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Weekly Reviews: Debut novels
Can I really call Jeannette Walls’ The Silver Star a debut novel? After all, everyone knows The Glass Castle. And Half-Broke Horses was a novel, wasn’t it? Well, yes, but it was a fictionalization of her grandmother’s life. The Silver Star is Walls’ first work of pure fictio...Read More
Debut of the Month | June 15, 2013
A review of Alan Averill's The Beautiful Land....Read More
Mass-Market Paperbacks of Note | June 15, 2013
Mass-market paperbacks of note from the June 15 issue....Read More
SF/Fantasy Quotable | June 15, 2013
A quote from Alex Bledsoe's Wisp of a Thing....Read More
Science Fiction/Fantasy Newsworthy | June 15, 2013
The latest SFF news from the June 15 issue....Read More
Science Fiction & Fantasy Reviews | June 15, 2013
Reviews of The City, Sea Change, Earth Afire, plus a full list of SFF titles from the June 15 issue....Read More
Crafts & DIY Reviews | June 15, 2013
Reviews of Soutache: 30 Gorgeous Bead Embroidery Designs, Best of Stitch: Bags To Sew, and The Art of Seamless Knitting, plus a full list of Crafts & DIY titles from the June 15 issue....Read More
Arts & Humanities Reviews | June 15, 2013
Reviews of Cotton Tenants: Three Families, The Bourgeois: Between History and Literature, and Breaking the Line: The Season in Black College Football That Transformed the Sport and Changed the Course of Civil Rights, plus a full list of Arts & Humanities titles from the June 15 issue....Read More
Weekly Reviews: Boarding Schools & Sports
Today we review two notable debut novels featuring teen protagonists who are talented at the sports they love — riding and rowing. There are a surprising number of similarities between these books. Both take place in elite boarding schools, and feature teens who are new kids among long-time c...Read More
American Catholics | June 15, 2013
Reviews of American Catholics in Transition and The Catholic Labyrinth: Power, Apathy, and a Passion for Reform in the American Church....Read More
Picture book father-son reading recommendations
<p>Celebrate Father’s Day with a good picture book! Here are our recommendations for fathers and their sons — or daughters — to read together. What picture book would you recommend for a father-son read? (See our YA mother-daughter reading list here.) Katie: One of my own fond childhood memor...Read More
Nonfiction Graphic Novels – A Continuing Discussion
Back in January, we had a conversation (in reference to Derf Backderf’s Alex Award-winning My Friend Dahmer) about what makes a graphic novel “nonfiction” and the rigidity of categories like “fiction” and “nonfiction.” A couple of new comments have been add...Read More
Xpress Reviews: E-Originals | First Look at New Books, June 14, 2013
A satisfying climax to Anna's Davenport trilogy, a steamy summer diversion from debut author Jones, escapades and escapism from Sax, and a strong series opener from Stevens...Read More
Xpress Reviews: Nonfiction | First Look at New Books, June 14, 2103
Best trips in California, <em>The Real Jane Austen</em>, career advice, the "murder of the century," Rita Moreno on Rita Moreno, a blog from the <em>New York Times</em> on the Civil War, the portraits of Man Ray...Read More
May picture book reviews of the week
<p> On May 6, we posted Elissa Gershowitz’s review of Water in the Park: A Book About Water & the Times of the Day by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin. Loosely based on Prospect Park in Brooklyn, this is a book I want to come back to when we start posting for Calling Ca...Read More
Weekly Reviews: Science & Knots
In both of today’s nonfiction titles, the authors speak directly to their readers. Both have the potential to become favorites with the right teen reader. First up, Edward O. Wilson’s passionate and inspiring Letters to a Young Scientist. Maybe it’s the time of year, but I can...Read More
Review of Better to Wish
<p>Better to Wish [Family Tree] by Ann M. Martin Intermediate, Middle School Scholastic 231 pp. 5/13 978-0-545-35942-9 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-545-53926-5 $16.99 The typical historical fiction set during the Great Depression is a story of financial hardship — but it’s not lack of mo...Read More
Dragon-centric fantasy
<p>2013 Boston Globe–Horn Book Fiction Honor book Seraphina, written by Rachel Hartman, follows a protagonist navigating the treacherous political territory between dragonkind and human society. For readers whose flights of fancy take the form of dragons, we recommend these recent novels. Dragon Ca...Read More
Books mentioned in the June 2013 issue of Notes from the Horn Book
<p>Five questions for Ann M. Martin Better to Wish [Family Tree] by Ann M. Martin, Scholastic, 10–14 years. Middle-grade family stories The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata; illus. by Julia Kuo, Atheneum, 10–14 years. The Romeo and Juliet Code and Romeo Blue by Phoebe Stone, Levine/Scholastic, ...Read More
Middle-grade family stories
<p>The thing about family is that it can be unpredictable. These four new books present families from different eras in all their unique and messy complexities. In Cynthia Kadohata’s funny but poignant The Thing About Luck, twelve-year-old narrator Summer lives with her brother, parents, and grandp...Read More