Review of All the Blues in the Sky, by Renée Watson

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

All the Blues in the Sky

by Renée Watson

Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2025. 182 pages.
Review written January 27, 2026, from my own copy, given to me at ALA Annual Conference and signed by the author.
Starred Review
2026 Newbery Medal Winner

I was happy when the Newbery Medal Winner was announced – and it was a book sitting by my bed in one of my TBR piles, signed by the author. And yes, I’d heard the author speak before I got it signed at ALA Annual Conference, and I was very excited about reading it.

I was disappointed in myself that I hadn’t read it yet. (So many books, so little time! I wanted to read it right away, but there are so many books in those piles, plus award reading, plus I just blew it.)

However, the good side was that it made perfect Snow Day reading. In between walks in the snow, I lounged by the fire, and as a novel in verse, it wasn’t long before I had this beautiful book read.

Here’s the first page of the text:

I didn’t know
best friends could die.

Yes, this is a book about grief. The narrator is Sage, and on her thirteenth birthday her best friend was walking to her house and was hit by a car and died.

Sage is in a grief group after school with four other kids. Two of them lost a loved one suddenly, and two lost a loved one slowly, after a long process. Sage feels like that’s not the same, since she didn’t get a chance to say good-by.

But there are ups and downs after loss. And sometimes the sadness and happiness come at the same time. Sage wants to be a pilot, and she’s going to a program about learning to be one, and she thinks about all the different shades of blue in the sky – and all the different shades of grief.

The poetry in this book is beautiful. We feel with Sage, grieve with her, but also rejoice with her. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself shedding some tears while reading it. (Especially at the rejoicing with her part.) And the book brings us to a place where we know she’ll be able to carry on, feeling all the emotions.

An Author’s Note at the back tells us that Renée Watson lost fifteen people she loved, including her mother, in the space of two years. This didn’t surprise me, because she brings authenticity to the story. And ultimately, hope. She ends the Author’s Note and the book like this:

I hope this book gives every reader permission to feel real emotions, to admit when life is hard.
I hope this book reminds every reader that in the midst of sadness and grief, there can be joy and goodness.

And Renée models that – because out of her own deep loss, she brought forth this wonderful book.

reneewatson.net

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2026 Youth Media Awards!

Award Winners 0

Today the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards were announced!

For the last couple years, I’ve done a program for other Youth Services librarians in February, highlighting award winners – so for this month I’m going to try to madly read the winners I’ve missed. But I did want to take a moment to celebrate the wonderful books I did read and love before they got their due recognition.

The picture above is the wonderful way I spent a bit of my snow day – reading the Newbery Medal winner, All the Blues in the Sky, by Renee Watson. I was given a signed copy last June at ALA Annual Conference, and fully meant to read it, but it didn’t have a due date! So that way it was all ready for me to read today.

But which ones did I catch? First, I love that I had a review of the Sibert Medal Winner, Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa, by Sara Andrea Fajardo and Juana Martinez-Neal, all queued up to post today.

Another book that I only recently discovered was Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book, André: André Leon Talley – A Fabulously Fashionable Fairy Tale, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders, illustrated by Lamont O’Neal.

But how did my 2025 Sonderbooks Stand-outs do?

First, I’m super happy about the success of my #3 Stand-out in Teen Speculative Fiction, Legendary Frybread Drive-in, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. This book won the Michael L. Printz Award and the American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Young Adult Book and an Odyssey Honor for audiobooks.

Another triple winner was Candace Fleming. Not only did she win the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award for her latest book (My #2 Stand-out in Teen Nonfiction), Death in the Jungle, she won YALSA’s Margaret Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults and ALSC’s Children’s Literature Legacy Award for a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.

And a double winner was Whale Eyes, by James Robinson, my #1 Stand-out in Children’s Nonfiction, which won the Schneider Family Young Adult Award and an Odyssey Honor for audiobooks. (Since a strength of that book was how he showed you what it’s like to see the way he does – I really wonder how they pulled that off in an audiobook.)

Another double winner was my #2 Sonderbooks Stand-out in More Teen Fiction, Sisters in the Wind, by Angeline Boulley, which was a Printz Honor Book and an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book.

The rest of my Stand-outs that won things won only one thing each. Let me go by category:

Last year’s #8 in Speculative Teen Fiction, Sheine Lende, by Darcie Little Badger, was also an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book. (These are given in even years.)

Another Printz Honor went to Song of a Blackbird, by Maria van Lieshout, a book I reviewed and loved but didn’t quite make my Stand-outs list.

#5 in Children’s Speculative Fiction, The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, by Aubrey Hartman, was a John Newbery Medal Honor Book.

