Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

Lynn: There have been many outstanding books about the Dust Bowl but Marrin’s Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl (Penguin/Dutton, 2009) is a book that belongs in every public and school library in this country. Even in this year of extraordinary nonfiction, Marrin’s new book stands out with its exemplary [...]

Lynn: This quiet little masterpiece is one of my favorite books this year. When the Whistle Blows (Penguin/Philomel 2009) may be a debut novel but Slayton writes with a polished skill that many a veteran author would envy. The novel has an interesting construction - seven complete short stories that build upon each [...]

Cindy and Lynn: The best-selling first six-word memoir book, Not Quite What I Was Planning, has spawned the publication of this all-teen entry collection. When that first book published, we started thinking about six-word booktalks, but never got around to writing more than a few of them: “We have more ideas than time” (6 words!) [...]

Cindy and Lynn: Bookends thanks Nonfiction Monday for allowing us to host this week. On Mondays, many bloggers in the kidlitosphere review stellar nonfiction titles for children and teens. Bookmark the Nonfiction Monday website so you can find each Monday’s host, or volunteer to host yourself. Any bloggers who have a Nonfiction Monday post for [...]

Lynn: One of the most delightful things about writing this blog is that we get packages on our porches. Even after a lot of years on committees, I haven’t gotten over the thrill of receiving a mysterious parcel from a publisher. We try not to blog books too far in advance of publication date so [...]

Cindy: I’m embarrassed by how much I didn’t know about Bob Marley. I have visited Jamaica twice, listened to his music for decades, purchased a 4-foot carved statue of him this spring to feature at our backyard tiki bar and hosted a grad party for my daughter with a Jamaican/ rasta/ reggae theme. I should [...]

Lynn: We have a problem. It’s a totally great problem but there definitely are some down-sides to it. We have books, books, books stacked EVERYWHERE! You can hardly walk through my office. It all started with serving on YALSA committees, increased when we started reviewing for Booklist and has gotten completely out of hand now [...]

Lynn: One of the best things about reading is learning cool facts to share. Secret Subway (National Geographic, May 2009) is packed with interesting facts and fascinating stories that will enthrall readers - teens and adults. How can you not love a book that shares the story of how the first subway was [...]

Lynn: Kenneth Oppel does many things well in his writing but he especially knows how to create nail-biting cling-to-your-seat action scenes. Starclimber (Harper/EOS, 2000) does that right from the first page when pilot-in-training Matt Cruse discovers a ticking time bomb on board his ship. The first two books in this series, Airborn and Skybreaker introduced [...]

Cindy: “Like ninjas, assassins, and vampire slayers, girls have an impressive arsenal of weapons…that range from subtle to obvious.” The subtitle says it all, really: “Why we are mean to each other and how we can change.” Girls Against Girls (Zest Books, 2009) ought to be in every middle and high school in the country. [...]