The year’s range of Jewish holidays and celebrations are presented in this repeating, rhyming chant that features key succinct elements for each...Both lovely and eminently useful.
This little bit of bedtime foolery feels a little incomplete, but it should strike a chord—and it’s far wittier than the similarly themed Go the Fuck to Sleep.
Plotting is Thompson’s forte – she deftly handles a thread in which Nate and Kitty solve clues from a decades-old treasure hunt, and her drip-feeding of details about Gary’s nastiness and Kitty’s tragic backstory had me rushing to turn the page. Less successful are Thompson’s dips into magical realism.
This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez, an honoree.
By mixing panels with and without text, Porcellino creates a poetic alternation of words and silences that effectively draws the reader into Thoreau’s point of view.
Colfer and Donkin don’t shy away from the cost of these journeys and some children will find the story upsetting. But this is a book for adults too. These stories must be heard.
Though the subject matter of the memoir is heavy, Silber’s tone is full of optimism and irreverence, effectively keeping readers engaged as they travel through their darkest thoughts.
The author’s faux-naïve illustrations, showing both humans and marks in a range of skin shades, are bright and fairly bounce off the page. Solid information presented with humor and energy.
If you are not of the scientifically-minded supernerd persuasion, this might very well be the book for you. There are definitely jumping-off points for discussions on women in STEM, ethics in science, and proper scientific procedures. The formula looked good — but I wish the book hadn't felt so formulaic in its execution.
...a young girl embarks on a mission with new friends to save and share her late mother’s unpublished manuscripts...A frank, moving observation of a young daughter remembering her mother with purpose and strength.
From Twinkle, With Love is one of those novels that is a genuine pleasure to read. It's so engaging that it's impossible to put down. I laughed, I cried, I skipped dinner without realizing it. I hereby give this novel two thumbs up, and declare it to be better than Cats.
Though the story is long and of another era, Henry’s touching account of young love at Christmas has an enduring appeal.
Yet underneath the humor and the camp, the story has heart. It poignantly presents a family’s struggle to adjust to the passing of a loved one, and it offers subtle insights into parenting, presented from a middle school perspective...
With all the trappings of straightforward horror, this tale kicks down genre doors to become a glowing adventure.
...The Valley at the Centre of the World is perhaps his strangest book of all: a novel in which almost nothing happens, and in which everything changes.
“Endling the Last” is perhaps not quite so perfect a book as “The One and Only Ivan.” In reaching for wild adventure, a big cast of characters and a complex fantasy world, Applegate has sacrificed a little poetry and clarity. But if it sometimes feels a little messy, it also feels triumphant.
Humans in the photos are diverse, as are Holinaty’s cartoon figures of space-suited young travelers. Tickets (not to mention affordable ones) may still be a few years off…but it’s never too soon to start planning.
There is nothing new under the fantasy sun, of course, and The Lifters is a familiar kind of tale for eight to 12-year-olds, one where a family’s unhappiness is reflected in a dark power that threatens to destroy everything. Yet there is a distinctly original feel to the way it’s told that sets it above many other examples of the genre.
Pitched at tweens, Neill’s prose throughout is usually well-paced and richly textured, with a nice balance of vigorous action (“a leopard leapt out at her, swinging its claws and grinning a terrible, hungry smile full of sharp teeth”) and Aesopian moralizing...An entertaining, piquant set of fantastical yarns.
After time spent at a water park and in a car chase, the narrative ties several threads together in a remarkable bow, highlighting the role of hard work in life. Whip-smart plotting makes this adventure an ideal romp.