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Hotlists 2008
Crime Fiction - embedded
Seeing Stars
Lists of (mostly) hardcover books which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ).
The review journal assigns the star.
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Overbooked specializes in providing timely information about fiction (all genres) and readable nonfiction. Overbooked has been online since 1994. Overbooked is a work in progress . . .
Overbooked is the winner of the 2008 Louis Shores - Greenwood Publishing Award: to recognize excellence in book reviewing and other media for libraries. The award recipient is selected for significant achievement related to a reviewing process that helps librarians make selection decisions.
Starred Reviews
Youth All Stars 2005: For All Ages
September 9, 2008
The list includes both fiction and nonfiction books. Titles are arranged alphabetically by author. The edition listed is the trade book, library bindings are not listed unless that is the only available format.Titles received starred reviews from Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, School Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Horn Book. The theme information is derived from cataloging information and is not comprehensive. Grade & age designations are approximate, parental judgement should be used. Not all books are suitable for all readers/listeners. Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine or the Library of Congress CIP description.
- Prom
Author: Anderson, Laurie Halse
Publisher: Viking $ 16.99 ISBN: 0670059749 Date: 2005
Bulletin Booklist Kliatt Kirkus
Containing everything she's known for, this latest novel by the award-winning author of Speak and Catalyst describes the angst surrounding an American teenage rite of passage: the senior prom.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction - Whales on Stilts
Author: Anderson, M.T.
Publisher: Harcourt $ 15 ISBN: 0152053409 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin PW
This first installment of a riotous and wonderfully weird new series introduces three intrepid kids who must foil a madman's plan to unleash an army of stilt-walking, laser-beaming, thoroughly angry whales upon the world.
Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction | Action & Adventure
Updated 6.3.05 - Photo By Brady: A Picture of the Civil War
Author: Armstrong, Jennifer
Publisher: Atheneum $ 18.95 ISBN: 0689857853 Date: 2005
Bulletin Kirkus SLJ
The award-winning author of Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World tells the story of the Civil War as seen through the lenses of the field photographers hired by Matthew Brady, who traveled with troops and made visual records of what they saw. Photos.
Grades: 4-9 Category: History | Civil War | Photography
Updated 6.3.05 - Mr. Williams
Author: Barbour, Karen
Publisher: Holt $ 16.95 ISBN: 0805067736 Date: 2005
Kirkus PW SLJ
When Mr. Williams was a boy growing up in Arcadia, Louisiana, Calvin Coolidge was president, Martin Luther King Jr. had just been born, and children worked hard in the fields for most of the year. This picture book evokes a specific time and place in American history.
Grades: 4-7 Category: Nonfiction | Biography - Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow
Author: Bartoletti, Susan Campbell
Publisher: Scholastic $ 19.95 ISBN: 0439353793 Date: 2005
Booklist Horn Book Kirkus PW SLJ
"I begin with the young. We older ones are used up . . . But my magnificent youngsters! Look at these men and boys! What material! With them, I can create a new world." --Adolf Hitler, Nuremberg 1933 By the time Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, 3.5 million children belonged to the Hitler Youth. It would become the largest youth group in history. Susan Campbell Bartoletti explores how Hitler gained the loyalty, trust, and passion of so many of Germany's young people. Her research includes telling interviews with surviving Hitler Youth members.
Grades: 7-12 Category: History
Updated 8.21.05 - Running With the Reservoir Pups
Author: Bateman, Colin
Publisher: Delacorte $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385732449 Date: 2005
Bulletin PW SLJ
Eddie has a bad habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Otherwise, he never would have gotten mixed up with the Reservoir Pups, the scrappy gang of boys that rules the streets in his new town. Breaking into the hospital his mom works at for his initiation, Eddie stumbles upon some twisted baby-snatchers.
Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction - Rise of a Hero
Author: Bell, Hilari
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 16.95 ISBN: 0689854153 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus
The war between Farsala and the Hrum has begun. Now in this second installment, Jiaan and Kavi begin separate resistance movements that hinder the Hrum's victory. Meanwhile, Soraya, disguised as a servant, becomes privy to important strategic information.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Speculative Fiction
Updated 8.21.05 - Granite Baby
Author: Bertrand, Lynne / Hawkes, Kevin (ilt)
Publisher: FSG $ 16 ISBN: 0374327610 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus
Back when folks first discovered granite, five burly sisters ruled the mountains of New Hampshire. When one sister carves a real live baby out of granite, a big problem appears. With its droll humor and inventive, witty pictures, this tall tale is a true original.
