Among librarians, speculation about potential Newbery and Caldecott winners begins almost as soon as last year's winners are announced. This year, Brian Wildsmith's Jungle Party is already getting long looks as a potential Caldecott winner. Wildsmith, a well-beloved and much-honored author and illustrator has outdone himself in Jungle Party, the story of a crafty python who invites all the animals to a party so he can swallow them in due course. Wildsmith has an extraordinary gift of being able to combine brilliant and subtle colors to ravishing effect. As the animals do tricks to amaze their fellows, the quirky combinations of a dun-colored lion and a purplish-owl with red wings; or of a dusty gnu and two acrobatic guinea fowl are both novel and satisfying. Though python's evil trick works, along comes elephant to save the day. A fine introduction to art and animals for young children.
Blood in the Water By Tiffany D. Jackson New York: Scholastic, 2025. Fiction. 255 pages. 12-year-old Kaylani McKinnon can't help but feel like a fish out of water. She's a Brooklyn girl spending her summer on Martha's Vineyard surrounded by wealthy family friends in their mansion. All she really wants is to stay home all summer where she her incarcerated father can easily reach her, and she can keep working to find ways to prove him innocent of fraud and embezzlement. Despite her protests, she finds herself on the island with the snooty granddaughters of her host. Soon after Kaylani's arrival, a popular teen boy is found murdered and she decides to conduct her own investigation. As she tries to discover what happened to Chadwick Cooper, Kaylani finds that not everything on Martha's Vineyard is as perfect as it appears. Thrillers for middle grade readers can be hard to find, but Tiffany D. Jackson succeeds in her first middle grade novel. A quick moving plot, tight d...
Comments