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: Summer means that I have my grandsons with me all day and I have been reminded daily of some of the universal truths about young children. I won’t bore you with an inclusive list but some that rise to the top in my world include: little boys are never bored with bugs, running through [...]

Cindy: Dragons? Who cares about dragons? I was beginning to think there was no such thing as a tightly written adventure story with great characters, brilliant writing, and a well-paced plot anymore. Thank you, Philip Reeve, for No Such Thing As Dragons (Scholastic, 2010). Take one con-artist dragon hunter who doesn’t believe in dragons but [...]

Lynn: Kathleen Krull is known for her humorous and innovative biographies and she and husband Paul Brewer have brought that approach to one of our most important and well-spoken presidents. The number of biographies of Lincoln is mind-boggling but here is a fresh and funny approach that is also smartly written and will give young [...]

Cindy: There are so many bad YA books by authors of adult fiction who try to cross over, that I rejoice when someone nails it. Paolo Bacigalupi, welcome to the fold! Ship Breaker (Little Brown, 2010) is not only a great cross over for this author, it’s one of the best books of the year [...]

Lynn: Be honest – there is something flat out satisfying about having a temper tantrum. Most of us learn very early that it doesn’t pay but most of us never lose our fascination with watching someone else or someone else’s child have a foot-stomping screaming fit either. In the animal world, the champion of the [...]

Lynn: In his preface to Sir Charlie Chaplin (Harper/Greenwillow, 2010) Sid Fleischman relates a story of how Chaplin was asked about a movie scene in which he single-handedly captured thirteen enemy soldiers. “I surrounded them,” he answered and Fleischman goes on to say that “I surrounded Chaplin to make him the subject of this biography.” [...]

Lynn: I am pleased to announce the arrival of the most beautiful baby ever and a new reading guinea pig – oops – I mean an addition to our book testing focus group. Henry Rowan arrived Saturday morning, 8 pounds 8 ounces, the first child of my oldest son and his wonderful wife. So far [...]

Cindy: War makes monsters of men (and women) and war is upon the citizens of New Prenticetown in Monsters of Men (Candlewick, 2010), the conclusion to the stunning Chaos Walking Trilogy. If you’re not familiar with the trilogy, then what are you doing reading this post? Get thee to a library or bookstore and get [...]

Lynn: Cindy found this wonderful book on the shelf at her public library, fell in love with it and shared it with me and the focus group. To say it was a hit is an understatement and the boys are not happy I’m returning A Beach Tail (Boyds Mills 2010) to Cindy. Clearly this is [...]

Cindy: The Peanuts comic strip is a national treasure and one that has long been a cross-over read between age groups. As a teen in the 70s–after years of following the Peanuts gang in the newspapers–I began collecting Woodstock memorabilia, loving the goofy little bird who flew topsy-turvy. Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles [...]