Jane O'Connor, Jessie Hartland, , illus. by Hartland. . Puffin, $5.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-14-240335-8
PW
wrote in a starred review, "For its boundlessly energetic images, its down-to-earth tone and its smart advice, this book wins Best in Show." Ages 3-up. (July)
Two paws up for this lively canine compendium, which introduces kids to a kennel's worth of dog breeds. Undecided about what kind of dog he wants, a boy surveys the pups owned by his friends Continue reading »
IF THE WALLS COULD TALK: Family Life at the White House
Jane O'Connor
A real estate ad for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on the opening page sets the tone of O'Connor's (The Emperor's Silent Army
) anecdotal, chronological Continue reading »
With exuberance, élan and lots of heart, O'Connor (the Nina, Nina Ballerina books) and Glasser (A Is for Abigail
) prove that the bosom of the family Continue reading »
In this enticing, snappily written tale-within-a-tale, O'Connor (Fancy Nancy
) introduces two Victorian families, each consisting of a mama, papa, boy, girl Continue reading »
Fancy Nancy fans will loudly cheer her return and will be happy to discover that she has not lost a lick of her joie de vivre—or her glitter and glam. "I am ecstatic. (That's a fancy Continue reading »
Wielding “her weapon of choice, a lethally sharpened Cole-erase blue pencil,” Miranda “Rannie” Bookman makes a dynamic sleuth in O'Connor's lively romantic Continue reading »
Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words: From Accessories to Zany
Jane O'Connor
Kids even slightly drawn to sesquipedalianism (the use of long words) will love these logodaedalian (verbally clever) vocabulary books.
Continue reading »
The world has never seemed fancier to Nancy than at Christmas: there's abundant snow, the house is decked out in lights and, on Christmas Eve, Nancy has a special angel tree topper to hang. Continue reading »
Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors: Drawing with Scissors
Jane O'Connor
The Smart About Art series continues with Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors by Jane O'Connor, illus. by Jessie Hartland. Presented and organized in the style of a grade-school report (and Continue reading »
Faster than a speeding rooster! Able to leap tall chicken coops in a single bound! It's lovable mega-hero Super Cluck, portrayed here for early readers in simple yet exciting text and vibrant, Continue reading »
In this I Can Read sequel to Lulu and the Witch Baby, Lulu is off to witch school with her broom and Dracula lunch box. Her teacher, Miss Slime, is pretty, with a long nose and wart on her chin. She Continue reading »
The Here Comes the Brownies series opens with two straightforward but sensitive stories. In the first book, Corrie has just moved to a new town and hesitantly joins a Brownie Girl Scout troop, where Continue reading »
Long after his spaceship has departed, Chuck Cluck hatches on earth. Mrs. Cluck raises Chuck with her own chicks, but everyone notices he is different--Chuck is bigger, hungrier and stronger. When Continue reading »
Fancy Nancy pirouettes into middle-grade territory with the launch of a mystery series that has her emulating another famous Nancy—Nancy Drew. The stylish sleuth assumes the role with élan, dressed Continue reading »
Co-written by sisters, this book is drawn from the blog and subsequent adult book, The Puppy Diaries, by New York Times executive editor and devoted dog owner Abramson. Like O’Connor’s Fancy Nancy, Continue reading »
As readers are toddling off to bed, or as “you are finishing up the last bit of chocolate pudding and then brushing your teeth and wishing you didn’t have to go to bed just yet,” Continue reading »
In Hartland's (The Perfect Puppy for Me) daffy tale, a black poodle strides forth on her hind legs, leaving behind the limited cuisine and cramped prospects of small town life for a shot at becoming Continue reading »
An efficient and entertaining mix of science, history, and humor, Hartland’s follow-up to How the Sphinx Got to the Museum (2010) turns a young museum-goer’s question—“So, how did the dinosaur Continue reading »
Chef and TV personality Julia Child likely would have delighted in and hooted over this wide-ranging picture-book biography. Hartland’s (How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum) trademark naïve-styled Continue reading »
Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer
Diane Stanley, Jessie Hartland
Stanley (Mozart: The Wonder Child) delivers a breezy but insightful overview of the curiosity and determination that drove Ada Lovelace (1815–1852) to pursue her intellectual passions, Continue reading »
Lexie is a cowgirl, but she wrangles words, not cattle—a concept that Van Slyke and Hartland explore with droll wordplay and bold, folk art–style artwork. Lexie’s talents include growing letters into Continue reading »
When a family’s household reaches maximum pet capacity (critters include “six poodles,/ ten cats, a tarantula, two/ snakes, three hedgehogs,/ ten mice, countless birds,” and more), it’s time to Continue reading »
Our Flag Was Still There: The True Story of Mary Pickersgill and the Star-Spangled Banner
Jessie Hartland
The huge American flag that flew over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and inspired The Star-Spangled Banner—and is now displayed in the Smithsonian—was hand-stitched in just six weeks by an Continue reading »
Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood
Tony Hillery
Hillery, the founder of Harlem Grown, narrates how an urban farm grew from an abandoned lot across the street from Harlem’s PS 175: “Nevaeh called it the haunted garden. It was cluttered with wrecked Continue reading »
In 2005, Hartland introduced Clementine, a poodle who wanted more out of life. Now, there’s lanky brown Rosie, who walks on her hind legs and whose loving interracial human family is completely Continue reading »
Two previous collaborators (Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science) tell the story of white restaurateur Alice Waters and her determination to change the way America thought—and thinks—about food. Continue reading »
The Day the River Caught Fire: How the Cuyahoga River Exploded and Ignited the Earth Day Movement
Barry Wittenstein
Wittenstein supplies an eco-history of Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River and its role in launching the environmental movement, opening with the moment in 1969 when the heavily polluted river—upon which “a Continue reading »
Having previously explained how Egyptian and prehistoric artifacts arrived in museum displays in How the Sphinx Got to the Museum and How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum, Hartland goes for a hat Continue reading »
Harland brings the style of simple drawings paired with easy-to-digest facts she used in her first novel, Bon Appétit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child, to a breezy yet thorough illustrated Continue reading »
Speaking to Bookshelf from her office at Penguin Books for Young Readers, where she is editor-at-large, Jane O’Connor discussed Fancy Nancy’s success and new incarnation as a Continue reading »
Two publishing luminaries who happen to be sisters – Jill Abramson, executive editor of the New York Times, and Jane O’Connor, v-p and editor at large of Penguin Young Readers Continue reading »
In a futuristic world in which 60% of people have mutated to develop superpowers, transgender teen Oberon, who has a panic disorder, is the only one of his siblings without a Continue reading »
Three days after her 15th birthday, Nell Strand manifests her matrilineal magic in the form of yellow ladybugs that alight on her piano keys as she searches for the perfect Continue reading »
Ever since her mother’s death, Japanese American seventh grader Megumi Mizuno has felt like school is a waste of time. Following her latest expulsion, Meg is enrolled at strict, Continue reading »
Drawing from personal memories, per an afterword, Agra Deedy (Carina Felina) kicks off this relational telling focusing on the friendship between a child, Coqui, and Emilio, the Continue reading »