Grades: Preschool - 3 Category: Fiction | Folk & Fairytale | Humorous
Updated 8.21.05 - Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two
Author: Bruchac, Joseph
Publisher: Dial $ 16.99 ISBN: 0803729219 Date: 2005
Bulletin Booklist Kirkus
Bruchac brings to life for young adults the stories of some of the unsung heroes of World War II--the young Navajo men who were a crucial part of the American effort in sending and receiving messages that used their native language.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Historical - Shrimp
Author: Cohn, Rachel
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 15.95 ISBN: 0689866127 Date: 2005
Bulletin Kirkus PW
The long-awaited sequel to Gingerbread finds Cyd Charisse, now home from her summer in New York, planning to reclaim her true love: Shrimp, the hottest pint-size artist-surfer in San Francisco. Cyd's now grown up, and isn't going to let Shrimp get away this time.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction - The Prarie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands
Author: Collard, Sneed B.
Publisher: Houghton $ 17 ISBN: 061839687x Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Horn Book SLJ
Author Sneed B. Collard III tells the remarkable story of an effort to bring back part of the native tallgrass prairie. By following scientists who are working on the 8,000-acre Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa, readers will learn where the vision for a new prairie came from and how a dedicated group of scientists and volunteers is working to turn this vision into reality, from locating seeds of native prairie plants to using fire to drive out weeds to "bringing home" bison, elk, and one of the prairie"s most spectacular butterflies, the Regal Fritillary.
Grades: 6-8 Category: Nonfiction | Nature | Ecology
Updated 8.21.05 - The Sledding Hill
Author: Crutcher, Chris
Publisher: Atheneum $ 15.99 ISBN: 0060502436 Date: 2005
Kirkus PW SLJ
Billy Bartholomew is dead. His best friend, Eddie Proffit, is still alive. Billy and Eddie meet on the sledding hill--like they always have. And Billy is not about to let a little thing like death stop him from hanging in there with Eddie in his epic struggle to get his life back on track.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction - Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein
Author: Delano, Marfe Ferguson
Publisher: National Geo $ 17.95 ISBN: 0792295447 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin SLJ
This photobiography of Albert Einstein is being published to coincide with the year that marks the 100th anniversary of what has been described as Einstein's "miraculous year," and the 50th anniversary of his death
Grades: 5-9 Category: Nonfiction | Biography | Science
Updated 8.21.05 - Chicken Boy
Author: Dowell, Frances O'Roark
Publisher: Atheneum $ 15.95 ISBN: 0689858167 Date: 2005
Booklist Kirkus SLJ Bulletin
The bestselling author of Dovey Coe introduces an unforgettable new character--seventh-grader Tobin McCauley, whose life in a very dysfunctional household is compounded by his only friend's belief that the study of chickens will reveal the meaning of life.
Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction
Updated 8.21.05 - The Game of Silence
Author: Erdrich, Louise
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 15.99 ISBN: 0060297891 Date: 2005
Booklist Horn Book Bulletin
In the captivating sequel to her National Book Award finalist The Birchbark House, Erdich continues the story of Omakayas, a young Ojibwe girl who lives with her family on an island in Lake Superior in 1850. As white men move closer to the island, Omakayas learns that all their lives may drastically change.
Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction | Historical
Updated 8.21.05 - Invisible Allies: Microboes That Shape Our Lives
Author: Farrell, Jeanette
Publisher: FSG $ 17 ISBN: 0374336083 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Horn Book SLJ
Microbes are everywhere, and humans could not survive without them. To emphasize their amazing ubiquity, Farrell considers the invisible bugs essential to an everyday event: the eating of a light lunch consisting of a cheese sandwich and a chocolate bar.
