Valerie & Walter's Best Books for Children: A Lively, Opinionated Guide

Walter M. Mayes, Valerie V. Lewis. Quill, $17.95 (543pp) ISBN 978-0-06-052467-8

Valerie & Walter's Best Books for Children: A Lively, Opinionated Guide, Second Edition, by Valerie V. Lewis and Walter M. Mayes offers brief synopses and commentaries for 2,000 titles, hundreds of which are new, according to the authors' introduction; and they've weeded out those that are no longer available. Lewis and Mayes have added a ""best books"" section for both fiction and nonfiction, and they've modified the index in response to readers' reactions.

Featured Nonfiction Reviews

Bruce Chadwick

The Battle of Gettysburg was a dramatic combination of pathos and absurdity, according to this remarkable selection of primary sources from historian Chadwick (The Cannons Continue reading »

Joshua Howe, Alexander Lemons

Howe (Behind the Curve), a professor of environmental history at Reed College, and U.S. Marine veteran Lemons team up for a searing mix of wartime memoir and scientific Continue reading »

Rich Benjamin

Benjamin (Searching for Whitopia) delivers a devastating memoir about the ripple effects of the coup that ousted his grandfather, Haitian president Daniel Fignolé, in 1957. Continue reading »

Marlene L Daut

Historian Daut (Awakening the Ashes) offers a powerful biography of Henry Christophe (1767-1820), who fought for, defected from, and ultimately ruled over Haiti. She first Continue reading »