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Rosemary Wells gets kids in a way that is not precious or dogmatic. She genuinely understands the way kids think and what makes them tick and she is able to translate this, through her art and her words, into wonderful, timeless picture books in the same way that Kevin Henkes is able to capture the import and essence of childhood experiences and convey those emotions in a universal way.

I first reviewed Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat in 2008 and it has stuck with me ever since. Jonell created a winning character in Emmy and a very unique cast of characters in her magical rodents.  Now Jonell (this time with artistic help from the amazing Brandon Dorman) is sharing her curious rodents with a younger group of readers. Don't miss her fantastic new chapter book series,

Many years ago I discovered Lauren Child's wonderful picture book I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, a very funny and clever book about a picky eater and her older sibling charged with feeding her dinner. Charlie and Lola, stars of this book and many others, went on to become television stars as well. Lauren Child has quite a way with kid-speak and presenting the world from a kid's perspective

I don't know how or where to begin writing about this breathtaking, heartbreaking, perfect new book. The start would be the best place, I suppose. As Patrick Ness says in his Author's Note from the beginning of A Monster Calls,  I never got to meet Siobhan Dowd. I only know her the way that most of you will - through her superb books. Four electric young adult novels, two published in her

After watching the movie Millions , based on the book by Frank Cottrell Boyce, with my family four or five years ago, I knew that I wanted to read his books for kids. Americans may not know this, but Boyce is a well respected screenwriter in the UK and has written four other kid's books (see below) including the soon to be published Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang Flies Again. The movie was thoughtful,

First published in 1967, The Great Brain by John D Fitzgerald is a wonderful counterpart to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series.  Although I didn't read Wilder's books until I was an adult and reading them out loud to my daughter, I am sure that as a child I was predisposed to like The Great Brain books because of my familiarity and love of Mercer Mayer's illustrations. While the writing

Oh how I love Mabel Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril and Romance by Marthe Jocelyn.  Set in Canada in 1901, and with a protagonist who aspires to be a writer someday, the comparisons with Lucy Maude Montgomery's beloved Anne Shirley are unavoidable and apt. While Montgomery's Anne books start in 1878 and span nine books and forty-two years in the main character's life, we only get a 

The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary by Candace Fleming is nothing short of brilliant. Everyone has heard of Aesop and his fables and, if nothing else, most people know the big three: the tortoise and the hare (slow and steady wins the race), the story of the ant and the grasshopper (there is time for work and time for play) and the story of the lion and the mouse (a kindness is never

With My Forever Friends, the fourth book in her Forver Friends series, Julie Bowe brings (almost) to a close the eventful fourth grade year of Ida May. When we first met Ida May at the start of the school year in My Last Best Friend, she was mourning the loss of her best friend, Elizabeth, who moved away. Ida resolves not to make any friends at all in fourth grade. The arrival of new girl

heartbeat by Sharon Creech is her second verse novel, coming after Love That Dog and before Hate That Cat. Whereas Creech's other verse novels are about an exploration of the self through poetry, heartbeat is a book about the exploration of the self written in poetic form. Creech tells the story of Annie's transitional twelfth year of life over the course of fifty-two poems. Her mother is

I have only read one other book by Gary Paulsen in my life and, while I find that mildly embarrassing because he is a prolific, award winning author, it makes sense. Paulsen, a two time competitor in the Iditarod dog sled race, is known for his outdoor adventure/survival books like the superb Hatchet, Newbery Honor winner, being a prime example of this. Hatchet follows thirteen-year old Brian

First, there was Harriet the Spy and her marbled composition book. Next came the amazing Amelia, creation of Marissa Moss. Long before wimpy Greg Heffley's mom thrust a diary upon him, and ages before graphic novels for kids became popular, Marissa Moss created the illustrated diary of Amelia, who is nine in the first title in the series, Amelia's Notebook, and who is writing and drawing as a

EXCITING NEWS!!!! Stuart's Cape, which was previously only in hardcover and the follow up, Stuart's Goes to School, are now available in one great book at one very low price, magnificent color illustrations and all, titled The Amazing World of Stuart, and that is a very good thing! As I am always saying, there are so few 2nd and 3rd grade reading level books for kids written in the 50 - 70 page

