Pirate Girl
Publisher Weekly Review: Captain Firebeard, helmsman Morgan O'Meany and the crew of the Horrible Haddock make "the knees of honest seafaring folk… shake like jelly." But they meet their match in Molly, a small but sturdy girl whose thick auburn ponytails rival the Captain's bushy beard. Like a Little Red Riding Hood of the high […]
Thesaurus Rex
School Library Journal Review: PreS-Gr 3-Thesaurus Rex spends his day exercising, exploring, and getting into trouble. After a nutritious dinner, the little turquoise dinosaur takes a bath and is tucked into bed by his mom. Filled with descriptive language, the text offers numerous synonyms for each activity. For example, when Rex exercises, he is "stretching, […]
How to Be a Pirate
School Library Journal Review: Gr 4-6?The sequel to How to Train Your Dragon (Little, Brown, 2004) continues the adventures of the son of Stoick the Vast and future leader of the Hairy Hooligan Viking tribe. Although the skinny, freckled Hiccup has more brains than the rest of the Hairy Hooligans put together, he has a […]
Dot & Jabber and the Big Bug Mystery
School Library Journal Review: PreS-Gr 1-The mouse detectives are back in another eco-mystery. When all the bugs in their meadow suddenly disappear, the mice interview a sparrow and a rabbit and observe some butterflies, finally discovering that the bugs have used camouflage to hide from their predators. The story is simple and unremarkable, but Walsh's […]
The Wand In the Word : Conversations With Writers of Fantasy
Marcus engages 13 master storytellers in spirited conversation about their life and work, their literary influences, and their core beliefs about the place of fantasy in literature.
The Snail House
School Library Journal Review: K-Gr 3-Sitting on the steps of a country farmhouse after a full day of strawberry picking, Grandma weaves a tale of fantasy for Michael, Hannah, and the baby. "Once upon a long, long time ago there was a boy and his sister and their little baby brother who all of a […]
Stompin' At the Savoy : the Story of Norma Miller
School Library Journal Review: Gr 3-6?This autobiography of a Lindy Hopper from the Harlem Renaissance era sizzles with spirit and swings with vitality. Miller was only five when she knew she wanted to be a dancer, and for a time she lived in an apartment behind the famous Savoy Ballroom. Dancing on the street with […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!
A Pigeon learns about sharing when a curious duckling keeps asking questions about the hot dog Pigeon has found.