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: 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: 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: [...]

Lynn: Mrs. Finnemore has her paws full!  In Edwin Speaks Up (Random/Schwartz & Wade 2011) she is taking her five little ferrets on a trip to the grocery store.  But first she has to find her keys!  “Gloo Poop SHOE noogie froo KEY,”  babbles baby Edwin.  Sophie Blackall’s full-page opening illustration cleverly depicts Mrs. Finnemore’s [...]

Lynn:  My family are zoo and museum-addicts.  I freely admit it and will further admit that we have sometimes eschewed a famous site or two for the pleasure of going to yet another zoo or crazy museum.  So I was instantly drawn to Strange Creatures:  The Story of Walter Rothschild and His Museum (Disney/Hyperion 2011).  [...]

Lynn: A lot of stray and battered creatures have found their way to my door over the years.  Some stayed just till they were healthy and some moved in for good.  My husband grumbles that there must be some animal equivalent of “soft-touch lives here” marking wherever we have lived.  So while I am a [...]

Cindy: Thing 1 and Thing 2 have nothing on the critters in Animals Home Alone (Seven Footer Kids 2011)! As soon as the owners are out of the door, this houseful of pets and other non-human residents get busy having fun. Most of the action is wordless as mini dramas unfold throughout the book. The fish [...]

Lynn: Quick quiz!  What are hovering and whiffling, rumbling, ear flaps and trunk curls?  All these are among the many ways elephants communicate.  In Elephant Talk:  The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication (Twenty-First Century 2011) Downer presents not only the story of the complex story of elephant communication but also the scientific processes behind these [...]

Cindy: If you didn’t get enough haiku with our recent post about Guyku, then have we got a treat for you in Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Henry Holt 2011). The story opens with cats in separate cages in an animal shelter: Gypsy on my left. Pumpkin, my right. Together, we are [...]

Lynn: The blizzard is piling up SO much snow here that any sane groundhog will stay curled up in his den!  Going back to a warm bed sounds SO enticing on this cold winter day but I have three energetic little boys here who slept over last night.  However, for all of us who are [...]