That's right, it's time for The New York Times' Children's Book's Special Section. It happens twice a year, so enjoy!
- Abby McGanney Nolan reviews The Little Red Hen, by Jerry Pinkney ("he’s made a virtue of the bright simplicity of this folk tale") The review opens with a profile of Pinkney.
- Dwight Garner takes a look at the big pop up books of the year: Mommy?, Sharks and Other Sea Monsters, Blue 2 (David A. Carter), and Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense (Kees Moerbeek)
- Naomi Wolf is back in the NYT with a review of Gail Carson Levine's Fairest. Wolf's conclusion?: "you will probably enjoy it only if you are not easily irritated by passivity. Levine is a writer of many talents; perhaps her next heroine will have a bolder view of herself and her place in the world."** (First Chapter)
- Jessica Bruder reviews two new picture books--Mini Grey's The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon and The Runaway Dinner, by Allan Ahlberg (illustrated by Bruce Ingman)
- David Small reviews three picture books, all fish-themed: Flotsam, by David Wiesner, Dear Fish, by Chris Gall, and Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea, by Chris Butterworth (illustrated by John Lawrence)
- Bruce Handy reviews picture books featuring "churlish creatures." These include Do Not Open This Book!, by Michaela Muntean (illustrated by Pascal Lemaître), Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!, by Mo Willems, and I'm Not Cute!, by Jonathan Allen
- Steven Heller reviews picture books with "a graphic element"
- Patricia T. O'Conner considers books about the "secret life of toys," including Toys Go Out, by Emily Jenkins (illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky), Oscar: The Big Adventure of a Little Sock Monkey, by Amy Schwartz and Leonard S. Marcus (illustrated by Amy Schwartz), and While You are Sleeping, by Alexis Deacon
- Polly Shulman reviews picture books about numbers. Four of them, to be exact.
- A.O. Scott reviews The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne
- Ned Vizzini reads Tyrell, by Coe Booth (a "gritty and gripping first novel")
- Sarah Boxer considers picture books without words, including The Adventures of Polo, by Régis Faller, Museum Trip, by Barbara Lehman, and Oops, by Arthur Geisert
- Sara London reviews Hello Twins, by Charlotte Voake (Voake's "latest sibling homage reminds us that family harmony can happen even when the children sing separate songs")
- James Hynes reviews Firestorm: The Caretaker Trilogy: Book 1 , by David Klass (a "hyperkinetic new eco-thriller")
- M. John Harrison reads Rash, by Pete Hautman ("An agreeably black humor — which the author himself attributes to school days spent in the company of Joel Coen and Al Franken in Minnesota — draws us into his seventh novel for young adults") (First Chapter)
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ETA: Jenny Davidson reviews M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation. Volume I: The Pox Party in the NYT this weekend as well.
**Okay, does anyone think Namoi Wolf may be writing a YA novel?
