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: Meet the kindergarten class at Wolong Nature Reserve – sixteen adorable baby pandas. Small humans will be enchanted by the irresistible photographs of these furry students as they pursue their lessons of playing, eating, napping and exploring their world. Panda Kindergarten (HarperCollins, 2009) is ideal for story hours or quiet time after a busy [...]

Lynn: Jerry Pinkney’s splendid new book, The Lion and the Mouse (Little, Brown, Sept. 2009) may be wordless but anyone who reads it will be using a lot of words such as gorgeous, stunning, evocative, and Caldecott. This adaptation of the familiar Aesop fable clearly proves that storytelling with both power and nuance can be [...]

Lynn: “Bobby Bramble liked to climb, somersault, jump, bounce, slide, swing, sprint, flip, hang upside down, and generally give gravity a run for its money.” Everyone worries that Bobby will crack his head open and, of course, one day he does just that. His brain, a curly pink mass on legs, makes a break for [...]

Cindy: Big and Small, Room for All (Tundra, 2009) is a concept book for the small guys that is big on idea and even bigger on execution. It was a starred review that sent me on a search of my public library for this title. Lynn and I agree that the sweet watercolor cover art is reminiscent [...]

Lynn: I had forgotten what a milestone losing a tooth is for kids until my grandsons developed wiggly teeth. Suddenly teeth were falling like rain and they and their kindergarten classmates seemed to have more gaps than teeth. I instantly started looking for good loose tooth books to share with them. I found Arthur’s Tooth [...]

Lynn: Our focus group is starting to throw their weight around. Ever since we read The Sleepy Little Alphabet (Random/Knopf, June 2009) in galley several months ago, they’ve been asking if we have written about it yet. Explaining that we like to blog books closer to the publication didn’t impress them. They adored this book [...]

Cindy: Johannes Vermeer was a mysterious 17th century Dutch painter with only 34-36 existing paintings and very little known about his life and work. His painting, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, became the subject of a lauded adult novel by Tracy Chevalier. In The Vermeer Interviews (Millbrook, 2009), Bob Raczka attempts to ferret out [...]

Cindy: “Like ninjas, assassins, and vampire slayers, girls have an impressive arsenal of weapons…that range from subtle to obvious.” The subtitle says it all, really: “Why we are mean to each other and how we can change.” Girls Against Girls (Zest Books, 2009) ought to be in every middle and high school in the country. [...]

Cindy: I’ve been lusting after this book, since hearing the title, Let’s Do Nothing (Candlewick, 2009) announced at ALA Midwinter in Denver! Like most adults, my days are over-filled with responsibilities and chores and I long for time to “do nothing.” My teen daughter gave me a quote card this year that says “Doing nothing [...]

Lynn: “Bluebirds rock,” says award-winning photographer/author Pamela Kirby and it takes only a few pages of her glorious intimate pictures to agree with her. Kirby’s stunning photographs chronicle a pair of Eastern bluebirds as they raise five chicks in the nesting box in her backyard. Simple clear text provides fascinating information that is ideal for [...]