Book Review
Hello Little Ones
This joyful board book draws comparisons between animal behaviors and childhood play, imparting subtle lessons about interspecies empathy along the way. Across the bright, upbeat two-page spreads, striking similarities are noted: a...
Book Review
A Christmas Wish for Little Dala Horse
Its illustrations reminiscent of children’s film classics, with lovely touches of winter starshine and frost, this cheery Swedish picture book follows a woodcarver as she lovingly crafts a Christmas gift for her granddaughter: a red...
Book Review
Hanah's Sheep and Cattle
Shira Gorshman’s piquant historical novel Hannah’s Sheep and Cattle nestles an abiding love story amid the interwar upheavals of Soviet Russia. In 1930, on a Jewish commune on the wide Crimean steppe, Hanah is twenty-three, the...
Book Review
Other Evolutions
Unspoken rivalries lead to aching rifts in Rebecca Hirsch Garcia’s glittering debut novel "Other Evolutions", about the power and pitfalls of intense family love. Alma grew up in the glow of her older sister, Marnie, who possessed...
Book Review
Look Up
Beneath a canopy of trees in a wide, green land, a man’s attention is pulled to the sky. Wonderment directs his days—until self-consciousness prompts him to fade in with the crowd, looking down and getting lost in routines. Time...
Book Review
The Very Fine Clock
“Heart speaks to heart” in this picture book, a work of melancholy, humor, and unmatchable charm from two celebrated artists. Its whimsical tale concerns a respected professor, John, and his most reliable friend, Ticky, a Swiss clock...
Book Review
Weiwei's Winter Solstice
Weiwei is used to celebrating the longest night of the year amid blooming flowers and buzzing birds. This year, though, in her family’s new home, the land is blanketed with snow. Still, there are peeks of the familiar: in plum blossoms...
Book Review
The Boy, the Troll, and the Chalk
Dimensional illustrations with a glowing, illuminated quality bring extra sparkle to this sweet fable about the powers of patience and acceptance in defeating loneliness. Most parkgoers avoid the central cave; a scary, unfriendly troll...
