REVIEW: Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear

Today’s featured review looks at this year’s Caldecott Medal winner, which is a also nominee in Juvenile and Elementary Nonfiction: Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, by Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. The review comes from Round 1 panelist Carrie Waterson of the IndyPL Kids’ Blog at the Indianapolis Public Library. She read …

REVIEW: Ms. Bixby’s Last Day

Our featured review for this first Wednesday in November is a nominee for Middle Grade Fiction, reviewed by Round 2 judge Greg Pattridge. Greg is a teacher, mentor, and writer who blogs about MG books at (what else) Always in the Middle. Over the summer, he reviewed Ms. Bixby’s Last Day by John David Anderson, the author of Sidekicked and …

REVIEW: White Sand, Vol. 1

Happy Halloween! In between pumpkin carving and candy eating and other festive behavior, why not check out today’s featured review? It’s from Round 1 Graphic Novels judge Alexandra Cenni, aka Lexie, who is one half of the blogging team at For the Sake of Reading. Her favorite genre is fantasy, and one of her recent reads from earlier this year …

REVIEW: Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion

Our featured blog review of the day comes from Joanne Roberts, a Round 1 panelist in Elementary and Juvenile Nonfiction. Joanne blogs at Bookish Ambition, and she is a children’s illustrator and writer herself. Last month, for Perfect Picture Book Friday, she posted about Fiction Picture Books nominee Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith. In …

REVIEW: Big Chickie, Little Chickie: A Book of Opposites

Hey, everyone–it’s another new category this year! Today’s blogger review is a nominee from our new Board Books category, which is a subdivision of Fiction Picture Books. Round 1 panelist Ami Jones blogs at A Mom’s Spare Time, where she posts book reviews and blogs about life as a Youth Services Librarian. Earlier this year, she reviewed Board Books nominee …

REVIEW: Duck, Duck, Porcupine!

You’ve met (virtually, anyway) Jennifer Wharton, our category organizer for Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction. But have you visited her blog yet? If not, go check out Jean Little Library for a review of Easy Reader nominee Duck, Duck, Porcupine! by Salina Yoon. (You’ll also find tons of other book reviews from picture book to middle grade, and posts about …

REVIEW: What’s Up, Chuck?

Today’s blogger review comes via Sue Morris, a Round 1 panelist for Fiction Picture Books and blogger at Kid Lit Reviews. She prides herself on her thoughtful reviews of children’s books, from picture books on up through middle grade, and she is a writer and social worker as well as a kidlit enthusiast. Over the summer she reviewed Early Chapter …

REVIEW: The Bronze Key [Audiobook]

We are so excited to kick off our new Audiobooks category this year, and what better way to start up this season’s blogger reviews? Our very first review is from Round 1 Audiobooks panelist Jeanene Johnson, who blogs about audiobooks at Got My Book. She has all of her audiobook reviews sorted into lists by title, author, narrator, rating, and …

REVIEW: Infandous

Young Adult Fiction finalist title Infandous by Elana K. Arnold takes center stage in today’s featured blog review, which comes courtesy of Kirkus Reviewer and inveterate Cybil-ite Leila Roy. Leila, who blogs at Bookshelves of Doom, was a Round 1 judge this year in YA Fiction, and back in the spring she posted about Infandous for Kirkus and gave it …

REVIEW: Listen, Slowly

Round 1 judge Debbie Tanner of The Book Search is a former classroom teacher, current elementary school librarian, who created her site and blog as a way to help people find books that match the skills they want to teach. A few months ago she reviewed Middle Grade Fiction finalist Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai, the National Book Award-winning author …