Review of Pufflings Fly Free! by Colleen Paeff, illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Pufflings Fly Free!

A Rescue Tale from Iceland

by Colleen Paeff
illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2026.
Review written September 18, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Pufflings Fly Free! is a sweet picture book based on real events that happen every year in the Westman Islands of Iceland.

The book starts with a girl named Freya, the youngest in her family, going out late on a full-moon night on Puffling Patrol.

More than a million puffins come to the Westman Islands every year to breed. The parents leave their chicks – their pufflings – when they’re barely able to fly. Most of the pufflings make it to the ocean, where they live on the water, feast on fish, and their wings grow strong. But some unlucky babies accidentally end up on the land of the islands. There, the pufflings are vulnerable to cars, predators, and even starvation.

So – families like Freya’s go on Puffling Patrol. They capture frightened pufflings and place them safely in grass-lined boxes for the night.

Tomorrow they will check its health with a local scientist, then release the bird over the ocean. There, it will learn to fly and dive for fish, like all adult puffins. But tonight, it will stay at Freya’s house, safe from cars and cats and other kinds of danger.

Freya is good at spotting pufflings. But when it comes to catching them, she gets flustered when they flap and nip and can’t seem to hold onto them. Everyone else seems better at it than she is.

But when they’re almost done for the night, a little bird dives into the mouth of an excavator claw – an opening where only Freya can follow. This time, she speaks calming words to the puffling and to herself, and she gathers the baby up without fumbling.

The next day after the scientist checks and bands the birds, Freya gets to set her rescued puffling free to fly out over the water and grow strong.

Six pages of back matter give us more information about puffins and the Puffling Patrol. This is a lovely story packed with real-life facts that will make you want to visit Iceland.

colleenpaeff.com
lindaolafsdottir.com

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Review of One Mad Cat and the Missing Book, by Vicky Fang

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

One Mad Cat and the Missing Book

by Vicky Fang

Candlewick Press, 2026. 58 pages.
Review written September 16, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

I’m writing this review in honor of my six-year-old great-nephew Hayden, whom I recently met for the first time, and who is learning to read. This book achieves that tricky combination of simple language, lots of picture clues for decoding, and an engaging story with a fun plot twist at the end to reward the beginning reader.

Best of all, there’s a #1 on the side of this book, so it’s the first book in a series.

In this book we meet Cat. She is mad. We learn the things she doesn’t like (with pictures): toys, hugs, and jokes. Then there’s a whole spread with other things, and small pictures: dust, noise, parties, wall-to-wall carpeting, bad art, rain, sock puppets, stripes, sneezing, car trips – “Well, you get the idea.”

The only things Cat does like are
snacks,
naps,
and puzzles.

Oh, and her friends!

So when one of her friends, Hedgehog, has a missing book, Cat sees it as a puzzle she can solve. She asks questions and finds clues. She even diagrams a little map of how to get through her school to the library. Some of the things she finds along the way make Cat mad, but she keeps looking to help her friend.

And when Cat solves the puzzle, it’s a surprise for everyone. But we’re not surprised when Cat gets mad about it.

There are six chapters in this small book with about five spreads per chapter, and not a lot of words in each spread. It’s the perfect opportunity for a kid just beginning to sound out words to read a real chapter book. Maybe with a little help, but with enough clues that they’ll probably be able to do it themselves the second or third time around. And this is one that the parents won’t get sick of hearing. In fact, like the best beginning readers, it’s one that older kids will enjoy for the story, even if they already know how to read.

vickyfang.com

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Review of Work in Progress, by James Martin, SJ

Biography, Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

Work in Progress

Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest

by James Martin, SJ

HarperOne, 2026. 352 pages.
Review written June 11, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

I just finished reading a book by the same author about the life of Jesus – in the context of the author’s trip to the Holy Land. It was packed full of spiritual insights and meaningful applications from the Bible and blessed me on every page. This book was completely different.

Don’t get me wrong – Fr. Martin is a great writer, and I enjoyed this book thoroughly. But it’s a memoir about growing up in Philadelphia – and all the different jobs he tried and what he learned from them. Yes, there’s some wisdom along the way (mostly what he didn’t learn as a kid) – but this is a just plain fun story.

The subtitle gives you a hint at the variety of jobs he covers. And he tells about them with a full dose of humor at the kid he was, doing good work, but mainly wanting to have a good time.

I enjoyed the stories – beginning with when the Bicentennial Wagon Train went by the Ice Cream Inn where he was working, he cleared all the tables while the customers were out watching it, not realizing what was going on. Fr. Martin is apparently only a few years older than me, so I remembered being young during those same years.

