Review of The Book of Candles, by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Leanne Hatch

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

The Book of Candles

Eight Poems for Hanukkah

written by Laurel Snyder
illustrated by Leanne Hatch

Clarion Books, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written October 13, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

As the title says, this is a book of eight poems for Hanukkah, one for each night of the festival, one for each candle. It’s in picture book form, so in the library, we’ve got it in the Holiday Picture Books section, where we think it will get plenty of checkouts. For Sonderbooks, I’m going to put it on the Children’s Nonfiction page in the Poetry section, because it actually gives good information about Hanukkah, besides the lovely poems.

A couple years ago, a Jewish friend challenged her non-Jewish friends on Facebook to purchase menorahs and light candles in solidarity, and I did so. Now with this book, I have learned more about the holiday. So I recommend it to both Jewish and non-Jewish families. Each poem is lovely, and each is accompanied by “A Thought” for that night.

I especially liked “A Thought for the Fifth Night”:

It’s tradition to avoid doing work while the candles burn, and this goes for everyone! So you can wait until after they fizzle out to do your homework, but you should make sure your parents take a break, too, before they wash the dinner dishes or check their email. The goal is to focus on the light and each other.

That’s far more challenging than spending half a minute to turn on the Christmas tree lights!

The poems and pictures themselves take us through a particular family celebrating Hanukkah together, ending with watching the candles fizzle out.

I also love the Author’s Note at the back:

Hanukkah is a funny sort of holiday. It isn’t like Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, when we set aside our lives and disappear into the synagogue. Instead, at Hanukkah, we live our daily lives – go to school, play and laugh as usual, even quarrel (not too often, hopefully).

But then, each night, we set aside time to care, to notice, to light our candles.

Hanukkah doesn’t stop our busy world from spinning, but as we move through each day, we do so with an awareness that something is coming at sunset, something special. Something silly or joyful or peaceful.

And with this book, Laurel Snyder and Leanne Hatch have added a bit of beauty and thoughtfulness to lucky family’s Hanukkah celebrations.

laurelsnyder.com
leannehatch.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/book_of_candles.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice, by Amy Alznauer, illustrated by Anna Bron

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice

How to Discover a Shape

by Amy Alznauer
illustrated by Anna Bron

Candlewick Press, 2025. 48 pages.
Review written October 3, 2025, from a book sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

Like another book I recently reviewed, Firefly Song, The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice is a picture book biography of a citizen scientist, a woman who made a notable discovery, even though she didn’t have formal training in that field. Marjorie Rice now has a special place in my heart, because in her case, the field was math.

The biography tells us how Marjorie Rice read an article in Scientific American by Martin Gardner and then got captivated with the idea of finding more five-sided convex shapes that tile a plane. And the stellar art by Anna Bron helps make it clear to the reader what this means.

We learn how she was inspired when a new tiling was discovered – to then search for new five-sided shapes of her own that would work. And she went on to find four of fifteen pentagon types that tile the plane. (Years later, other mathematicians found two more, and then another proved that there were no more.)

This amateur mathematician’s life is especially suited for a picture book biography because her work was so visual – and the artist did a great job of using pentagon tilings throughout the book. Back matter not only tells about the pentagon discoveries after Marjorie, they also give the reader great ideas for exploring shapes, tilings, and tessellations further.

I love that this is the story of a housewife with a curious and playful mind (if perhaps a somewhat obsessive one).

Oh look! I’m ready to post this review and looked up the author’s website. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and also teaches calculus and number theory. This makes me feel like she’s a kindred spirit with me, since I have Master’s degrees in Mathematics and in Library Science – not a typical combination. This explains her excellent picture book biographies of mathematicians. I’m going to keep watching for her books.

amyalz.com
candlewick.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/five_sides_of_marjorie_rice.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Zero! The Number That Almost Wasn’t, by Sarah Albee, illustrated by Chris Hsu

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

Zero!

The Number That Almost Wasn’t

by Sarah Albee
illustrated by Chris Hsu

Charlesbridge, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written July 11, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Fun fact: When Europeans set up the calendar we use today, they did not include a Year Zero. The year after 1 BC was 1 AD. Of course, they were given these names long, long after they happened. But because Europeans didn’t understand zero when they developed the calendar – the Twenty-first Century didn’t actually start until the year 2001. I tried to wrote a short article about this and tried to sell it to children’s magazines in 1999 and 2000, with no success. And I have to admit that switching from 1999 to 2000 feels much more momentous than switching from 2000 to 2001, even if it wasn’t actually the new century yet.

