WHAT YOU KNOW FIRST by Patricia MacLachlan, engravings by Barry Moser (Joanna Cotler Books 1995) This book has been a favorite of mine for years. Its lyrical, poetic voice is soothing and hopeful, yet the pain of moving away from all that the young narrator has known is palpable. The story begins, “I could/If I… Read more »
Book Room
Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World
There are some pretty amazing schools around the world and many are thanks to the vision of some equally amazing people. When most of us think of elementary school, the ones we attended as children or the ones our own children attend, odds are what comes to mind are nicely kept buildings filled with books,… Read more »
Guys Read: Thriller
What do you get when a crazy guy like Jon Scieszka edits a collection of ten suspenseful, frightening, and occasional off-the wall short stories written by accomplished authors such as M. T. Anderson, Bruce Hale, Walter Dean Myers, and James Patterson? You get Guys Read: Thriller – guaranteed to “…thrill, chill, and have you so far… Read more »
Gibbus Moony Wants to Bite You!
GIBBUS MOONY WANTS TO BITE YOU! by Leslie Muir, illustrated by Jen Corace Vampires have been all the rage since Twilight hit the scene and, over the last few years, there have been a number of picture books that have tried to ride that wave. None have quite hit the spot for me until GIBBUS… Read more »
Incredible Animals!
A ZEAL OF ZEBRAS: An Alphabet of Collective Nouns by Woop Studios (Chronicle Books 2011) is not your typical ABC offering. Each illustration, beautifully rendered in Adobe Photoshop, is paired with a collective animal noun and two descriptive paragraphs of background. Some of the collective nouns were familiar, others sent me looking to see if… Read more »
Mason Dixon: Pet Disasters by Claudia Mills
Being an only-child doesn’t bother Mason Dixon in the least. He prefers to enjoy a simplistic, uneventful way of life – right down to his “quiet, ordinary, calm, and predictable” choice of wearing only brown socks. No white. No black. Only brown. To Mason, brown socks don’t call attention to themselves, which is the course… Read more »
999 Tadpoles by Ken Kimura
999 TADPOLES by Ken Kimura and Yasunari Murakami It’s time to move! 999 bright green tadpoles just won’t fit in one tiny pond. Father goes off to find a new home, but “oh, no!” he’s nabbed off by a hungry hawk. Mother cries, “Hold on!” and a whole string of tadpoles soars through the air… Read more »