Grades: 7- 12 Category: Nonfiction | Science | Biology
Updated 8.21.05 - The Story Goes On
Author: Fisher, Aileen / Moriuchi, Mique (ilt)
Publisher: Roaring Brook $ 16.95 ISBN: 1596430370 Date: 2005
Horn Book PW SLJ
In this exquisitely illustrated picture book, one of America's foremost poets for young people describes the ongoing cycle of life.
Grades: Preschool - 2 Category: Fiction | Nature
Updated 8.21.05 - Understanding the Holy Land: Answering Questions About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Author: Frank, Mitch
Publisher: Viking $ 17.99 ISBN: 0670060321 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus
Answering youngsters' questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Frank offers a straightforward explanation. Written in a "Q & A" format and illustrated with black-and-white photos and maps, this book will help young people understand this conflict and its significance to the world.
Grades: 4-7 Category: Nonfiction | History | Religion
Updated 8.21.05 - Santa Claus: The World's Number One Toy Expert
Author: Frazee, Marla
Publisher: Harcourt $ 16 ISBN: 0152049703 Date: 2005
Booklist Horn Book PW SLJ
How does Santa know how to match the exact toy with the exact kid each December? He knows because he's the world's top kid and toy and gift expert, and he works long hours taking notes, compiling research, and making magic happen.
Grades: Toddler - 2 Category: Picture Book - Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth
Author: Giblin, James Cross
Publisher: Clarion $ 22 ISBN: 0618096426 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus SLJ
An award-winning author draws on firsthand accounts of family members, friends, and colleagues to create vivid images of famous 19th-century actor Edwin Booth and his brother John Wilkes, who shot President Lincoln. Illustrated with archival photographs.
Grades: 5-9 Category: Nonfiction | History | Biography
Updated 8.21.05 - Looking for Alaska
Author: Green, John
Publisher: Dutton $ 15.99 ISBN: 0525475060 Date: 2005
Bulletin Booklist Kirkus SLJ
In a stunning debut novel, Miles "Pudge" Halter befriends some fellow boarding school students whose lives are everything but boring. Pudge falls in love with Alaska, the razor-sharp and self-destructive nucleus. But when tragedy strikes, Pudge then discovers the value of loving unconditionally.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction - Traction Man is Here
Author: Grey, Mimi
Publisher: Knopf $ 15.95 ISBN: 0375831916 Date: 2005
Bulletin Horn Book Kirkus PW SLJ
Traction Man--wearing combat boots, battle pants, and his warfare shirt--comes in a box, but very quickly finds the way into the imagination of his lucky boy owner, and both quickly vanquish all manner of villains lurking around the house in this imaginative story.
Grades: Preschool - 3 Category: Picture Book - Where I Want to Be
Author: Griffin, Adele
Publisher: Putnam $ 15.99 ISBN: 0399237836 Date: 2005
Bulletin Booklist Kirkus
The National Book Award nominee for Sons of Liberty has crafted a spellbinding book, told in the alternating voices of two very different sisters dwelling on opposite sides of life and death, and who are bravely trying to overcome the void and bring light to each other.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction - Invisible
Author: Hautman, Pete
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 15.95 ISBN: 0689868006 Date: 2005
Bulletin Horn Book PW SLJ
In this chilling look inside the mind of a teenage loner, Hautman, a National Book Award finalist for Godless, crafts a compelling new novel. As Doug Hanson tries to keep his long-buried secrets hidden, the inner world he has carefully constructed threatens to crumble.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction
Updated 8.21.05 - Winter Lights
Author: Hines, Anna Grossnickle
Publisher: Greenwillow $ 16.99 ISBN: 0060008172 Date: 2005
Booklist Kirkus PW SLJ
Full-color photos of intricate quilts serve as stunning illustrations to 16 poems about the allure of light during dark months. Includes an illustrated note on the making of the quilts.
Grades: k + Category: Poetry - Totally Joe
Author: Howe, James
Publisher: Atheneum $ 15.95 ISBN: 068983957x Date: 2005
Booklist Kirkus PW
As a school assignment, a 13-year-old boy writes an alphabiography--life from A to Z--and explores issues of friendship, family, school, and the difficulties of being a gay teenager.
