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 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: “Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock,” is a rhyme most of us know from childhood.  Even in today’s too-busy-to-read-world at least some nursery rhymes are passed along to children.  Nursery rhymes have never been as much fun though as in Nursery Rhyme Comics:  50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists (Roaring [...]

Cindy: When you read as many books as we do, strange moments of serendipity are bound to arise, but they still often surprise–like reading two books back to back in which an undertaker’s process of sewing shut the jaw of a corpse is described in great detail! The Titanic’s undertaker did so in The Watch That Ends [...]

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: 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 [...]

Cindy: I was excited and a little nervous when I heard there was to be a new Shel Silverstein collection. Post-humous publications often disappoint, but this one is successful. Every Thing On It (Harper 2011) has over 130 poems with his trademark line drawings, selected by his family from his archives and published her for [...]

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: I’ve always cheered for the underdog (as can be seen by my life-long support of the Chicago Cubs) and I think a lot of kids share my tendency to root for the little guy.  The tortoise and the hare is a favorite tale for both me and the focus group and The Great Race [...]

Lynn: “Those DARN squirrels” is a cry that echoes frequently through our house  – or at least words to that effect.  Here in Michigan bird feeders are everywhere and the constant battle with squirrels is just as common.  Our feeder bristles with complicated gadgets my engineer husband has added, hoping to baffle the squirrels who [...]

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 [...]