Reviews
A Card for My Mom
“Yellow highlighting lends Kapur’s digitally painted pencil drawings a sunny look that suits the child’s bright-eyed appreciations. Though a store-bought card with Mom’s ‘happy brown face smiling sweetly at me’ never materializes, a DIY… View →
Saif's Special Patches
“Past successes sewn into a precious quilt help a boy to work through self-doubt in this reassuring picture book about growth taking time. . . In smudgy, pastel-textured illustrations, Sader portrays key moments past and present alongside Saif’s unreservedly earnest… View →
String Ball
“Crafting meets cat curiosity in this purr-fectly elegant, nearly wordless story from Monroe.”—Publishers Weekly View →
Dreams to Ashes: The 1871 Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre
“Fire-oriented metaphors that hint at the coming conflagration describe growing tensions, while Xu’s thick-lined ink and digital media illustrations incorporate images of fire, smoke, and sparks.”—Publishers Weekly View →
The Black Mambas: The World's First All-Woman Anti-Poaching Unit
“An earnest, enthusiastic tribute to the world’s first all-woman anti-poaching unit.”—Publishers Weekly View →
The Girl Who Couldn't Lie
“While Priya’s desperation to remove the bangle drives this rollicking read by Sanghani the protagonist’s loved ones’ understanding of her feelings and willingness to offer their own truths adds a layer of introspection and warmth.”—Publishers Weekly View →
The Pecan Sheller
“Using short chapters with quick pacing, Ruiz-Flores (Piece by Piece) unveils intimate and well-researched depictions of the Pecan Shellers Strike of 1938 and its impact on Mexican descendants and beyond.”—starred, Publishers Weekly View →
The Big Tournament: Book 1
“Gheluwe pairs imaginative depictions of alien ingredients and futuristic kitchen tools with expressive character designs; dynamic compositions heighten both the tension of time-bound cooking challenges and the joy of artistic expression, while color shifts underscore the… View →
The Red Car to Hollywood
“Centering female perspectives—such as Ruby’s ruminations on her mother’s own marriage, her witnessing Anna’s attempts to break Hollywood glass ceilings, and her recovering from sexual assault at the hands of a powerful individual—serves to showcase myriad… View →
Ellis Island Passover
“The book is as much about the importance of family stories as it is about Passover, underscoring how personal narratives can deepen and sustain heritage.”—Publishers Weekly View →
Passover on Everest
“Orback’s drawings, which combine the feel of documentary photographs with a comics-style digital effect, capture both the grandeur of the setting and the deep human connections that define the holiday.”—Publishers Weekly View →
And, Too, the Fox
“In soaring lines of poetry that feel as graceful as the creature they describe, Limón (In Praise of Mystery) considers a fox seen in a fenced backyard . . . The sense of having entered the world of a wild animal for a few unexpected moments lingers in this refreshing… View →
Here Goes Nothing
“Readers will root for high schooler Beatrice to get out of her own way and find happiness in this entertaining reimagining of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. . . Knowledge of Shakespeare isn’t necessary to appreciate this drama-filled enemies-to-lovers… View →
Slippery, Spicy, Tingly: A Kimchi Mystery
“Choi’s imaginative Keo offers a well-reasoned foil to the actions of “slippery, spicy, and tingly as kimchi” Halmoni, while acrylic and colored pencil illustrations, finished digitally, depict the family activities in warm hues and imagined fantastical events in… View →
Make a Little Wave
“Via empathetic depictions of her actions—through which Sav makes more than a little wave—O’Malley Cerra (Just a Drop of Water) illustrates how diplomacy and team-building get the job done.”—Publishers Weekly View →
The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets
“Dynamic mixed-media artwork from López (Sylvie and the Wolf) offers energetic visual support for each poem in an anthology packed with a broad spectrum of human emotion and experience.”—starred, Publishers Weekly View →
Bear's Lost Glasses
“Readers get to enjoy their own comparative outlook, the silliness of Bear’s near-misses, and the satisfaction of a running gag resolved.”—Publishers Weekly View →
Oy, Santa!: Or, There's a Latke to Learn about Hanukkah
“Clever, knowing, and unique in its enthusiasm for the integrity of the holiday, this story is for readers who find themselves cast in the role of Hanukkah explainer.”—Publishers Weekly View →
One Wise Sheep: An Untraditional Christmas Story
“Through humorous third-person narration that purposefully occludes the size of the flock, Duck’s Backyard collaborators Hub and Mühle explore Christmas through the lens of a bonded animal family in this unique and sweet holiday tale.”—starred, Publishers… View →
Charley and Seymour's Hanukkah Miracle
“Readers may suspect they’re celebrating not just the story of Hanukkah, but also the wonder of their friendship.” —Publisher’s Weekly View →
Kwame Votes
“Hampton’s unlined illustrations are dominated by blue, with stripes and stars adding thematic emphasis to this straightforward work of civic participation.” View →
We Shall Not Be Denied: A Timeline of Voting Rights and Suppression in America
“A smart and succinct work, a straightforward guide to the history of voting rights in the U.S.”—Publishers Weekly View →
Cake for Everyone
“Pleasingly fragmented and comically cohesive, spreads rendered in fine lines follow the antics, making for a set of brain-teasing mini-quests that invite readers to consider who arrived first, what belonged to whom, and how they’ll all arrive at the titular… View →
The Rule of Three
“Capps incorporates real-life events—as discussed in an author’s note—to tell an illuminating tale that utilizes a physical manifestation of trauma to effectively demonstrate the compounding results of racism across generations.”—Publishers Weekly View →