Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
Author-illustrator Sophie Blackall captures an imagined large farm family’s journey through the years in Farmhouse (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2022). Her text tells about the things the family does in the house and her detailed collage illustrations go from room to room illustrating the large and loving family growing up in the house.
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published 1937) is kind of the last “little kid” book about Laura in the author’s fictionalized memoirs. Laura is about seven and, along with her older sister Mary, On the Banks of Plum Creek tells her childhood adventures in a sod house and in a
The picture book My Book and Me by Linda Sue Park (illustrated by Chris Raschka; Red Comet Press, 2024) is a poem championing a child’s favorite book. It’s told with a first person child’s voice and, with Raschka’s distinct and unique, almost childlike, illustrations, it becomes universal with many children sharing their thoughts about their
In and Out the Window (illustrated by Catherin Peterslund; Philomel 2024) is a creative collection of children’s poetry by Jane Yolen. Poems are divided into thematic sections with further division into the categories of “In” and “Out” of a window. The volume shares poems about many aspects of children’s lives. Different sections featured include “At
Young Alice Atherton has been despondent ever since her mother died. Now, the dreariness of her days in New York in the spring of 1927 are bringing her to the edge of boredom too. In Alice Atherton’s Grand Tour by Lesley M. M. Blume (Knopf Books for Young Readers, October 2023), Alice’s father decides to
Immediately engaging, Jerry Pinkney’s middle-grade memoir, Just Jerry (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, January 2023) draws you in instantly on the small neighborhood streets of Philly in 1950. You also might find refuge under the piano bench, where young Jerry hid to draw in peace. (Well, as much peace as he could find in
The short middle grade novel Oh, Sal! by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, September 2022) gives us the story of Billy Miller’s little sister, Sal. Billy Miller got two books from his perspective: The Year of Billy Miller (reviewed in 2015) and Billy Miller Makes a Wish (reviewed last month, June 2023). Now, in Sal’s book, we
Billy Miller Makes a Wish by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, April 2021) continues the story of the sweet boy from The Year of Billy Miller, a growing up book with realistic kid-appropriate situations to enjoy and possibly learn from. Once again, Billy Miller Makes a Wish manages to capture a child’s realistic thoughts about how his
What Maisie Knew by Henry James (1897) tells the story of a young girl torn between two divorced parents. Maisie learns the “games” the parents play and feels the difficulties of not having a steady life throughout her childhood, and eventually she uses her smarts to get just what she wants from life. So what
Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell (Knopf, 2018) is a delightful romp in a neighborhood full of imaginative children during the course of one summer. This graphic novel shows the stories of more than a dozen children with a variety of unique personalities who live on a couple blocks, and to the discerning reader, it gives
El Deafo by Cece Bell (colored by David Lasky) is a graphic novel that won the Newbery Award in 2015 for its great story. I feel like it’s well deserving for both the story and the illustration, as its graphic nature provides a unique format to tell of the author’s experiences growing up deaf in
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe (adapted by Slava Rubio, translated by Lilit Zekulin Thwaites, illustrated by Loreto Aroca) is a graphic novel about Dita Adler, a Jewish teenager in Czechoslovakia during World War II. She ultimately survived the WWII concentration camp Auschwitz with her love of books, stories, and imagination as a strength
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