Julie Bowe continues the story of fourth grader Ida May, her new friend Stacey Merriweather and her old nemesis, Jenna Drews in her Friends for Keeps series that began with < href="http://www.books4yourkids.com/2009/04/my-last-best-friend-by-julie-bowe-146pp.html" target="_blank">My Last Best Friend. In the second book in the series, My New Best Friend, Ida feels secure in her friendship with

Ok, I am just going to do this now and get it out of the way: YES - there are passing similarities between Tom Angleberger's amazing new book, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid that go well beyond their shared publisher, the excellent Amulet Books. Both are set in middle school, both are first person narratives, both contain kids who exist on the fringes (

The Secret Science Alliance, by Geisel Award winner (for her excellent beginning reader comic book, Stinky) Eleanor Davis is beyond amazing. The plot easily could have taken up a couple of hundred pages of a traditional young adult novel (without pictures.) The depth of the personalities of the three main characters, as well as a few secondary characters is also equal to any good young adult

Originally begun as a web comic on Funbrain, where book one can still be read for free, Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid is a hugely popular series that has gotten kids, boys especially, reading. I almost didn't write this review because these books are so ubiquitous that I figured there were very few parents and kids who didn't know about them. However, after reading the first two in the series I

After reading Mary Ann Hoberman's picture books and now her first young adult novel, Strawberry Hill, I wish she was my grandmother. Even better, I wish she was my kids' grandmother. If you don't already feel this way about her after reading her many picture and poetry books , including on of my all-time favorites,Seven Silly Eaters, and knowing that she is the current Children's Poet Laureate,

Standing for Socks, the debut novel from Elissa Brent Weissman employs one of my favorite plot devices in adult literature, children's literature and even movies, namely, how one, seemingly miniscule, unconscious act can shape and change a person's life forever.  In Standing for Socks, fifth grader Fara Ross unwittingly wears one white and one dark grey sock to school and starts a kid-sized

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is the kind of book that, when you finish it - and you have dabbed a few tears from your eyes - you eagerly shove it into the nearest literate hands you can find so that you will then have someone to discuss its intricacies and brilliancies with. Sadly, for me, my nearest readers were otherwise engaged, but I found some great reviews by other bloggers that have

With The Year of the Rat, we find Pacy Lin, narrator of Grace Lin's wonderful book The Year of the Dog at almost the same place we left her - a celebration of Chinese New Year with her family and friends. The Year of the Pig has ended and two years have passed since we first met Pacy. As the Year of the Rat, a time of new beginnings and change, kicks off Pacy finds herself wishing that

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, illustrations by Carson Ellis (best known for her cover art for her husband's band The Decemberists and illustrator of Lemony Snicket's picture book, The Composer is Dead) is the wildly popular first book in what is soon to be a trilogy with books two and three being illustrated by Diane Sudyka, another wonderful artist with a style very

In the author's note for The Year of the Dog, Grace Lin mentions that one of her favorite books as a child was Carolyn Haywood's B is for Betsy, which was a real life, real girl kind of story that took place at home, in school and in the neighborhood. Written in 1939, the characters came from "normal families and ate dinner and waited for the bus. They were normal families without unicorns or

I love Megan McDonald. I gushed about her in my reviews of the first two books in the Stink series and when I reviewed her great stand alone book, The Sister's Club. Peter H Reynolds is a brilliant artist and so perfectly suited to McDonald's writing style. Reynolds is so multi-talented that I feel compelled once again to list all of the creative endeavors that he is involved with. A fabulous

The Dunderheads is a is a school story that brings us a group of kids with nicknames that suit their individual talents -Pencil, Spider, Hollywood, Wheels, Clips, Junkyard, Google-Eyes, Nails, Einstein and Spitball - who go up against a teacher worthy of any Roald Dahl baddie, Miss Breakbone. This is the newest book from the versatile master of the miniature, Paul Fleischman, author of Seedfolks