Reviews
Draw the Dark
“Bick’s ambitious, intelligent, and relentlessly dark novel is a notable achievement. . . . Patient readers will be well rewarded. Gut-punch of an ending, too.” —Booklist View →
Changing Moon: Book 1
“MiniKim’s settings have a European flavor that is refreshing amid a sea of American and Japanese comics. Her characters are young but still look old enough for tween girls to identify with. A behind-the-scenes section offers an informative and funny glimpse into how the… View →
The Drained Brains Caper: Book 1
“Page’s black-and-white cartooning has a loose manga slant, with peppy goofiness popping out from stippled screen tones. . . . Heroic zaniness abounds, and in the end, Megan, Raf, and Bradley the dog decide to jump into the private-eye business. There’s little doubt… View →
Score!: The Action and Artistry of Hockey's Magnificent Moment
“Following the same formula they’ve honed in Long Ball (2006), Swish (2009), Touchdown (2009), and Goal! (2010), Stewart and Kennedy take readers on a chatty, photo-studded tour of the art of scoring in the rink. . . . Hockey is creeping up View →
Stephenie Meyer: Dreaming of Twilight
“The Lifeline Biographies series, which is produced with access to USA Today‘s archives, does a fantastic job of creating biographies that are both informative and eye-catching. Moreover, their subjects are of substantial interest to… View →
Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride
There are a number of books about the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, but very few are set in Israel. This story is based on the trip of the first train from Jerusalem to Jaffa in 1897, shortening the time between the coast and the city from three days to three hours. Cohen turns this… View →
Vacation's Over!: Return of the Dinosaurs
“With the cover illustration of a T-rex arriving at the airport sporting a Hawaiian print shirt and a Mickey Mouse–type hat, this won’t spend much time on the shelf.” —Booklist View →
The Freak Observer
“Woolston’s talent for dialogue and her unique approach to scenes makes what sounds standard about this story feel fresh and vital. . . . A strong debut about learning to see yourself apart from the reflection you cast off.”—Booklist View →
“Cheerful mixed-media artwork illustrates this light appealing story.”—Booklist View →
Sonia Sotomayor: First Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Justice
“Simply and attractively designed, the book is illustrated with color snapshots and posed photos of Sotomayor, her family, the schools she attended, and other people and places mentioned in the text. . . . A good starting place for young people curious about Justice… View →
Guinea Dog
“Jennings injects magic realism into a story filled with believable yet flawed characters, resulting in a satisfying story….[A] good choice for readers making the transition to chapter books.” —Booklist View →
Raised by Wolves
“[A]n appealing addition to the ranks of contemporary fantasy-horror.” —Booklist View →
A Tale of Two Seders
“Portnoy . . . writes with empathy and humor of this common situation. . . . Cis’ brightly colored artwork is filled with holiday details.”—Booklist View →
Benno and the Night of Broken Glass
“It is not easy to tell young kids the horrifying truth about the Holocaust, but this picture book is a good place to start.”—Booklist View →
Feivel's Flying Horses
“Van der Sterre’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations offer a pleasantly nostalgic look at life in New York’s Lower East Side and Brooklyn’s Coney Island during the late 1800s. The scenes are rich with street details and the beautifully crafted horses.”—Booklist View →
Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story
“Clear, vivid photos give this simple introduction to composting a realistic look that makes the process look downright doable.”—Booklist View →
“[T]his book hits all the right notes.”—Booklist View →
Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is an Adjective?
“[A] fast, fun, and rhythmical [series].”—Booklist Online View →
Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story
“Clear, vivid photos give this simple introduction to composting a realistic look that makes the process look downright doable. . . It’s good to find a book that treats worms, mold, and rot in a matter-of-fact way, without exploiting the ‘ick’ factor.” View →
Do I Need It? Or Do I Want It?: Making Budget Choices
“Few books about money issues aim for a very young audience, and this title in the new Exploring Economics series does it well in a friendly, interactive, question-and answer format about getting money, spending it, and saving it. . . . [P]ractical options and the hands-on examples View →
Does It Really Take Seven Years to Digest Swallowed Gum?: And Other Questions You've Always Wanted to Ask
“[S]cience and mathematics don’t come in a much slyer package, and an engaging layout with full-bleed pages, dynamic photos, and cartoony drawings makes it all the more fun. This is a rare sort of book that will add pizzazz to science classes.”—Booklist View →
Hot Pursuit: Murder in Mississippi
“In this short, gripping book, the authors juxtapose chapters that are fictional, centering on this tense decision, with chapters that explain the background of the segregated South and the civil-rights movement. The photo-realist style of the full-color illustrations ratchets up… View →
The Punctuation Station
“The young audience will enjoy learning the concepts as they pore over the details in the cheerful, wittily detailed cartoon art. . . . [O]verall, this offers a fun entry point to the rules of punctuation.”—Booklist View →
The Meeting: Book 1
“Quality translation and art production, along with a hardcover binding that lies flat, are details that suggest this book can be a popular mainstay in collections for a long time. A delight on many levels, it is also big enough to share with small groups and detailed enough to… View →