San Diego State University
Stellaluna gets scolded
Children's Literature Program
homepageabout usContact us!News related to the Children's Literature ProgramGraduate ProgramFacultyCourses Offered  in Children's LiteratureGivingBook reviews by faculty and students in the Children's Literature ProgramLinks  
Images from Janell Cannon's
Stellaluna. Reprinted with
permission from Harcourt Publishers.
 
Reviews

Fall 2009

73 new reviews

Entries this month: Special Feature: Peter Neumeyer's Reviews and Recommendations | Pop-Up and Novelty Books | ABC Books | Picturebooks - Fiction | Picture books—Folklore/ Religious Tales | Picture books—Non-Fiction | Beginning Readers—Fiction | Beginning Readers—Non-Fiction |Political Books for Children | Middle Grade—Fiction/Fantasy | Middle-Grade Poetry/Picturebooks | Middle Grade—Non-Fiction | YA—Fiction/Graphic Novels | YA—Non-Fiction | Special Section—Norse Mythology-based Novels

 

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, Chris Bell, Natoya Faughnder, Michael Mahin, Peter Neumeyer, Marianne Paluso, Sean Prinz, Carole Scott, Marie Soriano, Shelley McRoberts

* 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.

 

Special Feature:
Picturebook Reviews and recommendations by Peter Neumeyer, Professor Emeritus English Dept., SDSU; Founding Member, National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, SDSU; Boston Globe book reviewer; author of The Annotated Charlotte’s Web

Pop-up and Novelty Books

ABC Books

Picturebooks—Fiction

  • Beiser, Tim. Bradley McGogg, The Very Fine Frog. Illus. Rachel Berman. Toronto: Tundra, 2008. ISBN 978-0-88776-864-4. CAN. $19.99/ U.S. $17.95. Ages 4-9.
  • Brown, Peter. The Curious Garden. New York Little Brown and Company, 2009. ISBN 0-316-01547-9. $16.99.
  • Bruna, Dick. Miffy the Artist. London: Tate, 2008. ISBN 978-1-85437-823-1. U.S. $11.95/ CAN. $12. 95. Ages 4-7.
  • Burton, Virginia Lee Burton. Life Story: The Story of Life on our Earth from Its Beginning up to Now. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, first published 196, New updated edition. ISBN 0-547-19508-7. $22.
  • Cooper, Helen. Dog Biscuit. NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008. ISBN 0-374-31812-3. $16.
  • Egan, Tim. Dodsworth in Paris. Boston: Houghton, 2008. ISBN 978-0-618-98062-8. Ages 4-7.
  • Gagné, Michel. A Search for Meaning: The Story of Rex. Burbank: Gagné International Press, 2002. ISBN: 0-9819053-1-2. $14.95.
  • Gagné, Michel. The Towers of Numar. Bellingham: Gagné International Press, 2003. ISBN 0-9719053-3-9. $14.95.
  • Inches, Alison. The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story about Recycling. Illus. Pete Whitehead. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009. ISBN 1-4169-6788-5. $3.99.
  • Isadora, Rachel. The Princess and (sic) the Pea. NY: Putnam, 2007. ISBN 0-399-24611-1. $16.99.
  • Jenkins, Emily. Sugar Would Not Eat It. Illus. Giselle Potter. NY: Schwartz and Wade (Random House), 2009. ISBN 0-375-83603-9. $16.99. www.emilyjenkins.com. www.gisellepotter.com
  • Le Guin, Ursula K. Cat Dreams. Illus. S.D. Schindler. New York: Orchard, 2009. ISBN 978-0-545-04216-1. $16.99 U.S./ $21.99 CAN. Hardback. Ages 4-7.
  • Light, John. The Flower. Illust. Lisa Evans. Swindon: Child’s Play, 2006. ISBN 1-84643-072-0.
  • Lionni, Leo. Little Blue and Little Yellow. New York: Knopf, 2009 (50th Anniversary Edition). ISBN 0-375-86013-3. $15.99.
  • Lithgow, John. I Got Two Dogs. Illus. Robert Neubecker. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. ISBN 978-1-4169-5881-9. U.S. $17.99/ CAN. $19.99. Hardback with CD. Ages 2-6.
  • Mahy, Margaret. Bubble Trouble. Illus. Polly Dunbar. NY: Clarion Books, 2008. ISBN 0-547-07421-4. $16.
  • Monfreid, Dorothée de. Dark Night. New York: Random House, 2009. ISNB: 978-0-375-85687-7. $14.99.
  • Morris, Jackie. Tell Me a Dragon. London: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2009. ISBN: 978-1-84507-534-7. Ages 6-12. $17.95.
  • Shields, Gillian and Elizabeth Harbour. Puppy Love: The Story of Esme and Sam. NY: Simon & Schuster, New York, 2008. $16.99. ISBN 1-4169-8010-0. Ages 4 to 8.
  • Wilson, Karma. Mortimer’s First Garden. Illus. Dan Andreasen. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009. ISBN 978-1-4169-4203-0. U.S. $16.99/ $19.99 CAN. Ages 4-8.
  • Wood, Douglas. Old Turtle. Illus. by Cheng-Khee Chee. New York: Scholastic Press – Scholastic, Inc., 1992. $17.99 U.S./$19.99 CAN. ISBN: 978-0-439-30908-0.
  • Wong, Herbert Lee. A Brand New Day with Mouse and Mole. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008. ISBN 0-618-96676-9. $15.00

