MADreads

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. 

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.