Reviews
Booklist - S is for the Stanley Cup
Though featured in the title and reappearing throughout this colorful book, the Stanley Cup is just one of many hockey championship–related topics covered here. The information and stories include something for everyone, from anecdotes about the trophy and its storied travels to factoids… View »
Publishers Weekly - Good Night, Reindeer
Readers get a behind-the-scenes look at the lives and habits of Santa’s reindeer in this bedtime-oriented Christmas story. As Santa and Mrs. Claus bid the reindeer good night (“Good night, reindeer./ Good night, Blitzen./ Time for bed./ Good night, Vixen”), the animals’ bedrooms give… View »
Publishers Weekly - Missile Toe: A Very Confused Christmas
Puns and misheard Christmas carol lyrics abound in this goofy collection of a dozen holiday-themed poems from news anchor and children’s book author Scillian. Writing mostly in rhymed couplets, he contemplates the mysteries of what decking the halls means and what sugarplums are before… View »
Booklist - Ghost Cat
Miss Maggie McCullen is the lighthouse keeper of Port Carrick, where she lives with her cat, Sailor Boy, the narrator of this tale. After a long and happy life with Miss Maggie, Sailor Boy decides to stick around…
for the hereafter and continue to help his owner with her lighthouse duties. T View »
School Library Journal - Around the World Right Now
A clever nonfiction picture book that introduces the concepts of time zones, continents, and culture. Readers begin their international journey at six o’clock in San Francisco and then progress through each time zone, moving across the Atlantic, roaming through Europe, and so on, before… View »
School Library Journal - Ghost Cat
Although no longer living, Sailor Boy, an opaque ghost cat, rendered in pen-and-ink, hasn’t left his owner’s side. This title is set in the 19th century, in a lighthouse in Port Carrick, Ireland. Miss Maggie McCullen and her faithful cat light the beacon each night to keep sailors safe on… View »
School Library Journal - Full Moon Lore
This picture book takes readers through a calendar year of full moons. A cursory introduction explains, “People long ago kept track of the seasons by giving each full moon a special name.” Each month’s unique moon is identified, from January’s Wolf Moon, to June’s Strawberry Moon, to… View »
Kirkus Reviews - Rettie and the Ragamuffin Parade
A parade brings good tidings to an immigrant community beset by war, poverty, and illness. Thanksgiving morning on the Lower East Side is a special day for a white immigrant girl named Loretta “Rettie” Stanowski. It’s the day of the Ragamuffin Parade, when children dress in rags and collect… View »
Kirkus Reviews - Blue Corn Soup
On a snowy afternoon, a mouse grandmother’s cooking aromas attract the noses of her neighbors. A nice warm sopa, just enough for one, will make things cozy in Abuelita’s sagebrush house. As she cooks, stirs, tastes, and adds ingredients to her pot, the distinct smell of piñon smoke drifts… View »
Kirkus Reviews - Roof Octopus
What could be more delightful than a huge and friendly octopus on the roof? That at least is the premise of Branam’s debut—which Coelho (Boat of Dreams, 2017) illuminates with views, usually canted or vertiginously angled, of a smiling, golden cephalopod hanging colorfully spotted tentacles… View »