CCBC Weekly Book Reviews
The Genius Under the Table: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
Eugene Yelchin’s funny, tender memoir recounts aspects of his childhood and young adulthood in Leningrad during the Cold War.
November 22, 2021
America My Love America My Heart
“America, the Brave. America, the Bold. / America to Have. America to Hold.” A picture book in which the opening lines suggest the celebratory and devotional goes on to asks unflinching, essential questions in a second-person narrative addressing America in the voice of individual Black and brown children.
November 15, 2021
Sorry for Your Loss
Evie is teased by other middle school girls at her Jewish private school because of her parents’ work–they run a funeral parlor; work that Evie is interested in pursuing someday.
November 8, 2021
Rosa Loves Cars / A Rosa le encantan los carros
Brown-skinned, glasses-wearing, curly dark-haired Rosa engages in active and imaginative play on her own and with friends in these bilingual (English/Spanish) board books.
November 1, 2021
Too Bright to See
Bug and Bug’s mom are grieving Bug’s Uncle Roderick, who lived with them and recently passed away after a long illness. It was Uncle Roderick who taught Bug about ghosts, so when spooky things start happening--doors open and close, objects moved around--Bug suspects it’s Uncle Roderick, trying to communicate something important.
October 25, 2021
Blackout
Six stories by six different contributors are set during a citywide blackout in New York that begins on a hot summer day and extends into the night, ending at a Brooklyn block party where all the characters converge.
October 18, 2021
Sona Sharma: Very Best Big Sister?
Sona lives in India with her parents, Amma and Appa; her paternal grandparents, Paati and Thatha; and her “talking” stuffed elephant. Her maternal grandmother, whom everyone calls The President, lives nearby.
October 11, 2021
Wishes
“The night wished it was quieter.” A series of arresting poetic “wish” statements together with the illustrations each is paired with create a powerful, poignant story following the journey of a refugee family.
October 4, 2021
Temple Alley Summer
In the dead of night, Kazu spies a girl in white emerging from his family’s altar room in Masuda, Japan. The next day, Kazu is bewildered when his classmates act as though the girl, Akari, has been a member of their class for years.
September 27, 2021
Healer of the Water Monster
Nathan, 11, is spending a few summer weeks with his paternal grandmother, Nali, who lives in a mobile home on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico.
September 20, 2021
The Cot in the Living Room
A young Dominican American girl is jealous of each child who stays overnight with her family while their adult caregiver works, not only because they get to sleep on the cot in the living room, but because they get her parents’ attention, special privileges (she thinks), and a view of the George Washington Bridge through the window.
September 13, 2021
From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement
This riveting account of the murder of Chinese American Vincent Chin in Detroit in 1982 and the ripple effects of its impact provides an in-depth look at events surrounding the brutal attack on Chin and the subsequent response of police, the justice system, and, above all, members of the Chinese American and larger Asian American community in Detroit.
September 7, 2021
The Last Cuentista
Petra Peña, 12, her little brother, Javier, and their scientist parents are among those chosen to flee earth in 2061 as the planet faces destruction.
August 30, 2021
Too Small Tola
“Tola lives in a run-down block of apartments in the megacity of Lagos, in the country of Nigeria.” Three delightful episodic stories begin with “Too Small Tola,” in which Tola’s big sister is too busy studying, and her older brother is too obsessed by soccer, to help Grandmommy shop.
August 23, 2021
Sheepish (Wolf Under Cover)
It’s not a new idea: A wolf decked out in fluffy wool infiltrates a community of sheep in hopes of scoring a tasty meal of mutton.
August 16, 2021- More Books of the Week