#2 in More Children’s Fiction, The Teacher of Nomad Land, by Daniel Nayeri, was also a John Newbery Medal Honor Book.

#3 in More Children’s Fiction, The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze, by Derrick Barnes, was a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book.

#9 in Children’s Nonfiction, The Book of Candles: Eight Poems for Hanukkah, written by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Leanne Hatch, won a Sydney Taylor Silver Medal for Picture Books.

#2 in Picture Books, the brilliant Every Monday Mabel, by Jashar Awan, was a Randolph Caldecott Medal Honor Book. (I got a signed copy of that at ALA!)

#8 in Picture Books, Chooch Helped, by Andrea L. Rogers, illustrated by Rebecca Lee Koonz, won last year’s Randolph Caldecott Medal, and this year’s American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Picture Book. (These are given every other year.)

And my Stand-outs are not selected for the art alone, so I am indeed delighted with this year’s Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner, my #9 Sonderbooks Stand-out in Picture Books, Fireworks, by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Cátia Chien.

Yes, I did need a moment of silence for my Sonderbooks Stand-outs that did not win any awards today – but all of them have my deep love. And all of the choices are truly wonderful. So it’s worth taking time to celebrate these amazing books. Huzzah!

And for the next month, you can expect to see more reviews of award winners – and they may well show up on next year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs.

Review of Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa, by Sara Andrea Fajardo, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Alberto Salas Plays Paka Paka con la Papa

by Sara Andrea Fajardo
illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal

Roaring Brook Press, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written January 23, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review
2026 Robert F. Sibert Medal Winner

I checked out this book because it was listed on Horn Book Magazine‘s Calling Caldecott blog as a possible contender for the Caldecott Medal (which will be announced on Monday, January 26). And wow! I’d be delighted if it shows up as an honoree (even if my personal favorite is still Cat Nap, by Brian Lies).

Edited on January 26 to add: Hooray! Today this book won the Robert F. Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children! (I’m a little sad Cat Nap didn’t show up in the awards – but very happy about this one.)

This is a picture book biography, and the illustrations, done by a previous Caldecott honoree, are wonderful, making us feel like the featured Alberto Salas is a friendly uncle, foraging through a beautiful countryside.

But his story is also amazing. Alberto Salas was on a decades-long quest to find wild potatoes (papas) in the Andes mountains of Peru before they were gone. Since he was from the mountains himself and spoke both Spanish and Quecha, he could ask locals for help and was better than anyone else at finding specimens.

Alberto brings specimens to the International Potato Center genebank.

Scientists study each papa’s superpowers and create new varieties that can grow everywhere, from salty swamps to icy mountain peaks, maybe even one day on Mars.

But potatoes are under threat. Temperatures are rising, bringing insects and diseases that devour them.

Alberto’s goal is to find them all – and protect them – before they’re lost for good.

The main story is told simply, explaining the importance of these potatoes and Alberto’s skill. Then eight pages of back matter fill in details.

And have you guessed? “Paka Paka” is hide-and-seek. Alberto keeps a playful spirit and plays hide-and-seek with the native potatoes – and everyone wins.

sarafajardowrites.com
juanamartinezneal.com

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Review of The Queen’s Secret, by Jessica Day George

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Queen’s Secret

Rose Legacy, Book Two

by Jessica Day George

Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2019. 250 pages.
Starred Review

This is the second book in a planned trilogy about a land of exiles where people can communicate with horses. And our heroine, Anthea, has an especially strong bond, able to communicate with all the horses, not only Florian, the stallion who’s bonded to her.

I enjoyed this book more than the first one. In that one, the set-up of magical telepathic communication with horses seemed a little bit too much like generic wish-fulfillment.

In this book, the set-up is done, and I enjoyed seeing the people and horses trying to work together. The horse communication seems horsey, not just the thoughts of people attributed to horses.

The Horse Brigade has the favor of the queen – but the king is not so easily won over. As the book opens, they are trying to prove themselves by carrying messages and trying to be useful in the king’s service. However, as things develop, it appears that someone is working against them.

Then an outbreak of illness starts – in the exact places where the horses had been. For a country that already thought horses bring disease, trying to win support for the Horse Brigade just became much more difficult.

The book does end on a disastrous note. We will have to wait for the next book to see how Anthea and the horses of Last Farm can overcome a major setback.

These books are perfect for fantasy-lovers who also love horses. It takes the idea of becoming one with your horse to the next level.

jessicadaygeorge.com
Bloomsbury.com

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Review of The Lost Bookshop, by Evie Woods

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Fiction Review, Historical, Paranormal, Romance 0

The Lost Bookshop

by Evie Woods
read by Avena Mansergh-Wallace, Olivia Mace, and Nick Biadon

One More Chapter (HarperCollins), 2023. 12 hours, 1 minute.
Review written December 26, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.

