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:  For so many children, milk is something that is found in large white bottles at the local store.  They know it comes from cows but how it gets from cows to store is pretty vague.  It’s Milking Time (Random 2013) provides an exploration of that process using a surprising amount of detail while doing [...]

Cindy: Some books grow on you in surprising ways. I read On a Beam of Light (Chronicle 2013), liked it, and set it aside to take to school to show my 6th grade science teachers but I wasn’t planning to write a blog post about it. But overnight its messages haunted me.  One of my [...]

Lynn:  Cooking is a hot topic these days.  I remember the days when cooking was the stay-at-home-mom’s sole province but not only has American cooking changed markedly from the Campbell’s soup and casseroles days but men are often the major cooks in the family.  My oldest son is a far better cook than I am [...]

Lynn:  Count me as one who never tires of immigration stories!  They are the heart and soul of who we are as a nation and each one brings a new version of the experience.  There are so many good ones but Paul Fleischman and Bagram Ibatoulline have teamed up to give us something special in [...]

Lynn:  Don Brown brings a pivotal historical event to life for young readers in Henry and the Cannons:  An Extraordinary True Story of the American Revolution (Roaring Brook, 2013).  This IS an extraordinary story!   I remember studying this in school in Boston and thinking it was pretty cool but it wasn’t till we visited [...]

Cindy: We believe that poetry should be celebrated every month (every day!) and not just during April, but here’s a perfect book for those April is Poetry Month celebrations. Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse (Houghton 2013) is a story in 40+ poems using 30+ different poetic forms. Haikus and Limericks and Free Verse are [...]

Lynn:  Fear is a huge issue in the lives of children and it is a frequent subject of picture books.  Levi Pinfold’s approach to the subject is highly original yet imbues a sense of classic timelessness that is as reassuring as it is engaging.  Black Dog (Candlewick/Templar 2012) is a book that was high on [...]

Lynn:   Desperate people with armed men intent on their capture, an entire town racing to their rescue, facing down the villains and risking their very lives for what is right.   It sounds like the plot for a terrific action movie but this is the true story being told in The Price of Freedom:  How [...]

Lynn:  Here is the challenge should you chose to accept it.  Describe A Little Book of Sloth (S&S March 2013) without using the word cute or dissolving into a puddle of goo over the adorable pictures.  I’m sorry but even the indefatigable Mr. Phelps would find that a total impossible mission.  It simply can’t be [...]

Lynn:  Cindy and I really are reading the new 2013 titles but in true Bookends style we can’t bear to give up on some wonderful books from 2012 that we haven’t managed to wedge into our writing schedule.  So many good books!  Queen of the Track:  Alice Coachman Olympic High Jump Champion (Boyds Mills 2012) [...]