Category Archives: Book reviews

Review: The Last Dragon

Posted on 04/24/2013 by

The Last Dragon by Silvana De Mari My rating: 5 of 5 stars Translated from the Italian. The prose is beautifully done; I’d love to be able to read the original Italian. A story in two parts. Yorsh (short for … Continue reading →

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Liar & Spy

Posted on 08/04/2012 by

Anticipation. A new book by Rebecca Stead. Fabulous review by a friend on Goodreads lucky enough to have an ARC. Finding out ARCs will be available at ALA and begging a colleague to search for it while there (though didn’t … Continue reading →

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The Children of Crow Cove

Posted on 02/07/2012 by

I’ve recently read Danish author Bodil Bredsdorff’s series, the Children of Crow Cove, which begins with The Crow-Girl (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2004), translated by Faith Ingwersen. Eidi was translated by Kathryn Mahaffyin 2009, and Tink was translated by Elisabeth … Continue reading →

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Thinking about revolution

Posted on 07/18/2011 by

China’s Cultural Revolution is a period of history I know little about.  Probably because it was happening in my childhood and in school we didn’t get much past World War II. In college I majored in International Studies, and concentrated … Continue reading →

Posted in biography, Book reviews, historical fiction, international books | 3 Comments

Nonfiction Monday is here! Happy 4th of July!

Posted on 07/04/2011 by

I enjoy reading nonfiction, recommending it, and using it in storytimes and programming. Hosting Nonfiction Monday on the Fourth of July seemed to call for something special. At first I was thinking of something red, white, and blue — patriotic … Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews, nonfiction | 20 Comments

Mysteries of the Deep

Posted on 06/13/2011 by

This past week a headline from National Geographic caught my eye: Coelacanths Can Live Past 100, Don’t Show Age? with a large picture of a coelacanth swimming right at the top. These fish were thought to be long extinct, until … Continue reading →

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Summer Birds

Posted on 04/18/2011 by

A teenage, female scientist from the 1600s? Really? The true story of Maria Merian, who lived in 17th century Germany. Apparently in the Middle Ages, people believed that insects spontaneously generated from the mud and hence were evil –an idea … Continue reading →

Posted in art, Book reviews, nature, nonfiction, science | 1 Comment

Art & Max

Posted on 11/19/2010 by

A few weeks ago I saw David Wiesner’s newest book, Art & Max, on the new book shelf. Several of his books are favorites in our household — like Sector 7, Flotsam, and The Three Pigs. So of course I … Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews, Caldecott, picture books | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Preview: No Passengers Beyond this Point

Posted on 11/18/2010 by

Recently I received an ARC  (signed!) of  No Passengers Beyond this Point by Gennifer Choldenko (due out in February 2011, from Dial Books for Young Readers.) from the Children’s Literature Network. It’s now been passed to my sons and on … Continue reading →

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The Geography of the Hunger Games

Posted on 09/12/2010 by

The second time I read The Hunger Games I was on a road trip. We left Ohio and in a few hours were driving through West Virginia. It was easy to imagine I was driving through District 12 as we … Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged | 1 Comment