Weekend Reviews (I-II)

Better late than never, no? (Sorry. I was finishing up The Edge of the Forest today.)

It's not a particularly busy weekend out there on the major media sites, but it's a good one. Two online slide shows start off the links this week. Here's the roundup of this weekend's reviews (and features):

Cool Online Feature: Check out Booktrust's Ten Best New Illustrators in this slide show at the Telegraph.

In the not-necessarily-a-children's-book (but still of great interest) category, The Boston Globe has an excerpt from Boston University professor emeritus Howard Zinn's graphic novel, A People's History of American Empire. (Zinn is 85 years old, a well-known historian, playwright, and social activist. I think we can safely say the genre has arrived.)

Susan Perren reviews five new books for the Globe and Mail, including On the Farm, by David Elliott, illustrated by Holly Meade.

Sonja Bolle reviews baseball books this weekend in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, including new offerings from Linda Sue Park (Yay!) and Mike Lupica (yay, again).

Mary Harris Russell is on the job at the Chicago Tribune, reviewing five new children's books, including (yay) Linda Sue Park's Keeping Score.

Profile Alert: Nicola Smyth talks to the endlessly-entertaining Emily Gravett for the Independent.

Kathryn Hughes reviews Before Green Gables, by Budge Wilson, for the Guardian.

Dana Rudolph considers Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah Brannen, for PrideSource. Regan McMahon reviews this same book this weekend in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kathy Englehart reviews two children's books about Martin Luther King Jr. for The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Amanda Craig reviews Tom Trueheart and the Land of Dark Stories, by Ian Beck, and The Game, by Diana Wynne Jones, for the Times.

Janet Christie reviews new children's books for the Scotsman, including Judy Blume's The Pain and the Great One: Soupy Saturdays.

Elizabeth Ward reviews "rip-roaring new picture books" this weekend in the Washington Post, including Chris Gall's There's Nothing To Do on Mars.