A Monster Calls

Title:  A Monster Calls Author: Patrick Ness Illustrator:  Jim Kay Publisher:  Candlewick, 2011 ISBN:  9780763655594 Audience:  Ages 12 and up Summary:  Conor O’Malley’s mother is dying of cancer.  The treatments aren’t working but the adults around Conor-his mother, his grandmother, his visiting father from America, his teachers-allow his hopes to live.  Each day he struggles [...]

More More More, Said the Baby

Name of Book:  More More More, Said the Baby Author:  Vera B. Williams Illustrator:  Vera B. Williams Publisher:  Scholastic ISBN:  9780688147365 Audience: tToddlers through age 4 Summary:  This book tells three parallel stories of toddlers Little Guy, Little Pumpkin, and Little Bird, and of the adults who love them.  In each ten-page story Williams begins by [...]

Tuck Everlasting

Title: Tuck Everlasting Author:   Natalie Babbitt Publisher:  Scholastic, Inc ISBN:  9-780590-988865 Audience: Written for ages 9 -12, but this review suggests the book’s applicability to both young and mature audiences. Summary:   The story starts with a young girl, Winnie, fed up with her family and wanting to run away.  She meets another family, the [...]

The Memory Box

Title: The Memory Box Author: Mary Bahr Illustrator: David Cunningham Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co. ISBN: 0-8075-5053-1 Audience:  Written for ages 6-9.  However, this review suggests the book’s applicability to both young and mature audiences. Summary: This is a bitter-sweet episode in a young boy’s summer vacation with a beloved grandparent who is succumbing to [...]

Butterflies Under Our Hats

Name of Book:   Butterflies Under Our Hats Author:  Sandy Eisenberg Sasso Illustrator:  Joani Keller Rothenberg Publisher:  Paraclete Press Audience:  Ages 5-adult Summary:  The people of Chelm have no luck.  The roofs leaked, the sidewalks cracked, weeds grew in the gardens.  The people looked for luck everywhere.  But because they could not find any luck, they [...]

The Bully and Me: Stories that Break the Cycle of Torment

Name of Book:  The Bully and Me:  Stories That Break the Cycle of Torment Author:  Helen Carmichael Porter Publisher:  Northstone (an imprint of Woodlake Books, Inc.) Audience:  Adults, teens Summary:  The Bully and Me explores the many faces of bullying from the point of view of both the bully and the victim.  The bullying takes [...]

The Black Snowman

Name of Book:   The Black Snowman Author:   Phil Mendez Illustrator: Carole Byard Publisher:  Scholastic Paperbacks Audience:  ages 8+ Summary:  Christmas stories don’t usually begin in the grasslands of Africa with an old man preparing to tell the stories of his people, aided by his magic kente cloth.  The storytelling session is interrupted by the arrival [...]

A Wreath for Emmitt Till

Name of Book:   A Wreath for Emmett Till Author:   Marilyn Nelson Illustrator: Philippe Lardy Publisher:   Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Audience:  Youth 14-18 and adults Summary:  This book is a collection of sonnets that the author put together to speak about the tragic lynching of Emmett Till, a young African American who was visiting relatives in Mississippi [...]

How to (un)Cage a Girl

Name of Book:   How to (Un)Cage a Girl Author:  Francesca Lia Block Publisher:  Joanna Cotler Books/HarperTeen (2008) Audience:  16 – adult females.  Personally, I would have placed this book in the adult poetry section rather than YA, since it pushes beyond the personal experiences of YA readers.  That being said, it would be useful with [...]

14 Cows for America

Name of Book:  14 Cows For America Authors:  Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah and Carmen Agra Deedy Illustrator:  Thomas Gonzalez Publisher:  Peachtree Publishers Audience:  Ages 14-18 and Adults (While I do believe that this book is also appropriate for younger children because of its theme of compassion, I chose youth and adults because they would have some [...]