Honestly, there were few hints that this kid – who he freely admits was partying, drinking, and smoking pot – would end up becoming a priest. He covers that calling in the last chapter, and yes, we get some spiritual insights to go with the fun there.

But mainly this is a story of student jobs in the America of the 70s and 80s – in the hands of a skilled and personable writer. A lot of fun to relive the escapades with him.

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Review of Like Glass, by Jen Ferguson

Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Like Glass

by Jen Ferguson

Heartdrum, October 6, 2026. 322 pages.
Review written July 10, 2026, from an Advance Reader Copy.
Starred Review

A year ago, Tatum Nova Lambert’s big sister, Bronwyn Moonbeam, died of a brain aneurysm in Chamonix, in the French Alps. Their father, a world-class chef, decided to open a restaurant there in her honor. Now Tatum has come to Chamonix over Spring break for the opening of the restaurant – and to get her father to come back to Toronto.

It doesn’t begin well: He forgets to pick her up from the bus station. They’re staying in what used to be Bronwyn’s apartment, and Tatum finds Bronwyn’s necklace there – the one they buried with her sister. Her father doesn’t really talk with her, he grew out his beard, and Tatum’s pretty sure he’s drinking again.

But as Tatum explores Chamonix, she meets people who help her gain perspective. There’s Beetle, the kid who pickpocketed the necklace before she confronted him and got it back. And then there’s Agatha, who’s training to be on the U.S. Olympic Team as a ski jumper. Agatha gets her. But how much trouble will she get into if Tatum knocks her out of her training schedule?

This isn’t a gripping plot book, but it is, like all Jen Ferguson’s books, nuanced and meditative and full of people you enjoy spending time with, including queer people and people with indigenous heritage.

It’s also about Art and about Identity. Tatum’s art teacher back home doesn’t think her art is Native enough. But what does that even mean? And how does he, with settler heritage, have any right to say that?

And it’s about Grief. Bronwyn was never good about answering Tatum’s postcards, and Tatum’s finding out all she didn’t know about her sister’s life.

I like the way the book comes together at the end, though I won’t give away the many threads that involves. They aren’t tied up in a neat bow, but Tatum got some good interior work done on her trip, and it was a pleasure to get to bear witness to it.

jenfergusonwrites.com

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Review of Rewriting the Rules, by Danna Zeiger, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Rewriting the Rules

How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability

by Danna Zeiger
illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

Millbrook Press, 2025. 36 pages.
Review written August 19, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Rewriting the Rules is a picture book biography of a scientist I’d never heard of – Dr. Kathleen Friel, who has cerebral palsy.

One of my friends has a child with cerebral palsy, so I’ve seen for myself how children with cerebral palsy are underestimated. It does depend on where in their brain the damage exists, but in general trouble walking and speaking does not mean the person has trouble thinking.

This book covers the many challenges Kathleen faced as a child with cerebral palsy, including a doctor who told her parents to put her in an institution. (They found a better doctor.)

It was harder for Kathleen to do some simple things like buttoning her clothes and cutting up food. This author frames her finding ways to do these things as rewriting the rules.

In high school, science became Kathleen’s favorite subject. Her teachers showed her that scientists found new solutions to problems, and she knew she wanted to do the same.

After all, she’d always been rewriting the rules.

The book goes on to explain Kathleen’s doctoral work on monkeys with brain damage doing training to create new brain connections.

After getting her PhD, Dr. Friel runs a lab that helps children with cerebral palsy find treatment to help their brains make new connections. And she models all that a person with cerebral palsy can achieve.

The author of this book was a scientist before she became an author – and was mentored by Dr. Friel, so her love and admiration shines in the text.

This picture book biography of a distinguished scientist teaches kids about cerebral palsy in a way they can understand, framed in the story of a person who overcame tremendous challenges – and helps others do the same.

Kathleen and her research are paving the way for people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities
to be heard,
to find their own approaches,
and to rewrite the rules.

dannazeiger.com
joseebisaillon.com

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Review of Translation State, by Ann Leckie

Fiction Review, Science Fiction, Starred Review 0

Translation State

by Ann Leckie
read by Adjoa Andoh

Hachette Audio, 2023. 12 hours, 4 minutes.
Review written February 25, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’m not sure why it took me so long to discover that Ann Leckie has another book set in the universe of her Ancillary trilogy with AI spaceships trying to get status as a species, but I was delighted to discover Translation State.

Ann Leckie does mind bending so well! One of the three viewpoint characters in this novel is Qven, a juvenile Presger Translator – a species made by the Presger to interface with humans. We get the viewpoint of this creature when they’re young and driven to discover what is inside other beings by dismembering and eating them. As they grow, they’re taught how to behave to fit in with humans – to eventually become an adult and merge with another to get their final form. But Qven finds themself not always wanting to follow the rules.

