Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! Written and illustrated by Hyewon Yum; Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012. 32 pages; $16.99 (hardback); ages 4-6. The five-year-old hero of this tale is well-adjusted, brimming with energy, and ready for his first day of kindergarten. His mom? Well…not so much. As the illustrations (literally!) make clear,… [Read More]
Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
November 19, 2012 By
My Dear Governess; The Letters of Edith Wharton to Anna Bahlmann – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
July 4, 2012 By
My Dear Governess; The Letters of Edith Wharton to Anna Bahlmann edited by Irene Goldman-Price; Yale University Press, 2012. 296 pages; $30.00 (hardcover); reading level: adult. On May 31st, 1874, twelve-year-old Edith Wharton (then Edith Jones) wrote to her beloved twenty-five-year-old governess, Anna Bahlmann, inviting her to come to the Jones’ summer home in Newport,… [Read More]
The Elijah Door – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
February 21, 2012 By
The Elijah Door; A Passover Tale Written by Linda Leopold Strauss; illustrated by Alexi Natchev; Holiday House, 2012. 32 pages; $16.95 (hardcover); reading level: ages 6-10. Long ago, in a small village that was “sometimes Poland and sometimes Russia,” the Lippas and the Galinskys lived in “side-by-side houses.” They were fast friends whose children, Rachel… [Read More]
A Pocketful of Posies; A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
February 13, 2012 By
A Pocketful of Posies; A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes Illustrated by Salley Mavor; Houghton Mifflin, 2010. 64 pages; $21.99 (hardback); reading level: ages 2-6. The artwork for this nursery rhyme collection is stunning. Mavor has lovingly stitched a variety of materials (acorn caps, stones, driftwood, buttons) onto wool felt to create scenes which were… [Read More]
Where’s Walrus? – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
January 16, 2012 By
Where’s Walrus? Written and illustrated by Stephen Savage; Scholastic Press, 2011.32 pages; $16.99 (hardback); ages 2-5. The gates to the zoo are open but, alas, there are no visitors. While the zookeepersnoozes, walrus sneaks away. In wordless two-page spreads, walrus eludes thezookeeper (belatedly awake) by donning various hats and blending in with a statue ona… [Read More]
Preschool Day Hooray! – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
January 13, 2012 By
Preschool Day Hooray! Written by Linda Leopold Strauss; illustrated by Hiroe Nakata; Cartwheel Books/Scholastic, 2010. 22 pages; $8.99 (hardback); ages 2-5. A simple, rhyming text follows a little boy through a day at preschool from the rush to get there (“Tick-tock clock/Makes Mommy scoot”), to various activities (“Painty hands and/Gooey glue”), to a tumble on… [Read More]
Where’s My T-R-U-C-K? – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
December 22, 2011 By
Where’s My T-R-U-C-K? by Karen Beaumont; illustrated by David Catrow; Dial Books for Young Readers, 2011. 32 pages; $16.99; reading level: ages 4-7. When Tommy loses his (don’t say the word or you’ll set him off!) t-r-u-c-k, the whole family’s day goes haywire. Tommy refuses help from Mom, Dad, sister, brother, and Grandma: “I… [Read More]
Mr. Mosquito Put on His Tuxedo – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
December 22, 2011 By
Mr. Mosquito Put on His Tuxedo by Barbara Olenyik Morrow; illustrated by Ponder Goembel; Holiday House, 2009. $16.95; reading level: ages 6-9. When Mr. Mosquito puts on his tuxedo, arrives at a ball hosted by Queen Bee, and greets the other guests (gnats, lice, and fleas to name a few) he never suspects his particular… [Read More]
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
November 10, 2011 By
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox; illustrated by Helen Oxenbury; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. 32 pages; $16.99 hardcover; $11.99 oversized boardbook format; reading level: ages 2-5. Fox’s spare, rhyming text spotlights pairs of babies from around the world, connected by the refrain, “And both of these babies, as everyone knows, had… [Read More]
Maggie’s Monkeys – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge
November 10, 2011 By
Maggie’s Monkeys by Linda Sanders-Wells; illustrated by Abby Carter; Candlewick Press, 2009. 32 pages; $16.99; reading level: ages 4-7. Being the older brother of an imaginative little sister can be a trial – especially when her pink monkeys take up residence in the refrigerator and only Older Brother seems to know they’re not real. Dad… [Read More]