Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
I have been meaning to read the Sharpe and Donovan series by Carla Neggers for a long time, but somehow just didn't get to it. Well, now that I have read the first one (free e-book from the library) I will positively be getting more.
In 1946 the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregated seating on interstate buses was unconstitutional. Eight years later the 1954 landmark ruling from the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education declared public school segregation violated the Constitution. And in 1960 the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation of interstate bus passengers at station restrooms, lunch counters and waiting rooms also violated the law.
Édouard Louis’s The End of Eddy is a brisk and brutal roman à clef about a white gay teen growing up in rural 1990s France. Alcoholism, racism, violence, and impugnable choices abound. Gross and upsetting things happen in riveting ways. Yet its ending is oddly uplifting. A bestseller in France, its young author is now regularly called upon by popular media to explain the advent of French populism and the alleged moral stagnation of France’s white underclass.
Bunnies at bedtime saying goodnight may conjure up thoughts of ANOTHER classic bedtime story. However....these bunnies aren't quite ready for "goodnight" just yet.. Mama Bunny gives the usual goodnight stories, songs, hugs and kisses but still her three little bunnies have other ideas in mind! They want goodnight dances! What? Dances?? And jumping beans and monkeys and tickles. Finally, Mama Bunny has enough and tucks those rambunctious bunny babies into bed. With sweet, exuberant collage illustrations and lyrical text this title will be a favorite at bedtime and beyond.
Is it really time to start talking about spring? March is one of the quieter months, publishing-wise, before the big surge into the May and June summer reading months, but there’s still quite a few titles that will be in demand hitting shelves this month. On to the highlights:
This prize-winning first novel from George Saunders bends the mind and history in a way that still has me reeling. Lincoln in the Bardo is set in the days following eleven-year-old Willie Lincoln's death in February of 1862, at a borrowed crypt in a Washington, DC cemetery filled with ghosts of all sizes and stripes, many of whom don't know they are dead, and all of whom are surprised when a very tall, very alive President Lincoln comes to visit.
Smash YA hit The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas took home a handful of awards at American Library Association Youth Media Awards, a few months after winning the Boston Globe Horn Book Award. The hype is real, you guys, it's THAT GOOD.
Earning multiple awards including a Newbery Honor, a Caldecott Honor (for illustration), and Coretta Scott King Honors for writing and for illustration, Crown celebrates one black boy’s experience in the barber’s chair, and how that fresh cut can elevate both self-esteem and self-confidence. James’ realistic illustrations are dazzling, with bold painterly strokes of color, that capture subtle nuances of feeling, character and setting.
This year's Newbery Award for the most distinguished contribution to children's literature goes to Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly. Told from the shifting points of view of four kids, Hello, Universe is both an exciting and thoughtful, quiet and suspenseful. It's the story of a quiet kid that gets trapped in a well, and the three seemingly disparate kids that set out to find him. Infused with Filipino folklore, there is a lot to love in this story about courage, friendship, and childhood.
The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards at its Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits in Denver today.
Grab your running shoes - we are off! A little red cat sees an open front door, runs out, and the adventure begins. He is chased by an alligator, then a bear and a chicken - in that order. This nearly wordless book it so much fun on a couple of different levels. Each page has a letter, both the upper and lower case, and a delightful picture the relates to the letter. The reader has to figure out what word is being illustrated. But your job is not done there, you also have to figure out the plot of the book. Plot in an ABC book? Yes, there is a definite story to this book.
Books that involve gangs of problem solving kids, hijinks and hilarity are perennially popular at my house. I checked this new book out because it looked like it fit that bill, and boy did it ever. Wherever this series goes I will follow. Madison, Dylan, Emma, Aidan and Ava are twelve years old, classmates, and members of the Not-So-Secret Society.
I was so excited when I was offered a galley of Hartman's new novel set in the fantasy realm of Goredd first introduced in Seraphina. Here we meet Seraphina's half-sister Tess. Tess chafes at the role she's had to take on in her family and the restrictions placed on her as a female. She's bitter and angry and yes, she drinks too much to dull her frustrations. But she's chugging along with the goal of getting her sister settled in a good marriage.
I found this a very interesting read. I enjoyed both sections though of course I am more familiar with Ripken (my time period) than Gehrig so it was good to learn more and see him as more than the man speaking at Yankee Stadium at the end of his career. I think what really made the book work were the sections in between that looked at baseball streaks in general, a little history of statistics in baseball, and more importantly the people and their own feelings about their streaks.
People all over the world are often forced to leave their homes. Sometimes they leave because of war, hunger, or disaster. Sometimes they leave to find better opportunities. But the question that comes next is always “Where Will I Live?” In this photo-story children from all over the world are depicted as they leave their old homes and journey to find new ones. No matter where someone comes from we all need the same things: a place to sleep, food to eat, and someone to love us.
Intrepid readers! After a fiery and furious January, this February offers plenty of reading bonbons for all tastes, so much so that everything couldn’t fit on the list (apologies to the James Grippando and Lisa Gardner readers). To the highlights:
Though the BIG event for the Wisconsin Book Festival happens in the fall, the Fest goes on all year and there are some great events coming up on the next few weeks. Two of which are next week.
Jessica Fellowes, niece of that other guy who wrote Downton Abbey, is best known for her nonfiction books about that show. Here in her debut novel, she blends fact and fiction to great effect.