I put a hold on The Lost Bookshop because of how much I enjoyed the author’s The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris. This one was very similar, and I also enjoyed it. In both, we’ve got one historical thread combined with a romance in the present, and the perspectives of both the man and woman involved in the romance, plus the perspective of the character in history whose actions affect the present.

Our characters in this book start with Opaline, in the early twentieth century, whose brother was forcing her to marry a man she hadn’t even met after their father died. Opaline flees to Paris, and there starts working with Sylvia Beach in the famous Shakespeare & Co. bookshop. She later moves to Dublin and starts her own bookshop – until her brother gets her committed to an insane asylum.

In the present, we’ve got Martha, who’s fleeing her abusive husband and looking for a job in Dublin. She lands a job as a housekeeper for an eccentric old woman in a historic home. Then one day she sees Henry scrutinizing her windows and thinks he’s a peeping Tom. But he is looking for a bookshop with an address right next to her house – that doesn’t seem to exist. But Henry is a rare book dealer and has a letter that says that bookshop has Emily Bronte’s lost second manuscript.

One thing leads to another, and you can tell where it’s going – but it’s fun. Opaline’s story – in Paris and especially in the insane asylum – is riveting.

I have to say that this book had more paranormal elements than The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris – and for me this one crossed the line into unbelievability. It wasn’t only the bookshop that only appears to those who need it (or true believers? or something), but also mysterious otherworldly messages, and several more things.

However, despite a few too many paranormal bits for my taste – I still enjoyed these characters. Henry always seems to say the wrong thing, but he’s earnest and kind. Martha fleeing a truly horrible abusive situation had all my sympathy as well. (I saw my ex-husband for the first time in a decade when I was in the middle of listening to this book and was reminded of how we program ourselves to love someone, and that’s hard to turn off, even when their behavior means they don’t deserve or want your love any more. Not that mine was as bad as Martha’s husband. But still, she had my sympathy.) And Opaline’s situation was also fascinating in an awful way, tying in with what I’d read in Ten Days a Madwoman, by Deborah Noyes. It wasn’t all that long ago that men could lock women up in insane asylums.

Fortunately, this story ends happily for all our main characters. This is a feel-good romance, a little too enthusiastic with the paranormal elements, but you can be sure that all the stars align for them in the end.

eviewoods.com

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Review of Here Comes Lolo, by Niki Daly

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

Here Comes Lolo

by Niki Daly

Catalyst Press, 2020. Originally published in 2019 in Great Britain. 78 pages.
Review written November 27, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

I read these beginning chapter books about Lolo out of order, and still love every one of them. This is the first one, where Lolo is introduced. She lives with Mama and Gogo (her grandmother) in South Africa. As all good beginning chapter books, the stories about Lolo reflect the interests of a young child beginning to learn to read. What’s fun about Lolo is that living in South Africa makes her concerns a little different than they might be if she were an American child — yet her personality and adventures are relatable.

There are four short stories in the book:

“A Gold Star and a Kiss for Lolo” is about her desire to win a gold star for reading from her teacher, but the setback that happens when she does.

In “Lolo’s Hat,” Lolo falls in love with a floppy hat in a shop window — but it isn’t there when she and her Mama go back for it.

“Lolo and the Lost Ring” begins like this:

Whenever Mama, Gogo, and Lolo went for a walk, Mama would look up and say, “I love the clouds against the blue sky.” Gogo would look around and say, “I love those trees,” or “What a nice dress that woman is wearing.” Stuff like that.

Lolo liked looking at the ground where flowers grow and where there were cracks to jump over on pavements.

And that’s where she found it: a ring lying in a crack in the pavement!

“Lolo and a Dog Called Hope” is about a dog that lives next door and is being mistreated. What should she do?

Lolo deals with small problems with flare — and with the help of Mama and Gogo.

Often with beginning chapter books, I read just one to get the idea of the series. But with Lolo, I wanted to read them all.

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Review of The Sirens’ Call, by Chris Hayes

Audiobooks, Current Issues, Nonfiction Review 0

The Sirens’ Call

How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource

by Chris Hayes
read by the author

Books on Tape, 2025. 8 hours, 55 minutes.
Review written January 15, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

This is a book about attention and the Attention Economy. Sirens were developed to seize our attention. And Odysseus resisted the sirens of mythology only by being tied to a mast. Today the world has found ways to produce sirens that seize our attention – and we carry them around in our pockets.

