As a fan of Encyclopedia Brown growing up - and to be honest, I never solved the crime before reading the solution in the back of the bo...

Dear Mr. W, Melvin Beederman is a superhero. The first book in the Melvin Beederman series is  The Curse of the Bologna Sandwich . Melv...

If Maya Makes a Mess was nonfiction, if author Rutu Modan had created an illustrated account of a real Maya’s actual dinner manners, tha...

While searching for her favorite food, opihi (oh-PEE-hay, a delicious sea snail), in a seaside pool, a young woman named Kalei has a run-i...

The latest entry to the ever expanding and impressive Toon-Books collection is Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking from author Philip Coudray...

As Chapter One opens, Oz Keiller laments the blaring six o’clock Saturday morning alarm clock. By page four he’s grumbling about having to...

Silly Lilly is back with her second Toon Book , Silly Lilly in What Will I Be Today? . This time Lilly takes readers through the days of the...

I know that the Caldecott awards are given for illustrations in picture books, but I was quickly caught up in Laban Carrick Hill’s story of...

Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night begins with “Welcome to the Night,” an invitation in verse “To all of you who crawl and creep, ...

Amos McGee is a responsible man, rising early every morning.  He always wears a fresh-pressed uniform, eats his sensible breakfast, and take...

Ah, kids.  If ever anyone starts to think they know what they’re talking about when it comes to children, be sure to test that knowledge wit...

The Red Pyramid introduces readers to Carter and Sadie Kane.  Fourteen-year-old Carter is home-schooled by his professor father as they trav...

Before we begin, two quick thoughts: 1. At first glance, the cover of Here There Be Monsters led me to believe this was one of t...

Bink is a short, wild-haired, peanut butter loving, crazy sock wearing, inquisitive, downstairs neighbor who enjoys eating pancakes. Gollie...

For as much as I liked The Hunger Games and Catching Fire , I’m unsure if I can say the same about Mockingjay .   Instead of immediately fe...

It is Friday, October 19, 1962.   Eleven-year-old Franny wonders why her teacher skips her during read aloud time.   She wonders why Jimmy, ...

Here’s the deal: When a book gives valuable clues and important details immediately in the first few chapters and layers numerous subplots u...

I generally don’t follow all the pre-Caldecott buzz, but apparently there has never been less suspense than in January of 2010, when everyon...

I am a big fan of This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness , the first collaboration between author Joyce Sidman and Pamela Za...

Marge and Lola are chickens with dreams. 1. Enter the barnyard talent show. 2. Win. 3. Accept the grand prize tickets to see Elvis Poultry ...