Grandfather Gandhi by Arun Gandhi with Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Evan Turk (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2014) is Arun’s story about living on the Sevagram with his grandfather, the Mahatma Gandhi. The Sevagram in India is dirty and dusty. Young Arun doesn’t like eating mushy, boiled pumpkin. He doesn’t speak Gujarati well, and he… Read more »
New & Noteworthy
Accepting your friends for who they are
Odd Weird & Little, by Patrick Jennings (Egmont, 2014) Woodrow has always born the brunt of the bullying from Garret and Hubcap, two boys in his fourth grade class. Until the day that Toulouse arrives, that is. Toulouse is little. Very little. He wears suits with vests and big glasses over his huge round eyes…. Read more »
The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson (Chronicle Books, 2014) Josephine is not your usual picture book. Nor is her story the typical subject matter of a children’s biography. And yet, Josephine will dazzle readers. This extraordinary book chronicles Josephine Baker’s life from her birth in “honky-tonk town… Read more »
Under the Freedom Tree
UNDER THE FREEDOM TREE by Susan VanHecke, illustrated by London Ladd (Charlesbridge, 2014) Under the Freedom Tree tells the story of three runaway Confederate slaves who steal away under night’s blanket of protection and row their weathered skiff to the Union side. They’re seeking freedom, a chance to build a life for themselves, but if… Read more »
Pinkbeard’s Revenge (The Adventures of Jo Schmo)
The Adventures of Jo Schmo: Pinkbeard’s Revenge by Greg Trine, art by Frank W. Dormer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013) Fourth Grade Superhero, Jo Schmo, speeds through the streets of San Francisco with her dog Raymond ready to take-on trouble at a moment’s notice. This time around, the nasty Dr. Dastardly, his accomplice Numb Skull, and a… Read more »
Little Santa by Jon Agee
Little Santa by Jon Agee (Dial, 2013) Did you ever wonder what Santa was like as a small child? It certainly couldn’t have been easy growing up in the uppermost reaches of the northern hemisphere. As author/illlustrator Jon Agee tells it, “Life was tough in the North Pole. Every day there was … wood to… Read more »
A middle grade stocking stuffer
SOPHIE HARTLEY AND THE FACTS OF LIFE, by Stephanie Greene (Clarion Books 2013) There comes a time in every young girl’s life … well … Sophie Hartley calls it “P-U-berty” and doesn’t want anything to do with it. What with curious friends and competitive fifth graders all vying to know what’s in the movie, however,… Read more »
