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| Children's |
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|  | Alton, Steve BLOOD AND GOO AND BOOGERS TOO!
November 15, 2009 - You just know a book with an ooey-gooey touch-and-feel booger on the cover has got to be good, and this gleefully gross pop-up doesn't disappoint. With a scope that includes the respiratory and circulatory systems, the book moves from the nose and
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|  | Askani, Tanja A FRIEND LIKE YOU
November 15, 2009 - This well-intended but ill-conceived look at disparate animal pairs features high-quality nature photographs of appealing creatures that are not normally found cavorting through verdant meadows in tandem. Each spread includes a full-page photo of a
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| | Baruzzi, Agnese THE TRUE STORY OF LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
November 15, 2009 - When Wolf decides he's "fed up with bein wicked all the time," he appeals to Red Riding Hood for help. Her re-education program—which includes bathing regularly, helping with chores and a vegetarian diet (Chilli Con Carrots, anyone?)—is so
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| | Bozarth, Jan KERKA'S BOOK
November 15, 2009 - This newest Fairy Godmother Academy tale focuses on Kerka's adventures in Aventurine, a dreamland where fairy godmothers–to-be receive their training. Since her mother's death, Kerka's relationship with her sisters has deteriorated. Biba, the
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| | Brown, Margaret Wise SLEEPY ABC
November 15, 2009 - Take an old story by a skilled wordsmith (the text dates from 1953 and was originally accompanied by Esphyr Slobodkina's illustrations), add cheerful, cuddly illustrations and a fresh new ABC book that's also a bedtime tale is born. From "A is for
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| | Carter, David A. WHITE NOISE
November 15, 2009 - Noises in most pop-up books are accidents: An over-glued element gets unstuck, or—horrors—rips entirely. But this, the fifth and last in Carter's Color series (600 Black Spots, 2007, etc.), actively crackles, tinkles and creaks. Using his customary
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| | Church, Caroline Jayne RAINY DAY
November 15, 2009 - A sturdy little boy prepares to go out in the rain and exhorts readers to help: "I put on my favorite blue pants. Can you help me with the belt?" The child raises his hands exuberantly against his bedroom backdrop, his Velcro belt inviting little
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| | Cohn, Rachel VERY LEFREAK
November 15, 2009 - There's a playlist for every moment of college freshman Very LeFreak's life. There's also an IM, a meme, a text message and a social network. Very's always focused on her next great party or her online relationship with the man who calls himself El
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| | Coppendale, Jean THE GREAT BIG BOOK OF MIGHTY MACHINES
November 15, 2009 - A vehicle-lover's dream come true, this meaty volume focuses on cars, bikes, trains, tractors, rescue vehicles, construction trucks and monster trucks. Each section (which is divided into subtopics, one per double-page spread) ends with an activity
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| | Davis, Gibbs FIRST KIDS
November 15, 2009 - Capitalizing on the interest in the Obama girls, Step into Reading has reissued an updated version of their familiar First Kids (2004) with Malia and Sasha on the cover. Not much has changed here save the final chapter, which discusses the first
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| | de Saint-Exupry, Antoine THE LITTLE PRINCE
November 15, 2009 - "[E]yes are blind. You have to look with the heart," says the little prince, which makes this pop-up edition of the 1943 classic a bit of an odd duck. De Saint-Exupry's minimalist illustrations become full-color paper-engineered elements in a
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| | Etnier, Jennifer L. BRING YOUR 'A' GAME
November 15, 2009 - Armed with the conviction that young athletes can benefit from "sport psychology knowledge," Etnier, an associate professor of exercise and sport science, offers strategies for junior- and high-school athletes to reach their potential through mental
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| | Eulberg, Elizabeth THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB
November 15, 2009 - In a spirited, feminist debut, musician Eulberg traces the resilience of a 16-year-old suburban high-school junior who turns her disappointment in love into a happy affirmation of autonomy and friendship. When Penny Lane Bloom is jilted, she turns
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| | Fink, Bert THE SOUND OF MUSIC
November 15, 2009 - "One of Maria's favorite things was to sing out loud. Maria, however, lived and studied in a very serious place called Nonnberg Abbey…. It was in a beautiful city called Salzburg in a country called Austria." From this wooden beginning, it just gets
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| | Gilman, David ICE CLAW
November 15, 2009 - Gilman introduced Max Gordon in The Devil's Breath (2007), which sent this adventurous teen across Africa in pursuit of his missing father. This equally exciting sequel finds Max high in the Pyrenees Mountains, participating in an Xtreme sports
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| | Gury, Anne ALPHAB'ART
November 15, 2009 - This attractive volume, produced in a nicely squared-off (10" X 10") size, beckons readers within with the bright oranges and warm red tones of Fernand Lger's Still Life, ABC (1927). Children will enjoy this rambunctious hide-and-seek ramble
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| | Hodgkinson, Leigh SMILE!