Anyway, all my thinking about when the century started sprang from the moment I learned that Europeans didn’t adopt the symbol zero or even the concept of zero until well past the Middle Ages – and that’s what this book is about.

This picture book explains the history of Zero in a way children can understand. (Yes, without touching on questions of what that means about the start of centuries.) It talks briefly about the concept of Nothing and the concept of Place Value, but it’s mostly about the history of writing numbers.

We hear about the Babylonians – who did use a place value and a mark for an “empty” place. We hear about the Greeks, who were especially strong in astronomy and geometry. The Mayans developed zero earlier than anyone else – but their knowledge was lost when Spanish invaders destroyed their records. Roman numerals came along next, which was difficult for doing complex calculations. But during the Dark Ages in Europe, mathematics thrived in India, where an unknown mathematician invented a symbol for zero.

The concept of zero spread to Baghdad, the center of the Muslim Empire – and writings from Arabic mathematicians took advantage of the concept, developing the field of Algebra.

The book chronicles all this, plus how long it took Europeans to adopt the concept. Sadly, some Christians were even then opposed to an advance of knowledge:

A few Christian leaders actually banished zero. They argued that God had created everything, so something that represented nothing must be the work of the devil.

Finally, the invention of the printing press helped the Hindu-Arabic number system spread as people came to appreciate how much it facilitates doing mathematics.

All that is present in this picture book, with engaging cartoon illustrations. There are even notes at the back about historical details present in the illustrations.

Those who read this book will get a grasp on the mind-blowing fact that Zero had to be invented, and was actually invented much later than you’d think it was. You’ll never take Nothing for granted again.

sarahalbeebooks.com
chrishsu.net

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/zero.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Home, by Isabelle Simler

Award Winners, Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Science, Starred Review 0

Home

by Isabelle Simler
translated by Vineet Lal

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024. Originally published in France in 2022. 68 pages.
Review written February 5, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Mildred Batchelder Award Honor Book

The Batchelder Award is given to the publishers of the best books published in English, originally published in a country other than the United States and in a language other than English. I’m impressed that a book of poetry won, because I would think that poetry is hard to translate. No, it’s not rhymed poetry, but still, the translator did a beautiful job, and the original illustrations in this book are stunning.

This is a book of poetry – about animal homes. Each spread features a different species and the type of home they live in, narrated by the creature, and telling how they construct their distinctive home.

Some interesting homes featured include the straw apartment complex of the sociable weaver (generations of birds live in these giant nests!), bubble house of the diving bell spider, cactus cabin of the elf owl, foam hiding place of the foam-nest tree frog, and tubular condo of the European fan worm. Many more are featured, and all have beautiful illustrations of their home – with more facts in the back.

A lovely book to browse through and wonder over. We truly have an amazingly varied world.

eerdmans.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/home.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Birdlore: The Iridescent Life of Florence Merriam Bailey, written by Jess Keating, illustrated by Devon Holzwarth

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Birdlore

The Iridescent Life of Florence Merriam Bailey

written by Jess Keating
illustrated by Devon Holzwarth

Alfred A. Knopf, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written July 21, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

I love it when picture book biographies tell me about a person who lived a remarkable life and changed the world – but whom I’d never heard of before. This is one such book.

In 1889, Florence Merriam Bailey wrote the first field guide to American birds ever published. She talked about the wonders of birdwatching and popularized it for everyone.

This picture book tells her story with gorgeous art – as befitting a book about beautiful birds. (As a bonus, at the back, there’s a spread showing Florence’s favorite bird species and asking if you can find all these birds in the pages of the book.) It begins with her childhood in the countryside, when she would delight in finding them. When she got old enough to study birds as a scientist, she didn’t like the normal method at the time of examining dead birds and making them into specimens. So she would take notes on living birds in the outdoors.

When she went to university, Florence made friends with other women interested in birds and showed them her method of taking notes on birds in the wild. The women were scandalized together at the common fashion choice of the time – wearing dead birds on ladies’ hats.

It began a quest to share with people the wonder of birds in the wild – and helped pass the Lacey Act in 1900 that protected birds from illegal trade.

The way the story is told lifts your hearts with the birds and will add to your own appreciation. A lovely book about a woman who helped protect these lovely creatures.

jesskeating.com
devonholzwarth.com
rhcbooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/birdlore.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Some of Us, by Rajani LaRocca, illustrated by Huy Voun Lee

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Some of Us

A Story of Citizenship and the United States

by Rajani LaRocca
illustrated by Huy Voun Lee

Christy Ottaviano Books (Little, Brown), 2025. 32 pages.
Review written September 24, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Some of Us is a simple explanation, in picture book form, of what it means to be an American citizen and how people can become American citizens. The writing is easy to understand, suitable for early elementary age children, and lovely and lyrical.

Here’s the beginning, which covers three spreads, accompanied by pictures of a wide variety of people:

Some of us are born American.
Some choose.

We may come from across the world,
or quite nearby.
Some of us are babies, carried in hopeful arms;
some are six, or sixteen, or sixty.

We leave the countries of our birth and come here
by boat, and plane,
and car,
and train,
and foot.

The book talks about different reasons people come, including some pictures of notable immigrants, but also covering those fleeing war, oppression, and poverty. It talks about the food and culture immigrants bring with them, and the good things they do to contribute to their new communities.

Then it covers the process of becoming a naturalized citizen for those who choose to do so, and the difficult process of studying, with a test and an interview.

And then we take an oath –
not to the president,
not to Congress,
but to the ideals of the United States:
freedom, justice, peace, equality.

She then talks about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and concludes with fireworks in the background:

Some of us are born to it.
Some of us choose.
And we are all American.

In the five pages of back matter, the author tells how she became a naturalized citizen when she was fifteen. There are links to more information, but also a page titled “Beyond Citizenship: The Rights of All People,” quoting the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I wish this book weren’t so needed right now – but it is a lovely resource for any time period. It helps children understand, simply and clearly, what citizenship is, how people get it, and what it means.

rajanilarocca.com
LBYR.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/some_of_us.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Firefly Song, by Colleen Paeff, illustrated by Ji-Hyuk Kim

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Firefly Song

Lynn Frierson Faust and the Great Smoky Mountain Discovery

by Colleen Paeff
illustrated by Ji-Hyuk Kim

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written September 16, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Firefly Song stands out among picture book biographies for several reasons, the first being that it’s got gorgeous art. I love the picture of the twilight forest dotted with fireflies and the picture of young Lynn Faust jumping into a Great Smoky Mountains swimming hole.

But it’s also wonderful because of the story it tells. Lynn Frierson Faust essentially trained herself as a scientist. As a child, she enjoyed the dazzling display of the synchronous fireflies at her family’s summer cabin.

When she tried to find out more about fireflies (because those were so wonderful), she discovered that scientists believed there were no synchronous fireflies in North America.

But how to let the scientists know they are wrong? She was met with plenty of skepticism.

It took her years of work and plenty of research to get other scientists to come and confirm what she’d realized all along – that a species of synchronous fireflies lives in the Great Smoky Mountains.

The fireflies of Elkmont and their light show are famous now. Each summer, thousands of visitors travel from clear across the world to witness the silent serenade of Photinus carolinus.

There’s nice back matter for those who are intrigued as I was and want to find out more.

colleenpaeff.com
hanuol.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/firefly_song.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Jim! Six True Stories about One Great Artist: James Marshall, by Jerrold Connors

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Jim!

Six True Stories about One Great Artist: James Marshall

by Jerrold Connors

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2025. 72 pages.
Review written September 3, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

The perfect picture book biography exists, and I have just read it!

Jerrold Connors takes six stories that give us the essence of James Marshall’s life, and he relates them with words and art that perfectly mimic James Marshall’s style. The stories even have the punch of a George and Martha story!

I adore the George and Martha books, and this book borrows their format in a brilliant homage to their creator. The stories are numbered, as in George and Martha. They are: “The Book,” about creating Miss Nelson Is Missing with his friend Harry; “How Cute!” about how annoying it was to have his work called cute and his history as a classical musician; “Friendly Competition,” about his friends Maurice (Maurice wears a “Wild Thing” shirt.) and Arnold, who were also writers; “The Award” about how he would have liked to win an award but how his partner Billy reminded him that great art is about putting yourself in your work; “The School Visit” about his second-grade teacher who told him he’d never be an artist and served as the inspiration for Viola Swamp; and “The Hospital,” about how kids will remember him, because kids are really smart.

