It’s hard for me to ignore a book when it’s getting such Newbery buzz, even though I know that books that get all that buzz rarely go home with the gold. As a devoted reader of Heavy Medal, SLJ’s Mock Newbery blog, this book has been on my radar all year. Since the beginning, it’s…

We love a good biography, right–especially of an underexplored figure. When I found out that Rebecca Boggs Roberts was writing a biography of Edith Wilson, first lady to Woodrow Wilson, I was intrigued. She was all over NPR and the usual outlets talking about it, but I wasn’t able to make it to any of…

It’s TIMEEEEEEE! As many of you know, I have spent the past year reading and reading and reading and reading some more as the chair of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. Our LONGLIST of 45 amazing title was announced in October, and you can read about it here. Yesterday, on…

A new picture book round-up, mostly focused on a few interesting stories by some well-known names, and my attempt to catch up on some 2023 picture books! Moving the Millers’ Minnie Moore Mine Mansion by Dave Eggers, illustrated by Julia Sardia A humorous, “so ridiculous it couldn’t be anything but true story” from Dave Eggers,…

A Matilda comp is usually, for me, a must-read. However, I got busy this year, so even though this was published in March 2023, and was nominated for Capitol Choices, I did not get around to it until November 2023. Whoops! I’m here now, rectifying that. I genuinely enjoyed reading this book, but the Matilda-esque…

I love a good children’s book that treats kids like the weird, brilliant people they are. Bea Wolf is just that. Is it for every child? Absolutely not. Is there big parental appeal? Yes, but a a former English major, I’m also amazed at what this book was able to accomplish! This is a graphic…

A major priority of mine during this fun period of “Free Reading” as I’ll call it is working through the titles I’ve collected over the past 2-3 years that I wanted to read but simply never had the time to, or frankly the interest, in many cases. A lot of those are YA and adult…

I love a good Days of the Week series—and I like Megan Dowd Lambert’s work on the Whole Book approach, so finding this new easy reader series was a real treat! April and Mae are two best friends with a dog and cat who are best friends, and each day they have their routine or…

Dawn Quigley is back with a third Jo Jo Makoons early chapter book, and this one is perfect for reading as the weather gets colder and you dream of snowy days curled up inside. Rambunctious Jo Jo and her beloved cat, Mimi, are learning about what it means to be healthy: eating healthy foods, getting…

WE ARE BACK, baby! Out of a reading slump, back into mostly purely pleasure reading, and back on the wagon, so to speak. October ties May 2023 for my highest reading months of the year: 72 titles! As always, keep in mind that includes picture books, but it’s important for me to track those as…

As my award committee work came to an end, I got very very excited about reading some backlist titles, plowing through a good book again, and reading a lot of the older books taking up space on my shelves that I swore I was “going to get too soon.” Enter: Alice Austen Lived Here by…

The year is almost over, and there are still a lot of great books coming out this year that I haven’t gotten my hands on yet. Now that my award committee is winding down, I have a lot more flexibility in what I read, but also so much catching up to do! The Manor House…