CCBC Weekly Book Reviews
The Lady and the Octopus: How Jeanne Villepreux-Power Invented Aquariums and Revolutionized Marine Biology
When his usual tactics to alleviate boredom don’t work, Raccoon decides to bake an apple cake. Out of eggs, he heads to Fox’s to borrow some.
November 28, 2022
A Perfect Wonderful Day with Friends
When his usual tactics to alleviate boredom don’t work, Raccoon decides to bake an apple cake. Out of eggs, he heads to Fox’s to borrow some.
November 21, 2022
The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin
This beautifully realized novel in verse succeeds on every level–as a work of historical fiction vividly bringing the past to life, as a love story, as a story about overcoming one’s personal fears, and as a work illuminating chilling parallels between Germany in the early 1930s and western society today.
November 14, 2022
Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
An informational picture book about Mamie Till Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, beautifully tells a wrenching story.
November 7, 2022
Growing an Artist: The Story of a Landscaper and His Son
“Today is a BIG day. Today is the first time I get to help my papi at his work. He is a landscape contractor.”
October 31, 2022
We Are Wolves
Wolfskinder, German children left to survive in East Prussia after World War II, are the lesser-known subject of this moving historical novel.
October 24, 2022
Expedition Backyard: Exploring Nature from Country to City
Friends Mole and Vole live in the country. Mole is content with a quiet life observing and drawing nature and Vole is an adventure seeker, always rallying Mole to head out on their next expedition.
October 17, 2022
A Spoonful of Frogs
The green-skinned witch hosting a cooking show breezes confidently through the first few steps of making Frog Soup. She’s filled her cauldron with water, added potatoes, carrots, 22 cloves of garlic, and fly extract.
October 10, 2022
Bitter
Bitter, who is Black, spent much of her childhood in foster care. Now she’s at Eucalyptus, a residential school for young artists run by the regal and mysterious Miss Virtue.
October 3, 2022
The Last Mapmaker
In a society where status comes from how far back one can trace the generations of their family, Sai has only a father who’s a thief.
September 26, 2022
Breathe and Count Back from Ten
Veró’s immigrant family came to the United States from Peru years ago seeking opportunities for Veró and her younger sister, and better treatment options for Veró’s hip dysplasia.
September 19, 2022
Firsts & Lasts: The Changing Seasons
This imaginative approach to describing the four seasons (in some regions) captures the overlapping traits that are inevitable between one season and the next.
September 12, 2022
Ain’t Burned All the Bright
A singular verse novel set across a series of moments and minutes on a day in the summer of 2020 is comprised of three sentences, three “Breaths,” sharply observed and deeply felt, set against sophisticated collage illustrations.
September 6, 2022
How to Build a Human In Seven Evolutionary Steps
This entertaining, informative, accessible account about human evolution starts with an explanation of natural selection and returns to it throughout as it touches on major milestones in the evolution of hominins, including which traits, behaviors, and skills allowed them—us—to continue to survive and evolve.
August 29, 2022
The Turtle of Michigan
In this kindhearted, stand-alone companion to The Turtle of Oman, eight-year-old Aref moves from Oman to Ann Arbor, Michigan, so his parents can attend graduate school. The start of their three-year stay is buoyed by welcoming new neighbors and a summer art class that helps ease Aref’s transition.
August 22, 2022- More Books of the Week