June 2007

48 Reviews

Entries this month: Pop-ups, Counting Books, Alphabets || Picturebooks- Fiction and Non-fiction and Picturebooks for Older Readers/Story Collections || Fairy Tales, Folklore, Legend, and Myth || Poetry || Chapter Books || Middle-grades Fiction || Young Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction || Parent/Teacher Reference

AGE GUIDES: these are approximate recommendations:

• Picturebooks, 3-6 years old (though often enjoyed by older children, too)
• Chapter Books, Beginning Readers-5-8 years old
• Middle Grade Books-7-11 years old
• Young Adult-11-18 years old

REVIEWERS: Alida Allison, Kira Hall, Joyce Ho, Melissa Posa, and Marie Soriano

Pop-ups, Counting Books, Alphabets

• A Is for Astronaut: Exploring Space from A to Z. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006. 0-8118-5462-0. $14.95. www.chroniclekids.com

• Gelber, Lisa and Jody Roberts. P Is for Peanut: A Photographic ABC. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2007. ISBN 978-0-89236-5 (hardcover). www.getty.edu

• Koontz, Robin. Up All Night: a Pop-up Book. Paper Engineering Bruce Foster. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006. ISBN 1-4169-0706-8.

• Raschka, Chris. FIVE for a Little One. New York: Atheneum, 2006. ISBN 0-689-84599-4. $16.95.

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Picturebooks- Fiction

• Laube, Sigrid. The Flower Ball. Illus. Silke Leffler. Columbus, OH: Pumpkin House, 2005. ISBN 0-9646010-2-8. $15.95. Publisher's recommended ages: 5-10. www.pumpkinhouse.com

• Lionni, Leo. Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse. New York: Knopf, 1969. ISBN 0-394-80914-9. $16.95. Ages 4-8. Caldecott Honor Book.

• Lowenstein, Sallie. Sir Kyle and Lady Madeline. Kensington, MD: Lion Stone Books, 2007. ISBN 0-9658486-6-3. lionstone@juno.com

• Matthews, Tina. Out of the Egg. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. ISBN 0-618-73741-3.

• McElmurry, Jill. I'm Not a Baby! Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. New York: Schwartz and Wade, 2006. ISBN 0-375-83614-4. $16.95. Ages 4-8.

• Pinkwater, Daniel. Bad Bears Go Visiting. Illus. Jill Pinkwater. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.

• Ravishankar, Anushka. Tiger on a Tree. Illus. Pulak Biswas. Chennai, India: Tara Publishing, 1997; New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-37555-0.$15. www.fsgkids.com

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Picturebooks- Non-Fiction

• Kishel, Ann-Marie. Citizenship. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8225-638-3. $17. Ages 5-7. 24 pp.

• Souza, D.M. Look What Mouths Can Do. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2007. ISBN 0-7613-9462-1. Ages 7-9.48 pp.

• Van Fleet, Matthew. Dog. Photography by Brian Stanton. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-4169-4137-8. $14.99. Ages 2 and up. www.SimonSaysKids.com.

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Picturebooks for Older Readers/Story Collections

• Jackson, Kathryn and Byron. Pirates, Ships, and Sailors: Twenty-four Stories and Poems. Illus. Gustaf Tenggren. New York: Golden Books, 1950, revised. ISBN 0-375-83665-9. $14.95

• McBratney, Sam. The Kingfisher Mini-Treasury of Bedtime Stories. Illus. Kady MacDonald Denton. Boston: Kingfisher, 2004. ISBN 0-7534-5705-9. $9.95. 94 pp.

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Fairy Tales, Folklore, Legend, and Myth

• French, Vivian. The Kingfisher Mini-Treasury of Fairy Tales. Illus. Peter Malone. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN 0-7534-5703-2. $9.95

• Lunge-Larsen, Lise. The Adventures of Thor, The Thunder God. Illus. Jim Madsen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. ISBN 0-618-47301-7.

• Lerner Publishing's Myth and Legend series:
• Limke, Jeff and David Witt (Illus.). Isis and Osiris: to the Ends of the Earth. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2006. ISBN0-8225-3086-4. $26.60 (Library reinforced binding). Grades 4-8.
• Limke, Jeff and Thomas Yeates (Illus.). King Arthur: Excalibur Unsheathed. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2007. ISBN 0-8225-3083-X. Ages 9-12. Grades 4-8.
• Limke, Jeff and Ron Randall (Illus.). Thor and Loki in the Land of Giants. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2007. ISBN 0-8225-3087-2. Ages 9-12. Grades 4-8.

• Storrie, Paul and Steve Kurth (Illus.). Hercules: the Twelve Labors. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2006. Grades 4-8.

