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:  It’s pretty exciting when a new baby first comes home but for a toddler, that magic often diminishes as reality sets in and the baby gets a lot of attention.  Phoebe & Digger (Candlewick 2013) is a wonderfully funny, nuanced look at that common situation from the toddler’s point of view.  In our story [...]

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 [...]

Lynn:  Most of you reading this blog are in the kid business:  librarians, teachers, parents, writers and publishers of books for kids.  And of course, we’ve ALL been kids.  So we all recognize that there are certain universal truths about being a kid like not wanting to go to bed or loathing green vegetables or [...]

Lynn: Monkeys are always popular with kids and we have two really special monkey books today.  First up is Anthony Browne’s gorgeous One Gorilla:  A Counting Book (Candlewick 2013).  This is a counting book, yes, but is also one of those versatile delights that can be used in, well, countless ways.  Counting book, science book, [...]

Lynn:  I took one look at Construction Kitties (Henry Holt 2013) and knew that it had the youngest member of our focus group, Henry’s, name ALL over it!  The only thing Henry loves more than books about monkeys, are books about trucks, cars and big machines!  I can’t imagine a little reader who wouldn’t like [...]

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 [...]

Cindy: Before the last of the skating ice melts, be sure to skate on over to your local library or bookstore to get your hands on Bunnies on Ice (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter 2013). Bunny comes from an ice skating family of bunnies but she proclaims herself to be a champion. One of the things a [...]

Cindy and Lynn:  One of the interesting and exciting developments in the book world has been the recent efforts to publish more quality books for emergent and newly independent readers. There is a real need for these!   So we are excited to tell you about a new series from Holiday House called I Like [...]

Cindy: Competition can be good but when it gets out of control, disaster strikes. Too Tall Houses ( Viking 2012) features Rabbit and Owl, two friends who live in two small houses on top of a hill. Rabbit tends a garden to grow his favorite foods and owl likes to sit on his roof to [...]

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 [...]