November 15, 2009 - When her mom says no to more cookies, chipper little Sunny loses her smile and searches the whole house hoping to get it back. She peers under the bed, sifts through the couch and questions poor Glittergills the goldfish. Even with a small,
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| | Hutchins, Hazel TOGETHER
November 15, 2009 - From buttons to zippers to hugs, young children will learn the meaning of "together" in everyday life. Each color-filled spread features a different family, each of varying ethnicities, learning basic but important lessons with their young ones. As
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| | Johnson, Stephen MY LITTLE RED FIRE TRUCK
November 15, 2009 - Little only in comparison to the real thing, this unusually sturdy interactive book features thick cardboard pages held together with a cloth-reinforced tape binding that should last. Within, pop-out cardboard pieces allow drivers to fill the gas,
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| | Laird, Elizabeth THE OGRESS AND THE SNAKE AND OTHER STORIES FROM SOMALIA
November 15, 2009 - This satisfying anthology gathers eight traditional stories, collected from living tellers in a Somali region of Ethiopia. The title story shares some elements with "Hansel and Gretel" as five daughters are left to starve in the bush because their
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| | Lake, Nick BLOOD NINJA
November 15, 2009 - Growing up in a small village with dreams of becoming a samurai, Taro never expected to be the target of a ninja attack. Mortally wounded, he is turned into a vampire by Shusaku and begins preparing for his new life, a process complicated by the
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| | Lasky, Kathryn WOLVES OF THE BEYOND
November 15, 2009 - Lasky spins off her popular Guardians of Ga'Hoole series into this enchanting first installment of a new series starring wolves, introducing a wolf pup raised by a grizzly bear. The pack casts Faolan, born with a defect in one paw, out to die, but a
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| | LeFlore, Lyah B. THE WORLD IS MINE
November 15, 2009 - Overstuffed with dull interconnecting plots and marred by tone-deaf dialogue, this series opener should nonetheless find an enthusiastic fan base among readers who like their teen drama with just a twist of urban grit. Blue and Collin, best friends
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| | Lynch, Wayne ARCTIC A TO Z
November 15, 2009 - This entry in a limited series that offers surveys of various topics in abecedarian form focuses on the adaptations that allow the people, animals and plants that make their home in the Arctic to survive, as well as on the natural phenomena that
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| | Mankell, Henning SHADOW OF THE LEOPARD
November 15, 2009 - Ten years have passed since the events described in Mankell's powerful novel Secrets in the Fire (2003), which chronicled the heartbreaking experience of nine-year-old Sofia, who lost both her legs after stepping on a land mine.This companion finds
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| | McCaffrey, Kate IN ECSTASY
November 15, 2009 - An oddly old-fashioned drug-abuse story from Australia. Best friends Mia and Sophie say yes when popular Lewis offers them Ecstasy at a party. Shy, insecure Mia loves the rush, the power and especially the resulting relationship with Lewis. Bold
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| | McPhail, David WEEZER CHANGES THE WORLD
November 15, 2009 - Man's best friend makes a bid to become mankind's best friend in this tale of wagging tails and world peace. Though a normal puppy in every sense of the word, Weezer acquires a heightened intelligence when a bolt of lightning strikes him on the
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| | Mechling, Lauren DREAM LIFE
November 15, 2009 - Buzzing with excitement but choppy in momentum, Claire Voyante's second outing features copious implausibilities set in the colorful playground of Manhattan. Black-and-white dream images help Claire solve mysteries—if she can determine which random
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| | Milne, Terry LOUIS' DREAM PLANE
November 15, 2009 - Assorted flying machines adorn the endpapers and will propel young aeronautics fans right into this high-flying story of friendship. The playground discovery of a model Gypsy Moth biplane transports Louis into the pilot's seat for an imaginary buzz
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| | Murray, Yxta Maya THE GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO GETTING KIDNAPPED
