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: I love when I find a nonfiction book that does something new. Music informational books are few and far between considering how much music means to teens. Of course, by the time you purchase and process a Justin Bieber biography, it seems there’s a new kid on the block so it’s hard to keep [...]

Cindy: The 7th graders that I booktalked Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition (Roaring Brook 2011) to last week were shocked that alcohol was once illegal. They are quite familiar with medical marijuana legislation but only one student in eight classes could tell me what the word “prohibition” meant. One girl did [...]

Lynn: Everyone has a theory about Harris Burdick, but Lemony Snickett, never known for his lack of opinions, asserts in his introduction to The Chronicles of Harris Burdick (Houghton 2011) “that these are the actual stories written by Harris Burdick, given by Burdick to the various authors who are pretending to write them.”  Well, I’m always [...]

Lynn: One of the best – and most humbling – benefits of being a book reviewer is the constant collision with new knowledge.  As an adult I’ve come to appreciate Dickens’ writing much more than I did in my high school years when we painfully dissected his novels in class.  I knew only a little [...]

Cindy: There are books that make me sad. Some that make me cry. And then there are books that unhinge me like A Monster Calls (Candlewick 2011). I read this on a plane last spring and was crying from the forward explaining the back story. Siobahn Dowd, one of my favorite authors, lost her life [...]

Lynn: I’ve struggled with this post so much that I’m in danger of wearing out my delete key.  I can’t seem to do justice to Tan’s artistry in his latest book to hit our shores, Lost & Found (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, April 2011). Three short stories published earlier in Australia are combined in this stunning [...]

Cindy: Wow. Lynn saw Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia 2010) on Booklist’s Top Ten Graphic Novels for Youth: 2011 list and tracked it down. We had missed seeing this when it published in November. This is an intriguing story, with philosophical themes to explore (or not) and exquisite artwork…all of which will prompt many rereadings. In [...]

Cindy:  The full subtitle of Wheels of Change (National Geographic 2011) describes the book perfectly: “How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way).” There are no “flat tires” in the research, writing, and design of this thorough presentation of the bicycle’s importance to women in the late 1800s. [...]

Cindy: As Courtney Jones reported over at the Likely Stories Booklist Blog earlier today, the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes shortlists were announced today, including the adult novel category judged by Booklist’s own Donna Seaman. As one of the judges for the YA Lit jury, I’ve been chewing my fingernails waiting for our list to [...]

Lynn: We have so much fun doing our year-end top ten lists that we decided to spread the fun of top ten lists throughout the year.  We’re starting by listing the top ten arcs that we scooped up at the ALA Midwinter Conference and can’t wait to read. All I really need to say about [...]