At first, I expected a version of “Our attention spans are much shorter because we use our phones so much.” But I got a much more thoughtful, much more nuanced work. Chris Hayes kept talking about himself as being “in the attention business” as a host for MSNBC. And he explores far more aspects of attention than I had even realized existed – and how things have changed over time.

Did you know that when cars were first built, people thought having a radio would be too distracting? Or that spam (with different names) has been a problem for centuries – including too many posters on the streets of Paris? Or that google started as a way to save people time by getting pertinent search results – which gave them people’s time and attention – which they sold to advertisers = which makes their search results less pertinent?

I did think it was funny that while he talked about people commonly watching more than one thing at a time (picture in picture or simply looking at one’s phone while watching TV), he never mentioned listening to audiobooks while doing other things. So it was amusing that I listened to this entire book while doing other things that didn’t require much brain power – driving, cleaning, and other mechanical tasks. Attention is a limited resource, and there are more things clamoring for it than ever.

And yes, he did discuss Donald Trump’s particular skill at gaining attention. Most politicians want attention, but also want to be liked. Donald Trump seems to only care about the attention part of that. And he’s very good at getting it.

It was also interesting to hear from a newscaster’s perspective that they feel like they are chasing attention rather than controlling it. It’s common to blame the media for what people have heard about, but to a large extent they are chasing attention themselves. If they talk about boring things, no one will listen to them, after all.

He also contrasted today’s sound bite world with the Lincoln-Douglass debates, where the candidates each talked for 90 minutes on substantive issues. Audiences wouldn’t stand for that today even if a person existed who could talk about issues that long.

I never feel like I do a good job summarizing nonfiction audiobooks, because I can’t refer back to the points made. However, this one explored all kinds of aspects of attention, put everything into historical context, and helped me notice when people are trying to manipulate my attention. All done in an interesting way. I didn’t regret giving the book, if not my full attention, at least a large portion of my attention while I was doing other boring things.

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Review of Hekate: The Witch, by Nikita Gill

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Teen Fiction Review 0

Hekate

The Witch

by Nikita Gill
read by the author

Hachette Audio, 2025. 6 hours, 12 minutes.
Review written January 10, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

This audiobook was simply beautiful. The reader’s lovely accent helped. The whole audiobook, I wondered why they used a reader with an Indian accent to read a story from Greek mythology – and then when I went to write this review, I learned it had been the author’s voice all along. Her voice and accent are beautiful, and it turns out she’s British-Indian, which is also what I was hearing. Lovely!

The story is about a Greek goddess I hadn’t known anything about, though many of the elements of her life were familiar – but now made deeply personal. Hekate was a child of war – when the Titans, including her father Perses, were fighting the Olympians. When the Titans lost the war, Hekate and her mother Asteria had to flee. Asteria found Hekate a safe home in the Underworld, under the care of her sister, the goddess Styx. But Asteria herself had to continue to flee and turned herself into an island to escape from Zeus.

Because of those circumstances, Hekate grew up in the underworld, not knowing her purpose – which should have been given to her by her father at her birth. Meanwhile, she chafes under the “protection” of Styx – and devises her own quest to learn her parents’ fate and to discover her own powers and purpose. So it’s a coming-of-age tale for a goddess and a powerful witch.

And the writing is lyrical and beautiful. This is one of those audiobooks that you can actually tell is a novel in verse – often I can’t tell from the audio, but that wasn’t a problem here. I liked the way many of the individual poems ended with a reversal that would lead you into the next poem.

This is Greek mythology from the inside (or from the underside), seen through the eyes of a child growing into a goddess.

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Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Sonderbooks25, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

by Susanna Clarke
read by Simon Prebble

Macmillan Audio, 2006. 32 hours, 30 minutes.
Review written November 24, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Originally reviewed October 26, 2004.
Starred Review
2004 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #1 Science Fiction and Fantasy

I reread (via listening) this book as part of my celebration of #Sonderbooks25 – my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was my favorite new book for adults that I read in 2004.

I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t as enamored with the book as when I read it the first time – it’s definitely not my favorite book of the year this year, or even close. But I still thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the story and getting caught up in Susanna Clarke’s highly detailed alternate world. Let me talk about the good things, but also why I’m not raving about it this time around.

The book is long. The first time I read it, the only way I could bring myself to tackle it was one chapter per day while I read other books – until I got about halfway through and was more obsessed. This time around, it required two separate checkouts of the eaudiobook, with a wait in between. 32 hours! But the length is also a strength. The incredible detail – with footnotes! – of the alternate-reality England during the Napoleonic Wars is an incredible feat of world-building. Simon Prebble feels like the perfect reader for the book, reading it with the voice of a scholarly old gentleman that just suits the story perfectly.

