Reviews
Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature's Undead
“An apropos tie-in with pop culture…[Zombie Makers] slays reader apathy from the first glimpse of the cover art.”—VOYA View →
Oh! If Only...
“Foreman’s minimal text sometimes tumbles and dances across the page, and his watercolor-and-pastel illustrations capture both motion and dumbstruck faces hilariously. A blithe romp.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
“Given its slightly sarcastic tone, it should find a willing audience among upper middle school through high school students and would make an excellent addition to career/job search collections.”—School Library Journal View →
Cheesecake for Shavuot
“Cheesecake for Shavuot is the fourth in Allison Ofanansky’s nature/holiday series that includes Harvest of Light, What’s the Buzz, and Sukkot Treasure Hunt. The text is illustrated with beautiful color photographs. The class begins by planting… View →
Rise & Shine: A Challah-Day Tale
“While playing dress-up in the attic with her brother Sammy, Sophie discovers a crumpled piece of paper in an old apron pocket. Unable to read the strange words, Sophie and Sammy rush to Shalom House to ask Grandma Gert for a translation. The scribbles turn out to be an old family… View →
The Missing Cuckoo Clock: A Mystery about Gravity
Predominantly instructional, but light enough not to sink beneath the weight of its purpose." —Kirkus Reviews View →
Thank You, Trees!
“In this charming story, people of different ages, gender, and races plant and take care of trees and enjoy their bounty. The lively illustrations portray people enjoying various activities, like climbing trees, having a Tu B’shevat picnic, singing, dancing, recycling, and swinging View →
Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball
“Well researched with material artifacts and primary sources, this classic story is boosted significantly by big, blocky, muscular illustrations in muted tones that effortlessly mix tongue-in-cheek whimsy with serious action. Anybody who plays the game or watches it ought to find… View →
It's a Mitzvah, Grover!
“With broom in hand, Grover joins his Rechov Sumsum friends Brosh, Avigail, and Mahboub in doing a mitzvah by cleaning up storm debris cluttering their playground. Working together, the amiable group picks up all the trash. Before applying a fresh coat of paint to the… View →
The Future We Left Behind
“[A] stimulating read well worth contemplating.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books View →
Overexposed
Series Review: While fairly short and to the point, this series of low-reading-level, high-interest fiction titles are interesting to read and worth having in any teen collection. The topics covered are hard hitting, controversial, and may fill a need in most teen collections. Each… View →
Thank You, Trees!
“This charming celebration of Tu B’Shevat marries Jewish tradition with contemporary environmentalism in a celebration of trees, reflecting the way the winter holiday is celebrated today in much of Israel. ‘On Tu B’Shevat/We thank each tree/For all it gives/To you and… View →
My Happy Life
“To understand the true meaning and value of resilience, look no further than the 20 brief chapters of this early reader…beautifully translated into spare, lyrical prose….As Eriksson’s emotionally astute and often endearingly funny pencil drawings show, Dani does… View →
My Happy Life
“To understand the true meaning and value of resilience, look no further than the 20 brief chapters of this early reader…beautifully translated into spare, lyrical prose….As Eriksson’s emotionally astute and often endearingly funny pencil drawings show, Dani does… View →
Stones for Grandpa
“Writing a picture book about grief is a difficult job; Londner accomplishes it by writing about something else: life. This is a story that works because it has more detail than necessary. When the narrator is remembering his grandfather, he’s very… View →
The Sin-Eater's Confession
“Bick (Drowning Instinct) crafts a powerful tale of bigotry and murder in small-town Wisconsin….a potent examination of teenage emotions and reactions to peer and parental pressures, and to the evil that people are capable of.” —starred, Publishers Weekly View →
The Cats on Ben Yehuda Street
“A pleasant cat-loving elderly woman and her grumpy neighbor, a fishmonger who does not love the feline crowd, find friendship nonetheless. Mr. Modiano’s fish market on Ben Yehuda Street in Tel Aviv is popular with stray cats looking for discards, despite the cold… View →
The Purim Superhero
“People forget that Superman is an alien. This book is a reminder that that’s the source of his strength. Here’s a secret that isn’t taught in school: Everyone has a superpower. It might be drawing monsters or kindness to strangers or the ability to read an unusual number of View →
Cheesecake for Shavuot
“An appealing photo essay follows Israeli children as they work in their school garden and kitchen. Color photographs, in close-up detail, capture a teacher and her middle-grade students as they plant wheat in the fall and watch it grow with the help of winter rains. In the spring, View →
Sex & Violence
“Sex & Violence is never what it seems. It never goes where you expect it will. It is funny, scary, brutal, and tender. It is an honest meditation on masculinity. And, it’s all delivered through the eyes of a damaged, genius-of-a-boy, Evan Carter, who you hope… View →
Quicksilver
“Anderson’s strong characters and rare knack for weaving contemporary realism and emotional authenticity into hard science fiction should keep even readers in the know engaged.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
No Baths at Camp
“Max insists that he never took a bath the entire time he was at summer camp. When Mom announces bathtime, Max gives her a complete account of all his adventures, with lots of grimy details, from Sunday to Saturday of each week. There’s rock climbing, theatrics, marshmallow… View →
A Marked Man: The Assassination of Malcolm X
“Doeden thoroughly explores… the circumstances of Malcolm’s assassination, the trial and conviction of the killers, and the rumors of conspiracies and coverups that persist. A brief but impressively insightful and engaging overview of the life and assassination of… View →
Sex & Violence
“This is one hell of an impressive debut, filled with a pervasive undercurrent of fear, tension, and uncertainty you get from staring down into the deepest, darkest, coldest lake. Sex & Violence deserves shelf space alongside the classics of adolescent-themed… View →