The adult Presger Translators don’t let humans know about this. But they assert that it’s dangerous for humans to be around their juveniles.

And the treaty with the Presger is up for renewal in a great Conclave – most think it’s what has kept the Presger from destroying humankind across the galaxies. So most want it to continue.

Meanwhile we meet Enae, who had been taking care of her grandmother for most of her life, but has to leave after her grandmother’s death. Ze’s sent on a diplomatic mission no one expects hir to complete to track down a Presger translator who went rogue two hundred years ago. Surely they’re dead by now.

But that brings hir to Reit, who was abandoned as an infant and adopted into a loving family. Now he’s thirty years old and working a boring job. When he was small and tried to eat another kid, he was told in no uncertain terms not to do that any more, so he’s learned to keep those urges in check, but he does wonder what’s wrong with him. When some activists on his planet hail him as the long-lost heir of the captaincy of a space station that was destroyed, he likes thinking he belongs at last. But working for them in the diplomatic corps lets him meet Enae, who gets interested in his story.

And all this leads to the three characters eventually meeting in the context of treaty negotiations with the Presger. And then a catastrophe happens, and they have to work together.

I love the way Ann Leckie can get me inside even such an alien mind and feel like I understand it. This very alien universe becomes full of beings you care about. Absolutely brilliant. (Do read the Ancillary trilogy first. This book made me want to reread that – maybe I’ll listen this time.)

annleckie.com

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Review of The Otherwhere Post, by Emily J. Taylor

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Otherwhere Post

by Emily J. Taylor
read by Barrie Kreinik

Listening Library, 2025. 11 hours, 22 minutes.
Review written January 23, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I placed The Otherwhere Post on hold because I wanted to see why so many other people had done the same. (My job is to select books for a large public library system, so I see what’s popular and often get curious.) Sometimes I’m disappointed by that method, but not this time. The Otherwhere Post pulls us right into the action, as Maeve Abenthy has a ticket to another city, to adopt another identity, because she’s been in her current position, working in an ink shop, too long, and people might realize who her father is.

The whole world, including Maeve, believe that seven years ago, her father was responsible for the living death of every person in Inverlea, one of the three known worlds. But then the Otherwhere Post finds a way to deliver a batch of old letters from shortly after the tragedy – and Maeve receives an anonymous letter from an “old friend” of her father who claims he was innocent – and they have proof. Only Maeve has already missed the meeting he proposed for seven years ago.

All magic in the three known worlds is done through scriptomancy – messages written with special ink by talented, trained people. Maeve’s father was a skilled scriptomancer and courier and lived at the Otherwhere Post, with Maeve in the keeping of her aunt after her mother’s death. So Maeve decides that the obvious way to find this “old friend” is to train to be a courier. Good thing her father grounded her in the basics of writing. Now if she can just pass the admissions test.

Of course, once Maeve gets to the academy, she’s going to have trouble finding the old friend, when she doesn’t dare reveal who she is. But someone knows and starts sending her magical threatening letters.

I shouldn’t have liked this book, because the plot is pretty chaotic, with some drastic turns at various points. But I liked Maeve immensely (despite the unethical way she got into the school), and I liked the young man assigned to be her mentor, and the world-building was creative, so I forgot to be nitpicky and enjoyed the ride.

emilyjtaylor.com

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Review of Blue Monster, by Petr Horácek

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Blue Monster

by Petr Horácek

Otter-Barry Books. 36 pages.
Review written August 25, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This book surprised me into laughing out loud when I opened it up to read. The titular Blue Monster looks friendly and sweet. The story plays out on a bright yellow background. As the book opens, Blue Monster is bored, and asks Rabbit to play with him. But Rabbit doesn’t hear him because he’s fast asleep.

When Blue Monster wakes up Rabbit, he doesn’t want to play because he wants to sleep.

So Blue Monster swallowed Rabbit.

But Rabbit’s friend saw what happened. Blue Monster is feeling embarrassed, so he swallows Rabbit’s friend, too.

And so it goes. This is my favorite exchange:

“Have you seen the rabbits anywhere?” asked Raccoon.

“I didn’t swallow them,” answered Blue Monster, but he looked a bit shifty.

So Raccoon said, “You did swallow them, didn’t you?”

What does Blue Monster do? I’ll bet you can guess.

I like the way the book connects feeling uncomfortable emotions with Blue Monster’s actions. And the background color shifts to blue and more subdued.

Now Blue Monster felt VERY bad.

He knew that swallowing friends is not a nice thing to do.

Besides, now there was definitely nobody who would play with him.

But no worries! When Blue Monster sits down, feeling sad, a bit lonely, and very guilty, he yawns – and all the animals climb out of his mouth (which conveniently has no teeth).

