LORD OF THE NUTCRACKER MEN

Iain Lawrence, . . Dell/Laurel-Leaf, $5.99 (212pp) ISBN 978-0-440-41812-2

A boy watches his kindly toymaker father turn against the German shopkeepers and neighbors in the family's London community, then travel to France to fight in the Great War in what PW called, in a starred review, "a thoughtful and thought-provoking novel." Ages 10-up. (May)

Featured Children's Reviews

Freya Finch

A fledgling teen Valkyrie tries to avert Ragnarök in Finch’s spirited, Norse mythology–inspired debut. Most assume Bryn Martel, her older sisters Prima and Reagan, and their Continue reading »

Deke Moulton

White-cued Benji Zeb—on the cusp of making his bar mitzvah—is struggling to keep many secrets as well as live up to the expectations of his kibbutz family. His first secret—he Continue reading »

Kristin O'Donnell Tubb

Contemporary Charleston, S.C., provides the backdrop for this cunning mystery by Tubb (Luna Howls at the Moon), in which a grieving tween’s often laugh-aloud misadventures in Continue reading »

Katherine Rundell

Writing in the tradition of rumbustious British children’s classics, Rundell (One Christmas Wish) introduces Mink, a headstrong city-dwelling child who “did not believe in Continue reading »