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: Inquiring minds want to know!  What happens when a superhero sneezes?  If you guessed that it wouldn’t be pretty, you guessed right.  Captain Amazing is allergic to peanuts and when his symptoms are triggered by a stray groundnut it is clear he needs an assistant.  His lonely pets agree – he’s never home with [...]

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:  Years ago I made a rule about completely avoiding books in which the animals die.  As a life-long pet owner and animal lover, dealing with the real thing is more than enough for me.  I have NO interest in reading about it, thank you very much.  I get that many people think exploring such [...]

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: You are all book lovers out there so I know you will understand when I say that there are some books that I just want to clutch tightly to my heart when I’ve finished them. I can hardly bear to put them down and break the reading spell. Snook Alone (Candlewick 2010) is one [...]

Lynn: As our focus group started to read independently, I girded my mental loins for the arrival of beginning readers. What our school calls “Baggy Books” started coming home in their backpacks to be read every night. It’s a great concept and I have faithfully supported its practice but the books did nothing to change [...]

Lynn: Eleven-year old Poppy Ray wants to be a veterinarian but since her mother is allergic to animal fur the only pet she has ever had is a fish. This summer instead of going with her parents as usual to visit family in India, Poppy is spending the month with her Uncle Sanjay to help [...]

Cindy: The illegal immigration problem in the U.S. is multifaceted and complex but this moving story illuminates some of the issues for young readers. Star in the Forest (Random House, 2010) features Zitlally, a young girl in Colorado, whose father is pulled over for speeding, found to be illegally living in the U.S. and is [...]

Lynn: Here is a book that is sure to delight your animal-loving teens. Bulu: African Wonder Dog (Random, May 2010) is an unusual book – a nonfiction of the style more often written for adult audiences with text that doesn’t pull any punches. Author Dick Houston, first met Bulu and his people, Anna and Steve [...]

Lynn: “I love dogs,” says the unseen narrator and so will every reader by the end of this humorous look at our canine friends. In Dogs (S&S, 2010) Gravett uses a warm palette with perfectly placed splashes of color on a creamy background, depicting dogs of all sizes and shapes. Big dogs and small dogs, [...]