An Author’s Note ties it all together with more details about James Marshall’s life, but please be aware that my summary doesn’t begin to convey the charm of this book. Anyone who loves George and Martha (and who could possibly not?) will be absolutely delighted with this book.

jerroldconnors.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/jim.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Are We There Yet? by Stacy McAnulty, illustrations by Elizabeth Baddeley

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Are We There Yet?

The First Road Trip Across America

by Stacy McAnulty
illustrations by Elizabeth Baddeley

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025. 44 pages.
Review written July 21, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This totally fun picture book tells the true story of the first team – including a dog – to ride in a car all the way across America.

The caption on the first page sets the tone:

This is the absolutely true story of a ridiculous journey that started as a bet, turned into a race, and ended in a – well, hang on, and see how it turns out.

They start by explaining why the bet that Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made in 1903 was foolish: not many paved roads, no highways, no cross-country road maps, and iffy quality of equipment. What’s more, Jackson didn’t even have a car or know how to drive!

He wasn’t daunted. He bought a used Winton Touring Car, and hired twenty-two-year-old Sewall Crocker to come along and teach him to drive.

It lacked the luxuries we expect in today’s cars – things like a windshield, seat belts, mirrors, doors, a trunk, or a roof.

Of course, every good road trip needs a dog! So a little ways down the road, they purchased a dog named Bud. They got Bud goggles to match their own (remember, no windshields) – and the pictures get all the cuter from there on out.

The trip was completely different from travel today. Plenty of stories of breakdowns, getting stuck in the mud, and important things flying out of the car when it got up to high speed – thirty miles an hour or so.

Of course, when other teams got wind of it and tried to cross the country first, this added a nice dose of competition.

And the whole story is told in a thoroughly entertaining format with pictures that add to the fun. There’s some nice back matter to put it in context. Makes me want to take a trip to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and find Bud’s glasses.

stacymcanulty.com
EBaddeley.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/are_we_there_yet.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Whale Eyes, by James Robinson

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Whale Eyes

A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen

by James Robinson
with illustrations by Brian Rea

Penguin Workshop, 2025. 298 pages.
Review written August 11, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This book will literally change your perspective.

It’s not often that I have to order additional copies of a memoir published for kids because of so many holds, but that happened with Whale Eyes. What a creative and fascinating book! Written by a documentary filmmaker about his own childhood, Whale Eyes shows you what it’s like to have strabismus and exotropia – by playing with the format and illustrations in this book. You’ll be turning the book upside-down and even folding a page. (Do it gently if you’re using a library copy!) And you’ll begin to understand what it’s like to see things through Whale Eyes.

Most people’s brains fuse images from our two eyes. But James was born with eyes that don’t track together – so his brain compensates by alternating which eye he sees out of. And when his brain switches between eyes, that makes the image jump. Which makes reading extremely difficult. Or playing tee-ball – He tells the story of being the first kid the adults had ever seen strike out at tee-ball.

And when people see his misaligned eyes – they don’t know where to look. So they look away. Or they stare, trying to figure out what’s wrong with him. Neither one is good for connecting with people.

So this book is about helping people understand, and telling people where to look – at the eye that’s looking at them – so that we can make connections. He coined the term “Whale eyes” because we can only look at one of a whale’s eyes at a time – yet that doesn’t bother anyone.

There’s a point in the book where he asks the reader to take an intermission and watch a documentary about his condition that he made for the New York Times. I’d provide a link to that video – except watch it as an intermission, after you’ve been prepared, and I think it will hit all the harder.

He finishes up the book with some things he’s learned from making documentaries – things about making connections and catching people’s interests. He brings people together instead of pushing them apart.

This book is written for middle grade kids – but there is no age limit for liking and being fascinated by this book. I pushed a couple of my coworkers to check it out, and I hope this review will get it more readers. It will open your eyes to another way of looking at the world. Literally.

byjamesrobinson.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Children_Nonfiction/whale_eyes.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?