November 15, 2009 - On the day Michelle Pe˜a wins in the qualifying rounds for All-American track and earns a spot on her school's academic decathlon team, she and her best friend, Kiki, are kidnapped. Michelle knows her kidnappers: They're members of the gang run by
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| | Myers, Edward FAR FROM GRINGO LAND
November 15, 2009 - Rick Dresner travels to a very small town in central Mexico to help the Romeros finish their house instead of spending his last summer before graduating from high school hiking in the Colorado Rockies. In Santo Domingo, he feels as if he's traveled
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| | Nesbø, Jo DOCTOR PROCTOR'S FART POWDER
November 15, 2009 - In this well-knit crossover debut for young audiences, a popular Norwegian author crafts an airy farce from elements both familiar and offbeat—from new friends with wildly disparate personalities afflicted by big but really stupid bullies (with a
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| | Parker, Jake MISSILE MOUSE
November 15, 2009 - When his mission to recover an ancient star compass goes wrong, intrepid Galactic Security Agent Missile Mouse finds himself saddled with a partner. Agent Hyde, the son of a senator and a rookie, is willing to please, but part of his job (according
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| | Patterson, James WITCH & WIZARD
November 15, 2009 - In a parallel world, a new political party, the New Order, has come to power. Its leader, The One Who Is The One, hates children, those with imagination and magic users. Unbeknownst to teenage siblings Wisteria and Whitford Allgood, they are
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| | Paul, Alison SUNDAY LOVE
November 15, 2009 - Tipping her hat to the old riddle theme "black and white and red all over," Paul supplies an action-packed story that founders in visual chaos. The simple, exciting plot has a black-and-white–clad robber busting out of jail and causing merry bedlam.
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| | Pelham, David STUFF AND NONSENSE
November 15, 2009 - A team of mice, all similarly round-faced, goggle-eyed and buck-toothed, carry a dizzying variety of construction materials through a mousehole and outside: There's furry stuff, yellow stuff, wavy stuff, woolly stuff and more, all moving from left
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| | Petty, Kate EARTHLY TREASURES
November 15, 2009 - From the same team behind such novelty classics as The Amazing Pop-Up Grammar Book (1996) comes this exploration of rocks and minerals. From a brief introduction that sketchily covers the usual rock-and-mineral territory (types of minerals, fossil
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| | Rahman, Urmi B IS FOR BANGLADESH
November 15, 2009 - A is for Ankhee (eyes), B is for Bangladesh, C is for crocodile. An odd mixture of words in Bangla (Bengali) and English and place names is used to unsuccessfully structure this collection of attractive photos of the country that became independent
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| | Reeves, Dia BLEEDING VIOLET
November 15, 2009 - Portero, Texas, is so terrifying that out-of-towners flee in terror. Wonderful new heroine Hanna Järvinen, however, is hard to spook. She makes friends easily: Black and Finnish, she's comfortable standing out. Moreover, the lifesuckers and cacklers
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| | Reynolds, Aaron BACK OF THE BUS
November 15, 2009 - A child's-eye view of the day Rosa Parks would not give up her seat. On Dec. 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Ala., a boy and his mom sit at the back of the bus, and he amuses himself by rolling his tiger's-eye marble down the bus aisle. "Mrs. Parks from the
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| | Rhuday-Perkovich, Olugbemisola 8TH GRADE SUPER ZERO
November 15, 2009 - Though he imagines himself a superhero, Reginald McKnight threw up on the first day of school and acquired the less-than-cool nickname "Pukey"—now, he just wants survive the year "under the radar and on the sidelines." Readers might legitimately
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| | Robertson, M.P. THE DRAGON AND THE GRUESOME TWOSOME
November 15, 2009 - This story begins like the others in the series, including The Egg (2001), The Great Dragon Rescue (2004) and The Dragon Snatcher (2005): An English boy named George sits in his garden, concerned with little more than"his mother's favourite
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| | Roy, Ron JANUARY JOKER
