Feb 11 2022
It’s 1933 and America is in the grip of the fourth year of the Great Depression. Little Muriel is enjoying the springtime cherry blossoms in the Tidal Basin, a free activity that keeps her mind off of how little food her family has even on ordinary days, much less as Passover draws near. Spying an …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/11/the-passover-guest-by-susan-kusel-sean-rubin/
Feb 09 2022
I feel like a bad Asian for not leading with this book for February, so Happy Year Of The Tiger, all! Hope your Lunar New Year celebrations have been aces, marking the start of a prosperous year! Watercress is an autobiographical chapter from author Andrea Wang’s life, detailing the time when her Chinese immigrant parents …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/09/watercress-by-andrea-wang-jason-chin/
Feb 04 2022
This book is such a breath of fresh air for early readers and, especially, for the people who love them. Perhaps I just haven’t been reading the right books with my kids, but most of the books written for this market tend to feature either really smarmy or really annoying characters, often repeating things (as …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/04/i-hop-by-joe-cepeda/
Feb 02 2022
A whitetail fawn wakes up in the Sonoran desert as this gorgeously rendered picture book opens. Her mother doe gently and lovingly nudges her into awareness of the beauty of the desert world around her as they travel, searching for food and water. The fawn is encouraged not only to look at, listen to and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/02/bright-star-by-yuyi-morales/
Jan 26 2022
I’ve found the Magical History Tour series to be incredibly intelligent and moving to date, but I did not expect to cry quite as much as I did while reading this seventh installment, and particularly over the life and times of a figure who’s become so familiar, I almost take for granted that I already …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/26/magical-history-tour-7-gandhi-soldier-of-peace-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoia/
Jan 11 2022
This latest volume in Peyo’s translated oeuvre certainly shows how far we’ve come since the days when borderline offensive jokes about Smurfette were considered, if not outright hilarious, then certainly acceptable consumption for young children. Behold how in the 50 or so intervening years, the Smurfs universe has acquired an entire other village of female …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/11/the-smurf-tales-vol-3-the-crow-in-smurfy-grove-and-other-stories-by-peyo/
Jan 10 2022
Oh, man, the punctuation in that title sets my teeth on edge. It also bothers me that it’s part of a series but there’s no numbering for said series which, as of writing, consists of a novel and two short story collections. I suppose it doesn’t matter if the books are read out of order, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/10/cinder-the-fireplace-boy-and-other-gayly-grimm-tales-rewoven-tales-by-ana-mardoll/
Dec 29 2021
And so, here is my last review of the year, dear readers, the review of a gentle but thoroughly intelligent, beautiful and extremely accessible book that encourages curiosity about the world around us. Hopefully, it’ll be a harbinger of the year to come! Why yes, I am an eternal optimist in many regards. But to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/29/animal-adaptations-unique-body-parts-by-radka-piro-lida-larina/
Dec 27 2021
It’s become a tradition of recent years for me to use the Christmas holiday to read another Bad Machinery book, to just sit finally and take the time to put my feet up and enjoy these books that perfectly distil everything I like about reading. Mystery: check. Humor: check. Empathy: check. A hint or more …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/27/the-case-of-the-unwelcome-visitor-bad-machinery-6-by-john-allison/
Dec 23 2021
Oh, wow, I do hope this is the start of a series, because Meaghan McIsaac makes some truly great narrative and world-building choices here! Imagine a realm where the kingdoms are devoted to the animal constellations that we readers more or less already know, with the Bear House ruling supreme over them all. The leaders …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/23/the-bear-house-by-meaghan-mcisaac/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire