]

Mixed-Race Relationships

Mixed-Race Relationships

Today we have two stand-out novels involving race and immigration that are told from multiple points of view. Both involve the weight of parental expectations. Everything I Never Told You is Celeste Ng‘s debut novel, and our starred review joins other stars from LJ, Booklist and PW.  This is a dysfunctional family story in which [...]

Novels about the One Percent

Novels about the One Percent

Today we have two very different novels that feature the lives of the uber-wealthy. I love Jamie Watson’s reference to Brideshead Revisited in her starred review of The Last Enchantments. I was completely obsessed with that novel when we read it in senior year English, and I think the fact that I never fully understood [...]

Fusenews: Blink and you’ll miss it

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Hey all!  Before I dive into the oddities of the world in which we live, I just wanted to give a bit of a shout out to two distinct groups that allowed me to sprawl my librarian self all over their respective gatherings.  First up, credit and love to Nancy Castaldo and all the folks [...]

The Lucy Variations

The Lucy Variations, Sara Zarr Little, Brown Books For Young Readers, May 2013 Reviewed from ARC If you stop doing the thing that defined you and made you special for most of your life, who are you and can you ever move on? The Lucy Variations is a meditation on the classic young adult themes of [...]

Weekly Reviews: Literary Mysteries

Gavin Extence’s debut novel earns today’s starred review. This is a unique book, which will be especially popular with the many fans of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and with Kurt Vonnegut readers. Every year, when I booktalk to my students, they bring up Haddon’s novel. It is still a widespread [...]

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List | August 2013

How to Train a Train (Eaton)
©2013 by John Rocco.

On trains, cooking, and volcanoes.

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List | June 2013

Inside Outside (Boyd)

Novels by Holly Black, Cynthia Kadohata, Rita Williams-Garcia, and others.

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List | May 2013

Odd Duck (Castellucci). ©2013 by Sara Varon

May, a month of “ducky” stars.

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List | April 2013

That Is Not a Good Idea! (Willems) ©2013 by Mo Willems.

This month’s star listings include That is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems, among others.

Making Contact With the Outside World

I don’t know about other librarians, but when it comes to book reviews, I find it easy to get bogged down in the world of the library journals and book blogs by fellow librarians.  So today I decided I wanted to take a look at what the rest of the world is saying about some [...]

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List: March 2013

The Highway Rat (Donaldson) ©2013 by Axel Scheffler.

Check out SLJ’s Stars list. From Julia Donaldson’s “The Highway Rat” to Gail Carriger’s “Etiquette & Espionage.” There’s something for everyone.

Horn Book Magazine March/April starred reviews

The following books will receive starred reviews in the March/April issue of the Horn Book Magazine. Incidentally, this is also our annual special issue; the theme this year is “Different Drummers” with a ground-breaking (for us, anyway) cover by Paul Zelinsky (whose absence from the recent Caldecott announcement marks a Dark Day in that award’s [...]

The post Horn Book Magazine March/April starred reviews appeared first on The Horn Book.

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List: February 2013

Exclamation Mark (Rosenthal) ©2013  by Tom Lichtenheld

Check out this month’s listing of stars! WOW!

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List: January 2013

Henry and the Cannons (Brown), ©2013 illustration by Don Brown

Henry and the Cannons (Brown), ©2013 illustration by Don Brown

Preschool to Grade 4

AHLBERG , Allan. The Goldilocks Variations . illus. by Jessica Ahlberg. Candlewick. p. 74.

BROWN , Don. Henry and the Cannons . illus. by author. Roaring Brook. Jan. 2013. p. 89.

BRYANT , Jen. A Splash of Red . illus. by Melissa Sweet. Knopf. Jan. 2013. p. 89.

HALPERIN , Wendy Anderson. Peace. illus. by author. S & S/Atheneum. Jan. 2013. p. 92.

HELQUIST , Brett. Grumpy Goat. illus. by author. HarperCollins/Harper. Jan. 2013. p. 78.

JEFFERS , Oliver. This Moose Belongs [...]

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List: December 2012

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Sleep Like a Tiger (Logue), Illustration by Pamela Zagarenski

Preschool to Grade 4

FYLEMAN , Rose. Mice . illus. by Lois Ehlert. S & S/Beach Lane. 2012. p. 90.

HANLON , Abby. Ralph Tells a Story. illus. by author. Amazon. 2012. p. 91.

LOGUE , Mary. Sleep Like a Tiger . illus. by Pamela Zagarenski. Houghton Harcourt. 2012. p. 94.

OBED , Ellen Bryan. T welve Kinds of Ice. illus. by Barbara McClintock. Houghton Harcourt. 2012. p. 96.

SMITH , Lane. Abe Lincoln’s Dream. illus. by author. Roaring Brook. 2012. p. 100.

Book/Multimedia Review Stars List: November 2012

Colorful Dreamer (PARKER) ©2010 by Holly Berry

Colorful Dreamer (PARKER) ©2010 by Holly Berry

Preschool to Grade 4

BERK , Ari. Nightsong. illus. by Loren Long. S & S. p. 70.

COLE , Henry. Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad. illus. by author. Scholastic. Nov. 2012. p. 70.

DALY , Niki. The Herd Boy. illus. by author. Eerdmans. p. 71.

GORDON , Domenica More. Archie. illus. by author. Bloomsbury. Nov. 2012. p. 76. [...]

October 2012 Reviews: Stars List

The Monsters’ Monster (McDonnell)
Illustration by Patrick McDonnell.

The Monsters’ Monster (McDonnell)Illustration by Patrick McDonnell.

Preschool to Grade 4

ASIM, Jabari. Fifty Cents and a Dream. illus. by Bryan Collier. Little, Brown. Dec. 2012. p. 110.

ASTON, Dianna Hutts. A Rock Is Lively. illus. by Sylvia Long. Chronicle. p. 111.

BANKS, Kate. The Bear in the Book. illus. by Greg Hallensleben. Farrar/Frances Foster. Oct. 2012. p. 88.

BARRETT, Judi. Santa from Cincinnati. illus. by Kevin Hawkes. S [...]

November/December starred reviews

The following books will receive starred reviews in the November/December 2012 issue of The Horn Book Magazine: What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?; by Debi Gliori (Walker) Little Tug; by Stephen Savage (Porter/Roaring Brook) Abe Lincoln’s Dream; by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook) Pinned; by Sharon G. Flake (Scholastic) My Book of Life by Angel; by Martine Leavitt (Ferguson/Farrar) Starry River of the Sky; by Grace Lin (Little, Brown) [...]

September 2012 Reviews: Stars List

Interior Image from, Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! (Marsalis)

Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! (Marsalis)©2012 Illustration by Paul Rogers

Preschool to Grade 4

FERRIS, Jerri Chase. Noah Webster & His Words. illus. by Vincent X. Kirsch. Houghton Harcourt. Oct. 2012. p. 129.

HOPKINSON, Deborah. Annie and Helen. illus. by Raul Colón. Random/Schwartz & Wade Bks. Sept. 2012. p. 130.

HATKE, Ben. Legends of Zita the Spacegirl. illus. by author. First Second. Sept. 2012. p. 171.

KLASSEN, Jon. This Is Not My Hat. [...]
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