June 2024

Wong, Jack. All That Grows. Jack Wong, Illus. Groundwood, 03/2024. [32]pp. Picture Book. Trade $19.99. 978-1-77306-812-1. GRADES Preschool–2. LOW ADDITIONAL.             A pair of tan-skinned, dark-haired siblings journey through a neighborhood landscape in early summer. The older sister, a gardener, shares plant knowledge while the younger wonders. The [continue reading]

Teer, Samuel. Brownstone. Julia Mar, Illus. Versify, 06/2024. 320pp. Graphic. Trade $26.99. 978-0-3583-9475-4.Paper $18.99. 978-0-3583-9474-7. GRADES 6–10. OUTSTANDING. In the summer of 1995, fourteen-year-old Almudena is used to mothering her dancer mom; what she’s not used to is being dumped for the summer as free labor with a [continue reading]

Ruhlman, Michael. If You Can’t Take the Heat. Penguin, 06/2024. 320pp. Fiction. Trade $19.99. 978-0-5935-2344-5.GRADES 9–11. HIGH ADDITIONAL.          A gifted athlete, but not a gifted student, sixteen-year-old Theo’s privileged life is upended the summer before junior year, when a freak accident permanently sidelines him. [continue reading]

Rosenstock, Barb. Great Lakes: Our Freshwater Treasure, The. Jamey Christoph, Illus. Knopf, 03/2024. 40pp. Nonfiction. Trade $19.99. 978-0-593-37435-1. GRADES 2–5. OUTSTANDING.       An opening-page map of North America makes clear the visual prominence of the Great Lakes. Vivid, active text, full of striking details, reveals the lakes’ national [continue reading]

Brosgol, Vera. Plain Jane and the Mermaid. Vera Brosgol, Illus. First Second, 05/2024. 368pp. Graphic. Trade $22.99. 978-1-250-31486-4. Paper $14.99. 978-1250314857. GRADES 4–8. HIGH ADDITIONAL.   What women need, in plain Jane’s male-dominated world, is beauty; it can get you anything you want. With no attractive options for her future, [continue reading]

Blackall, Sophie. Ahoy! Sophie Blackall, Illus. Anne Schwartz, 04/2024. [48]pp. Picture Book. Trade $19.99. 978-0-593-42939-6. GRADES Preschool–2. OUTSTANDING.        An opening-page glossary of nautical terms sets readers up to appreciate all the fun when an assertive, rosy-cheeked, pink-skinned child lures a white, house-cleaning parent into imaginative play. [continue reading]

Behrman, Sara T. Sea Hides a Seahorse, The. Melanie Mikecz, Illus. Collective, 04/2024. [40]pp. Picture Book. Trade $18.95. 978-1-68555-644-0. GRADES Preschool–2. HIGH ADDITIONAL.       Digitized, hand-painted paper cutouts in vibrant shades recreate an intricately patterned underwater world, inhabited by a dazzling variety of seahorses. Lyrical, alliterative text on [continue reading]