Young Reader

Given a sinister boarding school, an enigmatic guide (Mr. Benedict), and a team of heroic child prodigies, this bizarre adventure is a true delight. Ages 10 & up. - Molly

What a heart-wrenching story and what sweet redemption! Whenever I look at this picture book I get a shiver of bittersweet heartache and pleasure. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble will always be one of my favorites. Ages 4 & up. - Tera

I consider this the best middle grade novel of all time. Meg is so uncertain a heroine—caught up in strange and unnerving worlds on the trail of her disappeared father—yet she still manages to do what is necessary. She remains the model of a hero for me. Ages 11 & up. - Tera

This sharply mischievous telling of Aesop’s Fables hooked me when I was a child and still elicits delight after a hundred rereadings. A true classic. Ages 5 & up. - Tera

Where does the great American dream reside? In a young boy’s desire for a place to live, an education, and some stability for his hardworking family. The Circuit is the first part of a simply beautiful autobiographical trilogy by a professor of modern languages at Santa Clara University. Ages 11 & up. - Ga

Ah, that strong-hearted, clear-headed Logan family, with their love for their land and for one another—they could single-handedly teach Dignity 101. I’ve revisited this family many times and I’m still enthralled, still rapidly turning pages. Ages 10 & up. - Ga

Nick and his cats, Vern and Stevenson, “spent summers doing everything together.” But when Nick sits down quietly with a book, the cats are not pleased. In order to spend time reading, Nick will clearly have to teach his cats to read. Ages 3–7.     —GA

Miles is a dog who doesn’t care for much. He does enjoy being driven up the hill to the café, where people say, “Oh, what a lovely dog!” Though fond of him, his people can’t always be driving him to a café. Obviously what Miles needs is…his own car.

A clear and engaging field guide for our area, with high-quality audio bird songs from the world-renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Don Kroodsma’s passion for birdsong is infectious, and this guide will have any birder (including me) listening to birds with new insight and appreciation after reading it.” —David Allen Sibley, author and illustrator of The Sibley Guide to Birds. For all ages.

A score of poetic vignettes provide the setup for Esquire writer Art Kane’s iconic 1958 photograph of jazz greats, posed for an unpaid photo shoot at the outlandish (for jazz musicians) hour of 10 am on the steps of a brownstone at 126th Street in Harlem. Roxane Orgill’s text is accompanied by Francis Vallejo’s evocative acrylic and pastel paintings, leading up to a fold-out spread of the actual photo, indicated by a black page with the word “click” in white print. This is the second picture book—the other being Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell, about Jane Goodall—to make perfectly exquisite use of an iconic photograph. Grades 4 & up. —GĀ