E.E. Cummings
Kirkus Reviews A cogent biography weaves life and poetry together for an appreciative look at the unconventional and exacting artist. Reef takes readers from the happy childhood that nurtured his flair for theatrics, as well as his ear for language and rhythm, through his career at Harvard, where he encountered the avant-garde, to his rather […]
Half of an Elephant
Publisher Weekly Review: Starred Review. An elephant loses his back half as the result of an unexpected catastrophe ("One night, all of a sudden, the world split in two") in this inventive tale. The fact that the fellow is made of corrugated cardboard, old screws, googly eyes and other assorted found objects makes the premise […]
Who Lives In an Alligator Hole?
Kirkus Reviews Rockwell's latest Let's Read and Find Out introduces readers to alligators and the role they play in their habitat. While she also addresses the positive and negative ways people have had an impact on the alligator population over the years, her focus is on alligator holes-places where alligators have thrashed through the damp […]
Lucia and the Light
Publisher Weekly Review: Root (Big Momma Makes the World) draws deftly from Nordic folklore to shape this tidy tale set high in the mountains of the Far North, where Lucia lives in a cozy cabin with her mother, baby brother, "velvet-brown cow" and "milk-white cat." One fierce, windy winter, the sun fails to rise over […]
The Doubtful Guest
Presented to the library by Sandra Taylor in honor of the birth of Edward Gorey February 22, 1925. Boston Herald: Impossible to resist.
The Runaway Dinner
Publisher Weekly Review: Starred Review. With a plot timed faster than fast food and illustrations that keep pace, this picture book about a dinner that literally runs away is a comic treat. Like a cowboy spinning a fireside tall tale as if it were true, Ahlberg's (The Jolly Postman) unseen narrator sprinkles the story with […]
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Publishers Weekly: Stewart's (Flood Summer, for adults) first book for young people begins with a bang. Gifted 11-year-old orphan Reynie Muldoon is sharing the newspaper with his tutor when she excitedly points out an ad: "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" She encourages him to take the series of tests cited in […]
Junie B., First Grader : Dumb Bunny
From the Publisher: It's an Easter Egg-stravaganza! Lucille is having an Easter Egg Hunt at her rich expensive mansion! And guess what? The winner gets a play date to swim in Lucille's heated indoor swimming pool! Only, here is the problem. How did Junie B. get stuck wearing a big dumb bunny suit? And how […]
Here's a Little Poem : a Very First Book of Poetry
Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. Here are, actually, 61 little poems, which together provide a high-spirited, engaging introduction to poetry. Gleaned from various countries and representing a refreshing array of voices, the poems fall into four categories of high interest to youngsters: "Me, Myself, and I," "Who Lives in My House?," "I Go Outside" and "Time […]
Dimity Dumpty : the Story of Humpty's Little Sister
Publisher Weekly Review: Starred Review. Young readers may think they know all there is to know about Mother Goose's clumsy egg character, but Graham (Oscar's Half Birthday) sets them straight in his hilarious picture-book profile of the whole Dumpty family. As members of a traveling circus, Dorothy and Dominic Dumpty and their children, Humpty and […]