Jan Gardner talks to Anita Silvey about her new book, 500 Great Books for Teens, for the Boston Globe. Silvey is a fan of Kenneth Oppel.
Sheryl Connelly recommends "Jolly Good Children's Books" for the New York Daily News. (Book aren't Christmas books, but rather some of the year's best.)
Kirby Larson's Hattie Big Sky, the book that is on the very top of my post-Cybils list, is the Washington Post "Book of the Week."
Nicolette Jones adds to the Christmas lists at the Times. This week she "chooses books to cheer the very young and stories that pack an emotional punch for older readers." She also identifies her top five. They are:
- Gideon the Cutpurse, by Linda Buckley-Archer
- Larklight, by Philip Reeve
- Meerkat Mail, by Emily Gravett
- Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now, by Lauren Child
- The Year the Gypsies Came, by Linzi Glass
The Independent has many a review of children's books this week. These include:
- Nicola Smyth reviews picture books
- Felix Taylor (age 14) reviews books with ghosts for older children, including Darren Shan's latest, Bec, and E.E. Richardson's The Intruders
- Amanda Craig reviews children's audio books, including a new recording of Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea
- How can you resist reading a review column with this title: "What every girl needs: ballet and a good punch-up"? Brandon Robshaw reviews books for girls including Clair-de-Lune and the latest Clarice Bean.
- Benjy Taylor (age 10--hey, are they paying these guys?) reviews FANTASY.
- Tom Rosenthal reviews The New English, by Kenneth McConkey
The Scotsman reviews Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's The Gruffalo's Child Jigsaw Book.
Also in The Scotsman:
- Michael Thorn reviews books for teens, including Mal Peet's The Penalty
- Holiday (mostly Christmas) books for children of all ages
You've got to give the Chicago Tribune props for their weekly column "For Young Readers." This week Mary Harris Russell reviews six more titles, including Toys Go Out, The Story of Salt, Incantation, and Yoon and the Christmas Mitten.
