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Images from Janell Cannon's
Stellaluna. Reprinted with
permission from Harcourt Publishers.
 
Reviews

February 2008

78 new reviews

Entries this month: Picturebooks Fiction | Picturebooks Non-Fiction | Picturebooks—All Ages |
Elementary Grade Fiction | Elementary Grades Non-Fiction | Poetry: The Unicorn Award in Excellence in Poetry in North America |
Middle-Grade Non-Fiction | Middle Grade—Fiction | Tweens—Non-Fiction| Young Adult (YA)—Fiction

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, SarahEllen Hickle, Mark Janssen, JoAnn Jonas, Emily Moore, Ellen Nef, Carole Scott, Marie Soriano

* denotes San Diego writer and/or illustrator
** Age levels, when provided by the publishers, are included in the bibliographical information. Otherwise, category placements are our best approximations.

Picturebooks Fiction

  • Allsburg, Chris van. The Stranger. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. ISBN- 13: 9780395423318
  • Baryshnikov, Mikhail & Radunsky, Vladimir. Illus. Vladimir Radunsky. Because…. New York: Atheneum, 2007. ISBN 978-0-689-87582-3. $16.99
  • Barton, Bob. Paul Gallico’s The Small Miracle. Illustrated by Carolyn Croll. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2003. ISBN 9-78-0-805-06745-3. $16.95. Ages 4 and up.
  • Blake, Quentin. Angel Pavement. London: Random House, 2004. ISBN-0-224-07027- 4 , 32 pages
  • Burningham, John. Edwardo. The Horriblest Boy in the Whole Wide World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 978-0-375-80453-1. $16.99.
  • Carter, David A. 600 Black Spots. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN 978-1- 4169-4092-0. $19.99.
  • Cepeda, Joe. The Swing. NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0439142601 $15.99 Hardcover. Picture book, 32 pages. Recommended age 4-8.
  • Chivus, Mitch. Fartsy Claus. Illus. Mike Reed. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. ISBN 978-0-06-089466-5. U.S. $16.99/ $21.50 CAN. Ages 3-7.
  • Clark, Emma Chichester. Will and Squill. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2006. ISBN 9781575059365. $15.95. Ages 3 and up.
  • DiCamillo, Kate. Great Joy. Illust. Bagram Ibatoulline. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7636-2920-5. $16.95. Ages 4-8.
  • Dunn, Phoebe, photographer; Text by Judy Dunn Spangenburg. A Big Treasury of Little Animals. New York: Random House, 2007 reprint of 6 separate books. ISBN 978-0-375-84177-4. $10.99.
  • Fleischman, Paul. The Animal Hedge. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Cambridge: Candlewick, 2003. ISBN 9-78-0-763-61606-9. $16.99. Ages 4 and up.
  • French, Jackie. Josephine Wants to Dance. Illus. Bruce Whatley. New York: Abrams, 2006. $15.95. ISBN 978-8109-9431-3.
  • Grey, Mini. The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 0-375-83691-8. $16.95.
  • Hicks, Barbara Jean. The Secret Life of Walter Kitty. Illus. Dan Santat. New York: Knopf, 2007. ISBN 978-0-375-83196. $16.99 U.S./ $22.99 CAN. Ages 7-10.
  • Johnson, D.B. Eddie’s Kingdom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. $16. ISBN 0-618- 56299-0.
  • Johnson, D.B. Henry Hikes to Fitchburg. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000 (pb). $6.95. ISBN 0-618-73749-9.
  • *Keough, Larry. Fragilly. Sing-along CD included. El Cajon, CA: Larry Keough, 2007. ISBN 978-1-60402-257-5. $21.95.
  • Lionni, Leo. Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 0-394-80914-9. $16.95
  • Lionni, Leo. A Color of His Own. NY: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2006 new edition.ISBN-0-375836977. $12.95 (Hardcover). Picture book 40 pages. Recommended age: preschool.
  • Lister, Robin. The Story of King Arthur. Illustrated by Alan Baker. Boston: Kingfisher. 1997.ISBN 0-7534-5101-8. $15.95. Recommended Age 9 + . 96 pages.
  • Lithgow, John. Mahalia Mouse Goes to College. Illus. Igor Oleynikov. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4169-2715-0. $17.99
  • Marineau, Michele. Cinderella. Illus. Mylene Pratt. Tundra: Toronto, 2007. ISBN 978-0-88776-825-5. CAN. $14.99/ U.S. $10.95. Ages 4-7. www.tundrabooks.com.
  • McCourt, Frank. Angela and the Baby Jesus. Illustrated by Raul Colon. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN-13: 9781416937890
  • Pearce, Philippa. The Squirrel Wife. Illus. Wayne Anderson. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7636-3551-0. U.S. $16.99/ $21.00 CAN. Ages 5-10. www.candlewick.com
  • Pinkwater, Daniel. Bad Bear Detectives. Illus. Jill Pinkwater. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. ISBN 978-0618-43125-0. $16.00
  • Schotter, Roni. Mama, I’ll Give You the World. Illustrated by S. Saelig Gallagher. New York: Schwartz and Wade, 2006. ISBN 978-0-375-83612-1. $16.95. Ages 4-8.
  • Schneider, Josh. You’ll Be Sorry. New York: Clarion Books – Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. ISBN 0-618-81932-0. $15.00 (Hard Back) 32 pp.
  • Serfozo, Mary. Whooo’s There? Illust. Jeffrey Scherer. New York: Random House, 2007. ISBN 978-0-375-84050-0. $9.99. Ages 4-8. 40 pp.
  • Sunami, Kitoba. How the Fisherman Tricked the Genie: A Tale Within a Tale Within a Tale. Illust. Amiko Hirao. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers-Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, 2002. $14.99. Ages 9-12.
  • Tellis, Annabel. If My Dad Were a Dog. New York: Scholastic, 2007. ISBN 978-0- 439-91387-4. $16.99.
  • Thompson, Colin. Castles. New York: Red Fox Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-099-43942- 4. $5.99. Ages 4 and up.
  • Winter, Jonah. Dizzy. Illus. Sean Qualls. New York: Scholastic, 2007. ISBN 0-439-50737-5. $16.99.