Picturebooks—Folklore/ Religious Tales

  • Hirsh, Marilyn. The Rabbi and the Twenty-Nine Witches. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 1976. ISBN 978-0-7614-5586-8. Ages 6-10.
  • Townley, Roderick. The Blue Shoe. Illus. Mary GrandPré. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-375-85600-6. $16.99. Ages 7-11.

Picturebooks—Non-Fiction

Beginning Readers—Fiction

  • Sattler, Jennifer. Sylvie. New York: Random House, 2009. ISBN 0-375-85708-9. $15.99

Beginning Readers—Non-Fiction

Political Books for Children

Middle Grade Fiction

Middle Grade Poetry/Picturebooks

Middle Grade—Non-Fiction

Young Adult (YA)—Fiction/Graphic Novels

Fiction
Graphic Novels
  • Hale, Shannon and Dean Hale. Calamity Jack. Illus. Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010. ISBN 978-1-59990-373-6. $14.99. Ages 10 and up.
  • - - - . Rapunzel’s Revenge. Illus. Nathan Hale. New York: Bloomsbury, 2008. ISBN 978-1-59990-288-3. $14.99. Ages 12-18.
  • Kibuishi, Kazu. Copper. New York: Scholastic, 2010. ISBN 978-0-545-09893. $12.99.
  • Osborne, Mary Pope. Kate and the Beanstalk. Illus. Giselle Potter. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. ISBN 0-689-82550-1. Ages 6-12 $16.00.

Special Section on Norse Mythology-based novels

  • Nancy Farmer’s The Sea of Trolls saga. NY: Antheneum, 2004-2009.
  • Farmer, Nancy. Land of the Silver Apples. New York: A Richard Jackson Book: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 200-. ISBN: . $17.95. Ages 10-14.
  • Farmer, Nancy. The Island of the Blessed. New York: A Richard Jackson Book: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009. ISBN: 978-1-4169-0737-4. $18.99. Ages 10-14.
  • Farmer, Nancy. The Sea of Trolls. New York: A Richard Jackson Book: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004. ISBN: 0-689-86744-1. $17.95. Ages 10-14.
  • Fisher, Catherine. Corbenic. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2006. ISBN: 978-0060724. $14.95.
  • French, Vivian. Singing to the Sun. Illust. Jackie Morris. La Jolla: Kane/Miller Book Publishers, 2008. ISBN 978-1-933605-94-4. $16.95. First published as Singing to the Sun and Other Magical Tales by Walker Books Limited, London: 2001, and illustrated by Chris Fisher.
  • Gaiman, Neil. Odd and the Frost Giants. Illus. Brett Helquist. New York: Harper, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-06-167173-9. $14.99.

 

San Diego State University Homepage English and Comparative Literature Homepage