Grades: 5-9 Category: Fiction - Stained
Author: Jacobson, Jennifer Richard
Publisher: Atheneum $ 16.95 ISBN: 068986745x Date: 2005
Horn Book Kirkus PW
Set in the spring of 1975, this story of a teenage girl in love with two boys, and the priest who is the link between the three of them, is filled with suspense as these characters, and the lives they've touched in their small town, intermingle with an unforgettable force.
Grades: 9-12 Category: Fiction - A Kick in the Head
Author: Janeczko, Paul B. (edt) & Chris Raschka (ilt)
Publisher: Candlewick $ 17.99 ISBN: 0763606626 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Horn Book Kirkus PW SLJ
In this splendid and playful volume, acclaimed poetry anthologist Janeczko and Caldecott Honor illustrator Raschka present lively examples of 29 poetic forms, demonstrating not only the (sometimes bendable) rules of poetry, but also the spirit that brings these forms so wonderfully to life.
Grades: 3 + Category: Poetry - That New Animal
Author: Jenkins, Emily & Pierre Pratt (ilt)
Publisher: FSG $ 16 ISBN: 0374374430 Date: 2005
Bulletin Horn Book Kirkus PW SLJ
A new baby changes everything . . . for two dogs
Grades: Toddler-1st Category: Fiction | Picture Book - The Hello, Goodbye Window
Author: Juster, Norton & Chris Raschka (ilt)
Publisher: Hyperion $ 15.95 ISBN: 0786809140 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus PW SLJ
The first picture book by the author of the classic The Phantom Tollbooth tells the story of a little girl who finds a magic gateway in the kitchen window of her grandparents' house, and the voyage of discovery she takes.
Grades: toddler - 3 Category: Picture Book - Memories of Survival
Author: Krinitz, Nisenthal
Publisher: Hyperion $ 15.99 ISBN: 0786851260 Date: 2005
Booklist Horn Book Kirkus PW SLJ
Having lived under Nazi occupation for three years, Krinitz--then 15--and her sister separated from their family and disguised themselves as farmhands. When she was 50, she began hand-stitching memories of the family she never saw again into 36 fabric panels.
Grades: k-4 Category: Nonfiction | History - Leonardo Da Vinci
Author: Krull, Kathleen & Boris Kulikov (ilt)
Publisher: Viking $ 15.99 ISBN: 067005920x Date: 2005
Bulletin Kirkus PW SLJ
Grades: 5-9 Category: Nonfiction - Black Juice
Author: Lanagan, Margo
Publisher: Eos $ 15.99 ISBN: 0060743905 Date: 2005
Bulletin Horn Book SLJ
Previously available only in Australia, this haunting short story collection by the acclaimed author contains ten wholly realized fantasy worlds that exist just beyond the realm of everyday life--so familiar and so surreal, they will not be forgotten.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Short Stories
Updated 8.21.05 - Magic Or Madness
Author: Larbalestier, Justine
Publisher: Sleuth Razorbill $ 16.99 ISBN: 1595140220 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin SLJ
For 15 years, Reason Cansino has lived a life on the run in the Australian countryside with her mother. When her mother falls ill, Reason is forced to move in with her grandmother, a dangerous woman who believes in magic. Reason soon learns that magic is real.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Speculative
Updated 8.21.05 - The Old African
Author: Lester, Julius
Publisher: Dial $ 19.99 ISBN: 0803725647 Date: 2005
Booklist Kirkus PW SLJ
Based on legend and infused with magical realism, this haunting tale expresses the horrors of slavery and the hope and strength that managed to overcome its grip.
Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction | Historical - Day of Tears
Author: Lester, Julius
Publisher: Hyperion $ 15.99 ISBN: 0786804904 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus PW SLJ
Through flashbacks, foreshadowing, and shifting first-person points of view, readers will travel with Emma and others through time and space. They come to discover that every decision has its consequences, and final judgment is passed down not by man, but by his maker.
Grades: 4-8 Category: Fiction | Historical - Inexcusable
Author: Lynch, Chris
Publisher: Atheneum $ 16.95 ISBN: 0689847890 Date: 2005
Booklist Kirkus PW SLJ Horn Book Bull
Told in flashbacks and present-day narrative, this novel from Printz Honor winner Lynch is a riveting tale of guilt, innocence, and responsibility. When his childhood friend--and love of his life--accuses him of rape, a young man is convinced he's innocent.
Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction - Gentle's Holler
Author: Madden Kerry
Publisher: Viking $ 16.99 ISBN: 0670059986 Date: 2005
Bulletin Kirkus PW
Living in a North Carolina holler with her parents and eight siblings, 12-year-old Livy Two is an aspiring songwriter and self-appointed guardian to her little sister Gentle, who is going blind. But when tragedy strikes, can Livy Two continue to stay strong for her family.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction - Not the End of the World
Author: McCaughrean, Geraldine
Publisher: Avon $ 16.99 ISBN: 0060760303 Date: 2005
Bulletin Horn Book Kirkus PW SLJ | Whitbread Award
The Carnegie Medal-winning author of Stop the Train! transforms the familiar story of Noah and the Great Flood into a provocative new tale told through the unforgettable voice of Noah's teenage daughter, who dares to question her father when no one else will.
Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction - Permanent Rose
Author: McKay, Hilary
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry $ 15.95 ISBN: 1416903720 Date: 2005
Bulletin Horn Book Kirkus PW
Eight-year-old Rose Casson takes center stage in this delicious companion to Saffy's Angel and Indigo's Star. A trip to London and a visit with Rose's father lead to a startling revelation, and Rose finds there may be a way for her to be happy again.
Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction - If You Decide to Go to the Moon
Author: McNulty, Faith & Steven Kellogg (ilt)
Publisher: Scholastic $ 16.99 ISBN: 0590483595 Date: 2005
Bulletin Booklist Kirkus SLJ
Written in the second person, the text allows the reader to participate in every aspect of the journey, from packing to lift-off to traveling through space, ultimately landing at the Sea of Tranquility, the site of the first lunar landing.
Grades: Preschool - 3 Category: Nonfiction - He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Author: Nelson, Kadir
Publisher: Dial $ 16.99 ISBN: 0803728506 Date: 2005
Booklist Kirkus SLJ
A Coretta Scott King Award winner ("Ellington Was Not a Street") adapts the beloved spiritual for this beautiful picture book, creating a dazzling interpretation that rejoices in the connectedness of people and nature.
Grades: Preschool Category: Nonfiction - A Wreath for Emmett Till
Author: Nelson, Marilyn & Phillippe Lardy (ilt)
Publisher: Houghton $ 17 ISBN: 0618397523 Date: 2005
Bulletin Booklist Kirkus PW SLJ
Newbery Honor-winning poet Nelson offers an evocative tribute to a 14-year-old boy whose lynching in 1955 helps spark the civil rights movement.
Grades: 7-9 Category: Poetry - You & You & You
Author: Nilsson, Per
Publisher: Front Street $ 16.95 ISBN: 1932425195 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin PW SLJ
Anon gets teased mercilessly at school. Someone has been peeing on the toilets at school and he gets blamed for it. He's just a daydreaming kid, lost in his own world, ad the teasing really doesn't bother him. he hardly notices it. He's more caught up in his daydreaming world about a girl named Sara that he doesn't know but imagines in great detail) and about his father who does not live with him). Zarah has more serious trouble. Her boyfriend, Victor, is turning out to be trouble, and a new friendship at her place of work is getting complicated. Meanwhile, Nils is having an existential crisis. He spends a lot of time thinking about death and life. When Nils finds Zarah, his life takes on new meaning. In watching Anon be so lost in his daydreams, Nils rediscovers the happiness he knew as a daydreaming kid. - Publisher Marketing.