November 15, 2009 - Overactive imaginations and a gentle kind of groupthink combine with tricky sixth-grade siblings (all familiar character to readers of Roy's A to Z Mysteries) to make for one exciting Saturday morning. With all the parents out for breakfast and the
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| | Royston, Angela MY BODY
November 15, 2009 - Royston's latest science title is an in-depth introduction to the human body for the youngest readers. Divided into five main sections (heart and lungs, bones and teeth, brain, digestive system and skin), the book treats subtopics in successive
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| | Shelton, Paula Young CHILD OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
November 15, 2009 - Civil rights can be a difficult topic, even for adults, so finding simple language to explain the complexity of injustice and oppression to children is challenging. Shelton, daughter of Andrew Young, accepts the challenge and rises to meet it,
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| | Sheth, Kashmira BOYS WITHOUT NAMES
November 15, 2009 - The author returned to her native India to research this fictionalized expos of child labor. Eleven-year-old Gopal and his family, deeply in debt, flee to Mumbai to find work. There, a slick older boy offers Gopal a factory job, then turns him over
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| | Soup, Cuthbert A WHOLE NOTHER STORY
November 15, 2009 - Three children and their inventor dad on the run from government agents, international superspies AND corporate baddies are finally forced to take a stand in this picaresque debut. Thanks largely to warnings from their psychic dog and the ability to
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| | Staake, Bob PETS GO POP!
November 15, 2009 - Two per spread, a cavalcade of pets runs, romps and plays. Two-word phrases contained within colored dots (which echo the multicolored, perfectly round faces of the children) describe the animals with varying degrees of success: A tiger is a "speedy
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| | Stotts, Stuart WE SHALL OVERCOME
November 15, 2009 - Pete Seeger tells readers in the foreword that "the power of singing together shows us that change is possible," and no other song is as identified with movements for social change as "We Shall Overcome." Evolving from slave songs, spirituals and
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| | Summers, Courtney SOME GIRLS ARE
November 15, 2009 - The familiar plot of a girl facing social exile after a near-rape at a party takes on a brutal twist. Popular Regina is ostracized by her clique after her best friend's boyfriend attacks her; Anna, the best friend, would rather believe that Regina
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| | Van Patter, Bruce TUCKER TOOK IT!
November 15, 2009 - An omnivorous goat stirs up trouble. Tucker loves corn more than anything. But with the corn not ready, what is hungry Tucker to do? He sets his appetite loose on Mrs. Zook's farm, stealing the straw hat from the head of Sadie the horse and
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| | Walliams, David THE BOY IN THE DRESS
November 15, 2009 - British comedian Walliams tells the story of Dennis, who lives in a dreary house with his depressed, working-class dad and older brother. He's the star of his soccer team, but the thing that really gives Dennis's life magic is his penchant for
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| | Wilson, John CRUSADE
November 15, 2009 - A modern-feeling hero is our tour guide through a vicious war that devastated southern France. The year is 1206, the place is the Languedoc region of France and Peter and John's adolescent religious debates have been growing more heated. As
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| Online Exclusive
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| "We welcome reader feedback"
November 15, 2009 - Lately in our reader-feedback inbox we've had a few pleas to split our Children's section into subsections based on audience age. I understand these readers' motivations: There are only so many minutes in a day, and to spend some of them reading reviews of books you don't work with can feel burdensome...But I have to say that simply putting together the Best Children's Books (in the Nov. 15 issue) and Best Young Adult Books (in the Dec. 1 issue) supplements this year was agony for me. While it's easy enough, I suppose, to declare Jerry Pinkney's glorious "The Lion and the Mouse" a children's book and Nick Burd's edgy-in-the-extreme "The Vast Fields of Ordinary" a YA book, drawing the line got pretty arbitrary
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