Craft, Jerry. Class Act. Jerry Craft, Illus. Graphic. HarperCollins/Quill Tree, 10/2020. 256pp. $22.99, 978-0-06-288551-7, PB $12.99, 978-0-06-288550-0. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 5-9 This follow up to New Kid looks deeper into the lives of students at an [continue reading]
Review
OUTSTANDING! – September 2020
Each month we post an annotated bibliography of books that were rated ‘Outstanding’ at our previous month’s meeting and nominated for our year-end Distinguished List. Members can see full reviews of these books and many [continue reading]
How to Be a Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn Before You’re Grown Up
Newman, Catherine. How to Be a Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn Before You’re Grown Up. Debbie Fong, Illus. Non-fiction. Storey, 05/2020. 160pp. PB $16.95. 978-1-63586-182-2. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 3-6. In the wryly funny and [continue reading]
Watch Over Me Review
LaCour, Nina. Watch Over Me. Fiction. Dutton, 09/2020. 240pp. $17.99. 978-0-593-10897-0. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 8-12. LaCour follows up Printz-winning We Are Okay (2017) with this exquisitely lovely magical realist novel. Mila has been in foster care [continue reading]
Hike Review
Oswald, Pete. Hike. Pete Oswald, Illus. Picture Book. Candlewick, 03/2020. [38]pp. $17.99. 978-1-5362-0157-4. OUTSTANDING. GRADES K-3. Hike is a beautiful wordless picture book that chronicles a day spent between a father and his child as [continue reading]
Mañanaland Review
Ryan, Pam Muñoz. Mañanaland. Fiction. Scholastic, 03/2020. 256pp. $18.99. 978-1-338-15786-4. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 3-7. Living with his stonemason bridge-building Papá and Buelo, Latinx Maximiliano Córdoba’s only worries are whether he will be able to try out [continue reading]
OUTSTANDING! – August 2020
Each month we post an annotated bibliography of books that were rated ‘Outstanding’ at our previous month’s meeting and nominated for our year-end Distinguished List. Members can see full reviews of these books and many [continue reading]
Desert Diary Review
Tunnell, Michael O. Desert Diary: Japanese American Kids Behind Barbed Wire. Non-fiction. Charlesbridge, 08/2020. 147pp. $19.99. 978-1-58089-789-1. HIGH ADDITIONAL. GRADES 4-8. Mae Yanagi was just 7 years of age when her family was forcibly removed [continue reading]