Picturebooks Non-Fiction

Picturebooks—All Ages

Elementary Grade Fiction

  • Hurwitz, Johanna. Squirrel World. Illus. Kathi McCord. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2007. IBSN 0-8118-5660-7. $14.95. 124 pp. 4th book in the series.

Elementary Grades Non-Fiction

  • Fleisher, Paul. Desert Food Webs. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8225- 6728-8.
  • Fleisher, Paul. Forest Food Webs. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8225- 6729-5.

Poetry: The Unicorn Award in Excellence in Poetry in North America.

Annually, the well-respected children’s literature journal The Lion and the Unicorn awards the year’s outstanding books of poetry: with The Unicorn Award in Excellence in Poetry in North America. The 2007 judges are professors Richard Flynn, Angela Sorby, and our new colleague at SDSU, Joseph T. Thomas, Jr.

This year, the winner is:

  • JonArno Lawson. Black Stars in a White Night Sky. Illus. Sherwin Tija. Toronto: Pedlar Press, 2006.

The Honor books are:

  • Jorge Argueta. Talking with Mother Earth/Hablando con Madre Tierra. Illus. Lucia Angela Perez, Toronto: Groundwood/House of Anansi, 2006.
  • Helen Frost. The Briad. New York: FSG, 2006.
  • Walter Dean Myers. Jazz. Illus. Christopher Myers. New York: Holiday House, 2006.
  • Walter Dear Myers. Street Love. New York: Harper, 2006.

Middle-Grade Non-Fiction

  • Adams, Simon. The Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World. Illus. Katherine Baxter, Boston: Kingfisher , 2006. $15.95
  • Adams, Simon. The Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World. Illus. Katherine Baxter, Boston: Kingfisher, 2006. $15.95. ISBN 978-0-7534-5946-1.
  • Beller, Susan. Roman Legions on the March: Soldiering in the Ancient Roman Army. Soldiers on the Battlefront series. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Children’s Books (Lerner), 2008. B&W and sepia illustrations. 112 pp.
  • Corbishley, Mike. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ancient Rome. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003. ISBN 0-89236-705-9. 160 pp., large size, map, full color throughout.
  • Harpur, James. Warriors. NY: Atheneum Books for Younger Readers, 2007. ISBN-978-1416939511. $21.99. Pop-Up Book. Ages 9-12 Historical non-fiction
  • Long, John. Dinosaurs. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4169-3857-6. $16.99.
  • Markel, Rita. The Fall of the Roman Empire. Pivotal Moments in History series. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8225-5919-1. 160 pp., generous use of color illustrations.
  • Nardo, Don. A Roman Gladiator. The Working Life series. Farmington Hills, MN: Lucent (Thompson Gale), 2004. ISBN 1-59018-480-7. B&W illustrations.
  • Walker, Richard. Human Body. Foreword by Dame Nancy Rothwell, neuroscientist. Boston: Kingfisher, 2006. ISBN 0-7534-5972-0. $12.95. 64 pp.

Middle Grade—Fiction

Tweens—Non-fiction

YA—Fiction

 
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