Booklist Online: More than 130,000 book reviews for librarians, book groups, and book lovers - from the trusted experts at the American Library Association

Lynn: OK – let me just get this out of my system at the start. I am furious with Philip Reeve! I have PILES of books that I need to read, review deadlines and a blogging partner who was wondering quite vocally why I hadn’t passed Fever Crumb (Scholastic, April 2010) along to her. It [...]

Cindy: Our teens nabbed our advance reader copy of Numbers (Scholastic/Chicken House, 2010) and wouldn’t give it up, so after hearing them rave about it at book club week after week, I got my hands on the audio version (Brilliance, 2010) and I can understand their enthusiasm. Jem sees numbers when she looks into people’s [...]

Cindy: Every April I lament the end of March Madness and my college basketball tv habit. It gives me more time to read again, but I miss the game. Do I have a treat for those of you in my hightop shoes! Losing Season (CavanKerry Press, 2009) is a collection of basketball poems by poet [...]

Cindy: Why don’t I immediately listen to Lynn when she really begs me to read a book? She wrote a solo blog for When the Whistle Blows (Philomel, 2009) last October when I hadn’t gotten to it. Everything about the premise spoke to me: stand-alone chapters that build into a cohesive novel, a complex father-son [...]

Lynn: LMNO Peas (S&S/Beach Lane 2010) had me laughing before I even saw the book. Countless small children have sung this section of the alphabet song just this way, including my own sons and grandsons. I kept right on laughing when I read the book because the execution is just as much fun as the [...]

Lynn: If Stones Could Speak (National Geographic 2010) is the best nonfiction book I’ve read so far this year! I really loved this book for lots of reasons. First, it has almost instant appeal. Like so many people I am fascinated by Stonehenge. The mysteries about its origins and purpose are irresistible. Who built it, [...]

Cindy: When you travel, do you like to read a book that is set in the area you are visiting? I love matching books with locales, seasons, moods, etc. I’ve just returned from Spring Break on a beach in southern Florida, and while I didn’t get to Key West, the setting of Turtle in Paradise [...]

Lynn: As a dedicated escapist reader I routinely run the other way from “disease” books. I made an exception for Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie (Scholastic 2005), Sonnenblick’s wonderful book about Steven Alper, his tumultuous 8th grade year and his little brother Jeffrey’s battle with leukemia. That exemption continues for After Ever After (Scholastic 2010), [...]

Lynn: Here is a book that is sure to delight your animal-loving teens. Bulu: African Wonder Dog (Random, May 2010) is an unusual book – a nonfiction of the style more often written for adult audiences with text that doesn’t pull any punches. Author Dick Houston, first met Bulu and his people, Anna and Steve [...]

Lynn: It is spring break for us at Bookends and I thought I’d give Cindy some time off and put the focus group to work today. They got to choose a book to blog and I’m not surprised that Chester’s Masterpiece (Kids Can Press 2010) is making an appearance today. Chester, whose ego matches his [...]