Reviewed by Dani Quast Did you ever feel guilty as a kid for not using all of your crayons equally? Did you ever consider that some less-used crayons might have felt left out? The Day the Crayons Quit will make you remember the joys of coloring, but will add a quirky twist on how our…
Reviewed by Jennifer Langreck Do you remember believing in fairy tales or scary creatures when you were young? In Tracey Baptiste’s fantasy novel The Jumbies, Caribbean lore becomes reality. The twelve-year-old protagonist Corinne doesn’t have to believe in the creatures she hears about in the local stories, but she does have to confront them. The…
Reviewed by Kate Plager There’s a limited number of classic tropes featured in most works of adolescent realistic fiction. Drama about who will be named homecoming queen, parents’ pressure about college decisions, nervous and awkward first dates with a boy you have a crush on, trying to find your place in a high school run…
Reviewed by Anne Floyd If you’re like me, you thought that the legal fight against segregation started at Brown v. Board of Education. Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh sets the record straight. In the Mendez v. Westminister School District case, 7 years before Brown v. Board of Education, Sylvia and her family successfully…
Reviewed by Katelyn Wright Why fit in when it’s way more fun to stand out? That’s the message that Todd Parr boldly splashes across each page in Be Who You Are, a colorful picturebook for pre-school and early elementary readers. Children of all colors, including blue, black, orange, and purple, dance through this book with…
Children's Literature at UMN 