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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
Have you felt enchanted when experiencing live theater? I have! This new graphic novel series explores the weird and wild magic that happens behind the scenes of high school theater productions. Jory is a new student at St. Genesius looking for an after-school activity. He stumbles into the backstage crew on accident and immediately finds a place in their ranks. They are a welcoming and motley bunch working the lights, sound, sets and costumes and they have a secret.
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.
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.
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.
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.