Grades: 8-12 Category: Fiction - A Maze Me: Poems for Girls
Author: Nye, Naomi Shihab
Publisher: Greenwillow $ 16.99 ISBN: 0060581891 Date: 2005
Booklist Kirkus SLJ Horn Book | VOYA Pure Poetry Pick
First love, friendships, family, hopes, and dreams are among the topics addressed in the 72 original poems written exclusively for this collection, accompanied by five full-color prints.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Poetry - Three French Hens: A Holiday Tale
Author: Palantini, Margie & Richard Egielski (ilt)
Publisher: Hyperion $ 15.99 ISBN: 0786851678 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus SLJ
Grades: Preschool - 3 Category: Picture Book - Project Mulberry
Author: Park, Linda Sue
Publisher: Clarion $ 16 ISBN: 0618477861 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus SLJ
In her first novel with a contemporary setting, the Newbery Medal-winning author of A Single Shard delivers a funny, lively story that illuminates both the process of writing a novel and the meaning of growing up American
Grades: 4-7 Category: Fiction - John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth
Author: Partridge, Elizabeth
Publisher: Viking $ 24.99 ISBN: 0670059544 Date: 2005
Booklist Horn Book Kirkus PW SLJ
Partridge chronicles the emotional highs and paralyzing lows John Lennon transformed into brilliant, evocative songs. With photos spanning his entire life, this is the unforgettable biography of one of rock's biggest legends.
Grades: 8-12 Category: Biography - Summertime Waltz
Author: Payne, Nina & Gabi Siatkowska (ilt)
Publisher: FSG $ 16 ISBN: 0374372918 Date: 2005
Kirkus PW SLJ
Swiatkowska's finely wrought oil paintings, beguiling and dreamlike in their detail, give a free-spirited interpretation of Payne's poem. Together, words and pictures evoke the lush scents, sounds, and feel of the lingering days of summer.
Grades: Preschool - 3 Category: Picture Book - The Scarecrow and His Servant
Author: Pullman, Philip
Publisher: Knopf $ 15.95 ISBN: 0375815317 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin PW SLJ
Master storyteller Philip Pullman tells the story of the Scarecrow, brought to life by a lightning bolt, and Jack, a boy who become his faithful servant. As the valiant Scarecrow plunges them into terrifying dangers, he never realizes he's being followed by the one family who desperately wishes he'd never sprung to life.
Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction - And Tango Makes Three
Author: Richardson, Justin, Peter Parnell & Henry Cole (ilt)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 14.95 ISBN: 0689878451 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus PW SLJ
Based on the true story of two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who built a nest and hatched a chick together, this book tells a heartwarming story for all families.
Grades: Preschool - 3 Category: Picture Book - Michael Rosen's Sad Book
Author: Rosen, Michael & Quentin Blake (ilt)
Publisher: Candlewick $ 16.95 ISBN: 0763625973 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Horn Book Kirkus PW SLJ
With unmitigated honesty, a touch of humor, and sensitive illustrations by Blake, award-winning author Michael Rosen explores the experience of sadness in a way that will resonate with readers of all ages.
Grades: 3+ Category: Fiction - Eyes of the Emperor
Author: Salisbury, Graham
Publisher: Wendy Lamb $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385729715 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus PW
In this riveting companion to Under the Blood-Red Sun, Eddy Okubo lies about his age and joins the army in his hometown of Honolulu only weeks before the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Suddenly Americans see him as the enemy.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Historical - Kamishibai Man
Author: Say, Allen
Publisher: Houghton $ 17 ISBN: 0618479546 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin 
PW SLJ
An old storyteller returns to the city to tell his own tale and discovers the children he used to entertain have not forgotten him in this picture book set in Japan.
Grades: k-3 Category: Picture Book - The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela: Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century
Author: Shulevitz, Uri
Publisher: FSG $ 17 ISBN: 0374377545 Date: 2005
Booklist Bullletin Kirkus SLJ
Beginning in 1159, a Jewish man named Benjamin of Spain set out on a 14-year journey to see places named in the Bible. Working from Benjamin's own chronicle, written in Hebrew, and other sources on the period, Shulevitz captures the true spirit of this amazing adventurer.
Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction | Historical - Song of the Water Boatman and Other Poems
Author: Sidman, Joyce & Beckie Prange (ilt)
Publisher: Houghton $ 16 ISBN: 0618135472 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin Kirkus PW
With a unique blend of whimsy, science, poetry, and hand-colored woodcuts, this collection invites readers to take a closer look at the world's hidden ponds and wetlands, and at the same time celebrate their beauty and mystery.