• Storrie, Paul. Yu the Great. Illus. Sandy Carruthers. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2007. ISBN 0-8225-3088-0. $26.60

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Poetry

• Sidman, Joyce. This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. Illus. Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton, 2007. ISBN 0-618-61680-2.

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Chapter Books

• Ireland, Kenneth, ed. Ghost Stories. Boston: Kingfisher, 2005. ISBN 0-7534-5890-X. $5.95. 160. pp. Publishers recommended ages: 5-8.

• Ravishankar, Anushka. Moin and the Monster. New Delhi, India: Puffin, 2005. ISBN 0-14-333515-4. 155 Rupees—around $3. www.penguinbooksindia.com Age 6+

• Shannon, Margaret. The Red Wolf. Illustrated by Margaret Shannon. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. ISBN-13: 978-0-618-73744-4. $6.95. Ages 4-8.

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Middle-grades Fiction

• Brown, Susan Taylor. Hugging the Rock. Berkley: Tricycle Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-58246-180-9. $14.95. Ages 9-12. 169 pp.

• Howe, James. Bunnicula Meets Edgar Allan Crow. Illus. Eric Fortune. New York: Atheneum Books, 2006. ISBN # 1-4169-1458-7. $15.95 U.S./ $19.99 CAN. Middle Grade Readers. www.SimonSaysKids.com

• Howe, James. Totally Joe. New York: Alladin Mix, 2005. ISBN 0-689-83958-8. U.S. $5.99 / $6.99 CAN. Ages 9-13. www.simonsayskids.com www.nonamecallingweek.org

• Merrill, Jean. The Toothpaste Millionaire. 35th Anniversary ed. Illus. Jan Palmer. Boston: Houghton, 2006. ISBN 0-618-75924-7. $16.00 www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com

• Nixon, Joan Lowery. Laugh Till You Cry. New York: Yearling, 2004. ISBN 0-440-23774-2. $5.50. Ages 9-12. 99 pp.

• Schwabach, Karen. A Pickpocket’s Tale. New York: Random House, 2006. ISBN 0-375-83379-X. $15.95 U.S. / $21.00 CAN. Middle Grade. www.randomhouse.com/kids

• Shafer, Audrey. The Mailbox. New York: Delacorte, 2006. ISBN 0-385-73344-5. U.S. $15.95/ $21.00 CAN. Ages 8-12.

• Vittachi, Nury. Twilight in the Land of Nowhen. Crows Nest, Australia, 2006. ISBN 1-74114-935-5. Paperback. Pp. 154.

• Zappa, Ahmet. The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless. New York: Random House, 2006. ISBN 0-375-83287-4. U.S. $12.95 / CAN. $16.95. Middle Grade Readers. www.randomhouse.com/kids

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Young Adult

• Dokey, Cameron. Before Midnight. New York: Simon Pulse, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-3471-4. $5.99.

• Eddings, David. The Belgariad: Pawn of Prophecy. New York: Corgi, 1982, republished 2006. ISBN 978-0-552-55476-3. $6.99. Ages 11+. 346 pp.

• Jocelyn, Marthe. How It Happened in Peach Hill. New York: WendyLamb, 2007. ISBN 978-0-375-83701-2. U.S. $15.99. Grades 9-12. www.randomhouse.com/teens

• Lynn, Tracy. Snow. New York: Simon Pulse, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-4015-9. $5.99.

• Martel, Yann. The Life of Pi. Harvest Books, 2003. ISBN 0156027321. $14.

• Mourlevat, Jean-Claud. The Pull of the Ocean. Trans. Y. Maudet. New York: Delacorte, 1999. ISBN 0-385-73348-8. $13.95 U.S./ $18.95 CAN. Ages 12 and up. www.randomhouse.com

• Paulsen, Gary. The Amazing Life of Birds: Duane’s Puberty Journal. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2006. ISBN 0-385-74660-1. $13.95 U.S/ $18.95 Can. Ages 10-14. www.randomhouse.com/teens www.garypaulsen.com

• Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. The Treasures of Weatherby. New York: Atheneum, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4169-1398-6. $15.95. Ages 8-12. 213 pp.

• Viguié, Debbie. Midnight Pearls. New York: Simon Pulse, 2003. ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-4016-6. $5.99

• Weyn, Suzanne. Water Song. New York: Simon Pulse, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-4013-5. $5.99.

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Parent/Teacher Reference

• Landau, Elaine. Suicide Bombers: Foot Soldiers of the Terrorist Movement. Minneapolis: Twenty-first Century, 2006. ISBN # 0-7613-3470-X. $31.93. Ages 12-18. Grades 7-12. www.lernerbooks.com www.elainelandau.com

• Marquez, Heron. George W. Bush. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2007. ISBN # 0-8225-1507-5. $29.27. Ages 12-18. www.lernerbooks.com

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