Weekend Reviews (I-II)

After a long journey, I'm back in Smalltown just in time for the weekend reviews. Here we go:

Nicholas A. Basbanes considers back-to-school books for the four-to eight-year-old reader in the Orlando Sentinel.

Elizabeth Hand reviews this week's big book--Breaking Dawn--in the Washington Post. (The review contains the following line: "Reader, I hurled.") Mary Harris Russell also reviews Breaking Dawn in the Chicago Tribune.

Abby McGanney Nolan reviews Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing, by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow (illustrated by Helen Cann), also in the Washington Post.

Monica Farrow takes a look at A+ alphabet books for the Winston-Salem Journal.

Profile Alert: Misha Berson profiles William Steig for The Seattle Times.

Sue Arnold considers the audio version of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox (read by Martin Jarvis) in the Guardian. (Sue Arnold also reviews Jasper Britton's reading of Treasure Island, Ian McKellan's reading of Michelle Paver's Outcast, and Neville Jason's reading of The Sword and the Stone.

Also in the Guardian, Rachel Cooke talks to Raymond Briggs!

Lizzie Skurnick reviews Chris Adrian's A Better Angel: Stories in the Los Angeles Times.

The Traitor Game, by B.R. Collins, is the Times Children's Book of the Week, reviewed by Nicolette Jones.

Also in the Times: Fiona Terry interviews Lynley Dodd (Harry Maclary)

Susan Larson reviews post-Katrina books--including a number of children's titles--in the Times Picayune.

Award News: The 2008 TD Canadian Children's Literature Awards finalists have been announced. Here's the scoop from the Montreal Gazette. (Some really great choices here: Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose; Chester)

Oprah's Kids Reading List is live at Oprah.com.