The Templeton Twins Make a Scene by Ellis Weiner, illustrated by Jeremy Holmes (Chronicle Books, 2013) This sequel to The Templeton Twins Have an Idea finds brother and sister team, John and Abigail, at TAPAS (the Thespian Academy of the Performing Arts and Sciences), where their father, Professor Templeton, has been hired to create another of his brilliant one-of-a-kind… Read more »
Dianne White
Pinkbeard’s Revenge (The Adventures of Jo Schmo)
The Adventures of Jo Schmo: Pinkbeard’s Revenge by Greg Trine, art by Frank W. Dormer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013) Fourth Grade Superhero, Jo Schmo, speeds through the streets of San Francisco with her dog Raymond ready to take-on trouble at a moment’s notice. This time around, the nasty Dr. Dastardly, his accomplice Numb Skull, and a… Read more »
Merry Christmas from the ReaderKidZ!
Little Santa by Jon Agee
Little Santa by Jon Agee (Dial, 2013) Did you ever wonder what Santa was like as a small child? It certainly couldn’t have been easy growing up in the uppermost reaches of the northern hemisphere. As author/illlustrator Jon Agee tells it, “Life was tough in the North Pole. Every day there was … wood to… Read more »
Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design
Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design by Chip Kidd (Workman Publishing, 2013) According to Chip Kidd, graphic design is “Purposeful planning that uses any combination of forms, pictures, words, and meanings to achieve one’s goal.” In other words, design is problem solving. It’s art, yes. But it’s also math (think size and balance, patterns and… Read more »
Me and Mama and Big John
Me and Mama and Big John by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by William Low Mama has a new job working in a big fancy church in New York City called Big John. She and others have been trained as stonecutters in conjunction with an apprentice program that the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine offered… Read more »
The Kite That Bridged Two Nations
The Kite That Bridged Two Nations by Alexis O’Neill, illustrated by Terry Widener (Calkins Creek, 2013) On January 31, 1848, against tremendous odds, young Homan Walsh flew his kite across the Niagara River, two and half miles north of Niagara Falls. The half-inch cord attached to Homan’s kite became the first line connecting the United States… Read more »
