Dec 27 2023
This book is an utter delight! Just SNOW Already! masterfully combines straightforward prose with the slyest, most charming illustrations to tell an entirely different, layered tale of anticipation and of (hopefully) not neglecting all the wonderful things already taking place while you’re waiting for something “better” to happen. Our unnamed protagonist is a young boy …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/27/just-snow-already-by-howard-mcwilliam/
Dec 21 2023
Mya McLure is a young environmentalist who knows that making an impact requires efforts both personal and political. While she leads her classmates in petitioning local government to stop cutting down trees, she also finds herself faced with a much less public dilemma, as a large number of toads come to her home in search …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/21/mya-mclure-the-brave-science-girl-the-toad-cave-by-douglas-haddad-jennifer-ball-cordero/
Dec 15 2023
This was a weird one for me. On the one hand, hurray for good deeds and celebrating Hanukkah! The titular Eight Knights of Hanukkah are the children of Lady Sadie, tasked with safeguarding the kingdom from a dragon named Dreadful who keeps interrupting everyone’s preparations for the big celebration. Her Ladyship tells her children to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/15/the-eight-knights-of-hanukkah-by-leslie-kimmelman-galia-bernstein/
Dec 11 2023
Doug and his kid thoroughly enjoyed this book but I genuinely did not expect to fall in love with it as hard as I did. It’s a cold, snowy evening when Hershel of Ostropol walks into a village where he was expecting a warm reception on the first night of Hanukkah, with lights, latkes and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/11/hershel-and-the-hanukkah-goblins-by-eric-a-kimmel-trina-schart-hyman/
Dec 08 2023
Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate! I am so pleased to have a whole slew of Hanukkah-themed books to review for the week, tho I gotta say that it is sometimes really weird talking about books centered on religion when you’re as quasi-religious as I am. I decided to start this slate with the most …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/08/the-story-of-hanukkah-by-david-a-adler-jill-weber/
Nov 28 2023
Having survived eight weeks of the worst emotional turmoil I’ve ever endured, what should I fall prey to next but whatever horrid ailment has seized all my children over these American holidays! After finishing my last book for work yesterday morning and staring down the barrel of many, many more books for work, I decided …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/11/28/the-case-of-the-modern-men-bad-machinery-8-by-john-allison/
Nov 16 2023
This delightful picture book shows, in rhyming verse, the joys of baking challah together as a family in anticipation of Shabbat (or really any occasion!) A charming family of four plus a corgi get together to bake their recipe for challah, showing how teamwork and not taking things too seriously help them not only make …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/11/16/challah-day-by-charlotte-offsay-jason-kirschner/
Nov 07 2023
Watership Down is a seminal book in the life of most young readers, and one I remember with great fondness from my own childhood. Re-reading it as an adult produced a slightly different, admittedly lesser experience, that I talked about briefly here. So how, I wondered, would experiencing it as a graphic novel change my …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/11/07/watership-down-the-graphic-novel-by-richard-adams-james-sturm-joe-sutphin/
Oct 26 2023
I continue to be impressed by the breadth, depth and humanity Fabrice Erre and Sylvain Savoie show in their long-running series on famous historical figures and events. This thirteenth volume of the children’s illustrated series focuses on Marie Skłodowska Curie, who did so much and fought so hard to be able to help people and, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/26/magical-history-tour-vol-13-marie-curie-a-life-in-science-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoie/
Oct 19 2023
Oh nooooo, this book gutted me at a time when I am already feeling down, ow, not okay! The biggest bummer is that I can’t tell you why because that would give away the tremendous plot, and frankly everyone of any age deserves to experience that for themselves. So here’s the story I can tell …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/10/19/looking-up-by-stephan-pastis/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire