The Kite That Bridged Two Nations by Alexis O’Neill, illustrated by Terry Widener (Calkins Creek, 2013) On January 31, 1848, against tremendous odds, young Homan Walsh flew his kite across the Niagara River, two and half miles north of Niagara Falls. The half-inch cord attached to Homan’s kite became the first line connecting the United States… Read more »
Book Room
Radio Girl by Carol Brendler
Author Carol Brender’s debut novel Radio Girl, set in 1938, is the cat’s meow. In it, she has captured the lively spirit of Cece Maloney, a young woman destined to become a radio broadcast celebrity. Cece will have nothing of the boring, hum-drum life that her mother and older sister lead. Instead she’s determined to… Read more »
The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, The Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel by Deborah Hopkinson
In a setting reminiscent of Dicken’s Oliver Twist, Deborah Hopkinson’s The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, The Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2013) is a gripping tale about a community stricken with a horrid plague and the brilliant doctor who discovered the source of trouble. The story is… Read more »
Ode to Halloween!
Halloween is the perfect time of year to shower young people with ghoushily fun books. Instead of cracking open a bag of candy, hit your local bookstore and discover all kinds of haunting treats to drop into young readers’ bags. In the theme of Halloween, we’re highlighting two books but there are scads of scary… Read more »
Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad
AFRICA IS MY HOME: A CHILD OF THE AMISTAD (Candlewick, 2103) by Monica Edinger, illustrated by Robert Byrd Monica Edinger skillfully – and delightfully – tells an extraordinary story through the voice of a young girl who experiences an extraordinary journey. Illustrator Robert Byrd fills the pages with detailed images that expand the text to further engage and… Read more »
Princess Posey and the Christmas Magic
In Princess Posey and the Christmas Magic (Putnam, 2103), first grade protagonist Posey is beginning to mature. In this book, the seventh in the series, author Stephanie Greene and illustrator Stephanie Roth Sisson masterfully present some challenging emotional issues for Posey to ponder. Not only does she desire for Santa to bring her a highly unrealistic Christmas… Read more »
Prisoner 88
PRISONER 88 by Leah Pileggi (Charlesbridge, 2013) In 2007, debut novelist Leah Pileggi toured the Idaho Penitentiary in Boise, Idaho. She discovered that the youngest prisoner incarcerated had been ten years old in the 1880s. Caught in a wave of disbelief, she was inspired by the boy’s story. She knew she wanted to write about… Read more »