Grades: k-3 Category: Poetry - Sholom's Treasure: How Sholem Aleichem Became a Writer
Author: Silverman, Erica & Mordicai Gerstein (ilt)
Publisher: FSG $ 16 ISBN: 0374380554 Date: 2005
Booklist Bulletin SLJ
This taut, focused biography of the young Sholom Aleichem is animated with the artist's quick, brilliant line and richly toned watercolors. - Publisher Marketing.
Grades: k-3 Category: Biography - Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook
Author: Silverstein, Shel
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 17.99 ISBN: 0060256532 Date: 2005
Bulletin Kirkus PW SLJ
The legendary creator of Where the Sidewalk Ends welcomes readers to the world of Runny Babbit and his friends Toe Jurtle, Skertie Gunk, Rirty Dat, Dungry Hog, Snerry Jake, and many others who speak a topsy-turvy language all their own. Conceived many years ago and completed before Silverstein's death, this new book of poems and drawings is filled with wordplay rhymes and clever spoonerisms.
Grades: 4-7 Category: Poetry - Uglies
Author: Westerfield, Scott
Publisher: Simon Pulse $ 6.99 ISBN: 0689865384 Date: 2005
Bulletin Booklist SLJ
In Tally's world, a 16th birthday brings an operation, transforming one from a repellent Ugly to an attractive Pretty. Turning Pretty is all Tally has ever wanted. Her friend Shay would rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally must make a terrible choice.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction | Speculative | Action & Adventure - Touching Darkness
Author: Westerfield, Scott
Publisher: Eos $ 15.99 ISBN: 0060519541 Date: 2005
Bulletin Kirkus VOYA
The Midnighters are unprepared for a new threat that stalks them in the daylight. This time, Jessica Day is not the only Midnighter in danger in this second volume of Westerfeld's mesmerizing trilogy.
Grades: 7+ Category: Fiction | Speculative - Show Way
Author: Woodson, Jacqueline & Hudson Talbott (ilt)
Publisher: Putnam $ 16.99 ISBN: 0399237496 Date: 2005
Booklist Kirkus PW SLJ
Reaching into her own family history, Woodson presents the stirring story of generations of African-American women who inspired each other with their strength, family traditions, and determination to be free.
Grades: 3-7 Category: Fiction - Mice, Morals & Monkey Business: Lively Tales from Aesop's Fables
Author: Wormell, Christopher
Publisher: Running Pr $ 18.95 ISBN: 0762424044 Date: 2005
Kirkus PW SLJ
Grades: 1-4 Category: Fiction - A Thief in the House of Memory
Author: Wynne-Jones, Tim
Publisher: FSG $ 17 ISBN: 0374374783 Date: 2005
Bulletin Kirkus PW SLJ
In this masterful new novel, Wynne-Jones explores with wit, compassion, and humor the fictional territory he knows best--the prickly ties that bind families, the murky connections between imagination and real life.
Grades: 7-12 Category: Fiction - I am the Messenger
Author: Zusak, Markus
Publisher: Knopf $ 16.95 ISBN: 0375830995 Date: 2005
Bulletin Booklist PW SLJ
Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. When Ed inadvertently stops a bank robbery, that's when he becomes the messenger. Winner of the 2003 Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award in Australia.
Grades: 9-12 Category: Fiction
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Overbooked is a volunteer project undertaken by Ann Chambers Theis: Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library. 9501 Lori Rd. or P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.
Overbooked is not an official Chesterfield County Public Library service. Overbooked.org is a nonprofit web site hosted by CVCO - Central Virginia's Community Online. Overbooked.com is a nonprofit web site in experimental mode. Overbooked does not endorse any commercial providers (or their products and services) linked to from this web site.
Please join the conversation(s) at Overbookers - a rather quiet social space for the chronically overbooked.
Join the Overbooked List - A quiet list for readers to share recent reads, keep up to date with details about new books, discuss favorite authors/titles, etc.
Comments, suggestions, corrections: Ann Chambers Theis (AKA Ann/ACT):
overbooked1@verizon.net
or
ann@overbooked.com
I really appreciate all the e-mail I receive from avid readers and writers and regret that I am not able to respond to all correspondents. Special thanks to those folks who regularly help keep me on track - you know who you are....