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: If I say, “Board Book,” I’m guessing that you might think of yellow duckies and furry puppies. The last thing that might come to mind is a set of NHL© concept books that use the players and trappings of NHL© teams to teach colors and numbers and animals. Christopher Jordan’s set, My First NHL© Books (Tundra [...]

Cindy: I’ve been immersed in teen lit this year but being the klutz I am, I couldn’t help but notice the cover of E-mergency! (Chronicle 2011) with poor E slipping on a flight of stairs headed straight for O. Oh-no! The importance of the most frequently used letter E is made perfectly clear in this funny story [...]

Lynn: “It was a quiet morning at preschool until Adelaide annoyed Bailey.”  An escalating alphabetic chain reaction follows right up to the drenching moment when Zelda zaps Adelaide.  Miss Mabel asks Adelaide to apologize and soon calm returns to the school as everyone settles in for story time. Bottner’s delightfully droll disasters are cleverly captured [...]

Lynn: One of my tests for new book kid appeal is to leave a stack lying casually on the table and watch what the focus group picks up.  Stuck (Penguin/Philomel 2011) passed the first test with high marks as the focus group grabbed it right away.  It quickly passed all our other tests too and [...]

Lynn: Here is a book that has to be one of the most innovative designs we’ve seen in quite a while.  When the focus group and I opened this, I thought at first we had been sent a puzzle – and it is.  The “pieces” can be fitted together into a flat thick floor puzzle.  [...]

Lynn: The youngest member of our focus group is now 16 months old and clearly a straight shot down the genetic tree because he loves books.  His morning routine involves dragging out one book after another to be read.  He has good taste too, The Very Busy Spider and The Very Hungry Caterpillar being among [...]

Lynn: Mo Willems is a national treasure.  He is a gladsome spark of brilliance for parents and grandparents of preschoolers/ beginning readers everywhere – providing that miracle of miracles:  books that can be read/listened to a zillion times without driving the grown-up screaming from the room.  Mr. Willems – thank you!  As the grandparent of [...]

Lynn: Oh that I-can-do-it-myself stage!  We want our little ones to become independent but it’s bitter sweet too.  And every child that proudly dresses himself or pours his own cereal still wants to be reassured that mom or dad, nana or papa are there just in case.  Ann Stott and Matt Phelan have wonderfully captured [...]

Lynn: It’s waaay too early to begin making lists but Balloons Over Broadway:  The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade (Houghton 2011) is already one of my favorites for this year.  First there is the fascinating story of how the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade came to have its signature giant balloons.  Then there [...]

Lynn: Talk about a dream team!  Caldecott winning illustrator Beth Krommes teams up again with Joyce Sidman, winner of three Newbery Honor medals in the exquisite Swirl By Swirl:  Spirals in Nature (Houghton 2011).  The result is just what you would expect – another brilliantly crafted book.  This time the subject is the ” spiral: [...]