They all looked a bit cross, which, to be fair, was quite understandable.

The animals have a long chat. Blue Monster tells them how sorry he is, and after a stern talking-to that swallowing friends is not nice, he promises never to do it again, and we end with the animals playing nicely together and having lots and lots of fun.

And my description doesn’t do justice to the charm of this book. Of course it would be a perfect vehicle for what’s a good way to deal with uncomfortable emotions, and that we really shouldn’t swallow our friends. Also that everybody makes mistakes – there’s a nice model of apology and forgiveness.

And besides, it’s a sweet story that will make you smile.

petrhoracek.co.uk

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Review of The Neverfear, by Katherine Rundell

Adventure, Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Neverfear

by Katherine Rundell
read by Samuel West

Listening Library, 2026. 8 hours, 4 minutes.
Review written September 4, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

This is the third book in the series that began with Impossible Creatures, and in my opinion, it continues to be the best currently ongoing fantasy series for kids. Katherine Rundell has a skill that J. K. Rowling also possessed of inserting delightfully imaginative magical details. She’s got a bestiary in the back of each book that has many creatures you will have heard of before, such as dragons and unicorns, but plenty of unique creations of her own.

You will want to read these books in order, though I’m finding I’m not too lost if I’ve forgotten many of the details from the earlier books. Listening to this one reminded me just how much I have enjoyed them all, and I’ll be wanting to reread them from the beginning.

In this volume, Christopher is now living most of the time in the magical world of the Archipelago, studying to be a good guardian, and Anya, the one-time princess from the second book, is living on the same island with her father, the berserker Nighthand, and Irian, the beloved of Nighthand.

On an errand with Christopher and Anya, Irian is kidnapped by a sinister band of outlaws who wear Ouroboros bracelets. The children are told they must perform three progressively more difficult Herculean tasks or she will die. After they perform amazing exploits to complete the tasks, a new threat arises to everything they care about.

In the progress of carrying out these tasks and defeating these challenges, against all odds, both Christopher and Anya uncover new skills within themselves. There’s lots of danger here, along with love, loyalty, humor, and plenty of magic. Samuel West’s voice is perfect for narrating these adventures, matter-of-factly presenting the magical details with his proper British accent.

Reading these books makes me wish my kids were young again, as they would make splendid family read-alouds.

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Review of Counterweights, by Shannan Martin

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Counterweights

An Essential Practice for Holding Hope in a Heavy World

by Shannan Martin

Revell, 2026. 238 pages.
Review written July 8, 2026, from my own book, purchased via Amazon.com.
Starred Review

Over several years since it was my Sonderbooks Stand-out in 2016, I’ve gone through the book Champagne for the Soul with two of my small groups (as well as on my own) – and both times it set our group spotting joys, looking for things to be joyful about in daily life.

But sometimes I feel a bit guilty looking for joys when there’s so much trouble in the world. When people are being oppressed and injustice is rampant, is it right to take pleasure in a sighting of a great blue heron?

This book fully acknowledges the weight of the world. And Shannan Martin frames finding joys as looking for counterweights.

She begins with a metaphor that she learned as a child that it’s easier to carry heavy weights if you have one bucket on each side.

Abundance isn’t experienced by merely counting our blessings but by countering our weights.

The essays that follow are a collection of some of the weights and counterweights I’ve faced, mostly over a few years’ time, which I believe deserve our sacred attention. Some of my hardships have been uniquely personal, while others have tied all of us in knots. Others have been secondary: the contact burns of paying attention to a world where, most often, trauma lands hardest on those who are already vulnerable. These weights range from mundane to dizzyingly dramatic. But at every turn, goodness has waited for me to take notice and scoop it up, leveling the load of life’s endless dualities.

I love the way this doesn’t dismiss or minimize the weights, but shows that the weights make the counterweights all the more necessary.

This is not a “silver lining” situation, where pain and injustice are minimized for the sake of flimsy optimism or playing nice. It’s not even about hoarding our favorite things. We are not guaranteed to have those things within our reach. The practice of gathering counterweights is about creating moments of sustenance from the raw materials of what we’re given. It is about holding everything in honest tension. Both/and. Our counterweights help us move forward and breathe through the heaviness. At their best, they can’t be bought or sold. They aren’t a matter of luck or reserved for the privileged. They are widely accessible and casually weird, entirely personal and communal to their core. They are their own reward. And they are happening all the time, ready to steady us on our feet.

So that’s what you’ve got in this book – stories of weighty matters, but also counterweights, things that bring joy. And it’s a lovely model for dealing with our own weights.

After all:

Counterweights are everywhere. But it’s up to us to slow down and see them.

shannanmartin.com

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