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

Cindy: Did you know that craft books work for Mystery Month too? They do when they are Sneaky Art projects. Jocelyn’s creative ideas for creating and hiding mystery “sneaky” art in public spaces will leave the recipients wondering “whodunit?” Sneaky Art: Crafty Suprises to Hide in Plain Sight (Candlewick 2013) is full of fun ideas, [...]

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 [...]

Lynn:  In an age of expensive entertainment, the opening sentence of Look Up!:  Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard (Candlewick 2013) has a refreshing simplicity: “You don’t have to go anywhere fancy to watch birds!” In fact, Cate goes on to assure young readers that all they really need to do is learn to keep quiet [...]

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:  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) [...]

Lynn:  Sometimes a book goes right to my heart and takes me right back to my childhood.  Twelve Kinds of Ice (Houghton 2012) is that kind of book.  This is the story of one of the great pleasures of winter and how one family makes that pleasure something truly special. The First Ice The first [...]

Cindy: Who says that black humor is only for teens and adults? If you know young readers who like puns and aren’t afraid of a little gore in their illustrations, Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs (Charlesbridge 2012) might be the book for them. In this quirky collection of humorous epitaphs, the unfortunate deaths of a variety [...]

Lynn:  This month as we honor our brave men and women who currently serve or who have served our country, please take time for this wonderful book that celebrates a special kind of brave and faithful soldier.  Dogs On Duty:  Soldiers’ Best Friends on the Battlefield and Beyond (Walker 2012) is the story of military [...]

Lynn:  The older faction of the focus group hopped on these two graphic novels the minute we opened the boxes and have been demanding we write about them for the blog.  The boys really didn’t have to do much nagging since these fun books were a joyous diversion.  I’m going to start the love fest [...]

Cindy and Lynn:  Earlier this week we spent all day helping to do an inventory of one of our district elementary libraries.  Inventories aren’t unusual of course but the reason we were doing the collection count was that in the spring the administrators eliminated the library secretary positions.  Since the elementary librarians spend 98% of [...]