The story takes you through first Mr. Norrell and then Jonathan Strange being the first practical magicians that England has seen in hundreds of years. We’ve got hints about the Raven King, who used to control magic in England. We’re warned about the Faery realms and see the drastic consequences when Mr. Norrell messes with fairies – but consequences that he keeps secret from everyone else. We watch those consequences play out, and we watch Jonathan Strange do magic to win the war with Napoleon – and then diverge from his teacher. And eventually, we watch the prophecy happen about the two of them bringing magic back to England. And always a nefarious fairy causing trouble behind the scenes.

The book is immersive, and listening was a great way for me to tolerate the great length. So why was I not as enraptured this time around?

First, I already knew about the amazing world-building, so I took it more for granted this time. I did notice this time the blatant racism and anti-Semitism. It probably accurately reflects attitudes in England at that time, but was still unpleasant to read about. And there was a “historical” story told about the magic of Native Americans – including footnotes – that felt like a demeaning caricature. So I do feel like I should warn about that.

But I also realized that I didn’t remember how it ended – and was kind of let down when it did. Yes, many threads come together, but I didn’t think the ending was terribly satisfying. And then I realized that I didn’t really like any of the characters much. So the world-building and the delightful scholarly tone is the best part of the book. And they do carry the book the entire 32 hours, but it wasn’t quite as wonderful as I had remembered.

All the same, if you’re ever in the mood for a great big doorstopper of a fantasy novel that is not a romantasy but does present an amazing alternate world of magic – Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is worth reading. And, yes, rereading.

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Review of Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow

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

Wundersmith

The Calling of Morrigan Crow

by Jessica Townsend
read by Gemma Whelan

Hachette Audio (Little, Brown), 2018. 12 hours on 10 CDs.
Starred Review
Review written November 6, 2019, from a library audiobook

First, how did this review get buried so long in my unposted drafts? I’m not sure, but here, at last, it is.

Wundersmith is the sequel to Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, or I should say the second book in the series, because the story isn’t finished yet.

All her life, Morrigan Crow has been told she was cursed, and any misfortune that happened to anyone around her was blamed on her. In the first book, she learned that she’s actually a Wundersmith – an amazing gift with the ability to manipulate Wunder, and she’s brought to Nevermoor, a magical place that folks on the outside don’t even know about, and she competes to become part of the Wundrous Society.

In the second book, she’s officially part of the Wundrous Society and ready to begin her classes with the eight other members of her unit. They’re supposed to be like her new brothers and sisters.

But things don’t go like the reader expects. Suppose in the Harry Potter books that Voldemort had a particular powerful gift and was still in power outside Hogwarts. And then suppose Harry was the first wizard to have that exact same gift in one hundred years. Would people be willing to actually train him in his gift?

That’s the situation for Morrigan Crow. The “most evil man who ever lived” was a Wundersmith, and he has been banished from Nevermoor and his name is mentioned to frighten children. Morrigan is the first person to have this gift in a hundred years, and no one in the Wundrous Society wants to teach her “the wretched arts” that a Wundersmith uses.

The only class she’s assigned is a history of Wundersmiths, taught by an instructor who goes over and over how evil or stupid every single Wundersmith has been.

Meanwhile, her unit is told that if they tell anyone that Morrigan is a Wundersmith, they will all be expelled from the Wundrous Society. But someone starts blackmailing them, one by one, or the secret will be revealed. Do they care enough about Morrigan to keep her secret?

At the same time, various people and creatures start going missing. Is Morrigan to blame? Her patron, Jupiter North, is spending all his time working on the problem – so he’s not around for Morrigan to confide in.

The situations all work to a dramatic finish, but with hints of more problems to come.

This book is delightful, and I especially enjoyed listening to it, the narrator’s accent adding to my enjoyment. Jessica Townsend has a vivid imagination, throwing fun tidbits into the story – tricksy lanes that do strange things to you as you walk into them, a smoking room that generates different flavors of smoke, a building made of water, and so much more. I didn’t want to think too hard about how some of the things would actually work, but they were great fun to read about.

Now, there were many places in this book where, like the Harry Potter books, I firmly wished they would just tell a teacher! As with those, various motivations were given for why they didn’t, and it did all work out in the end. There was also a huge coincidence that Morrigan ended up stumbling on something that ended up being a major plot point, but all things taken together, it didn’t ruin the book.

So if you want to read another saga set in an imaginative, magical world, where a young magic user must learn how to use her power to fight evil, in the company of loyal friends – look no further! This series would also make great family listening. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

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