Song of the Water Boatman : & Other Pond Poems
School Library Journal Review: Starred Review. K-Gr 5?Seasons set the stage for this celebration of the diverse life of ponds. The book begins with the poem, ??Listen for Me,?? in which spring peepers wake from their winter hibernation and sing out, ??Listen for me on a spring night,/on a wet night,/on a rainy night./?Listen for […]
The Welsh Girl
Library Journal: This debut novel by an award-winning short story writer is set during World War II in northern Wales, where German POWs are held in a low-security prison. The intertwining stories involve a farm girl named Esther, who becomes pregnant after being raped by an English soldier; German POW Karsten, who is ashamed of […]
Quest For the Tree Kangaroo
Readers meet the elusive Matschie's tree kangaroo, who makes its home in the ancient trees of Papua New Guinea's cloud forest. Full-color photos.
Everyman
Publisher Weekly Review: Starred Review. [Signature]Reviewed by Sara NelsonWhat is it about Philip Roth? He has published 27 books, almost all of which deal with the same topics?Jewishness, Americanness, sex, aging, family?and yet each is simultaneously familiar and new. His latest novel is a slim but dense volume about a sickly boy who grows up […]
Calabash Cat, and His Amazing Journey
School Library Journal Review: PreS-Gr 3-Similar in mood and style to Rumford's Traveling Man (Houghton, 2001), this creative offering is geared to a younger audience. Calabash Cat sets out to discover where the world ends. Each time he thinks that he has found his destination, another animal happens along and takes him farther. Riding a […]
The Witch's Walking Stick
Publisher Weekly Review: Starred Review. In this comic fairy tale, a Cinderella-esque orphan flees her mean older siblings and happens upon a witch's magic walking stick. The witch typically uses the stick for "turning birds into bats or squirrels into goldfish," and the other creatures' anxious frowns arouse distinct anti-crone sympathies. Fortunately for the local […]
Gossamer
Publisher Weekly Review: Starred Review. Lowry's (The Giver) spellbinding story centers on a clever, curious young dream-giver. Littlest One is learning the nocturnal task performed by her kind, which entails gently touching objects belonging to a human, thereby gathering "memories, colors, words once spoken, hints of scents and the tiniest fragments of forgotten sound" and […]
100 Best Books For Children
School Library Journal Review: What makes a book a classic? Silvey, a longtime children's book specialist and literature lover, addresses that question in order to identify books that represent a "basic literary heritage." The result is a highly select list of 100 titles published from 1902 to 2002. These are titles that have been or […]
The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
\
The Giver
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.