Cari Best. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-374-37052-7
Picture book author Best (If I Could Drive, Mama) sets her first novel in Queens, N.Y., in 1961, where Shirley Burns is finishing sixth grade and struggling to speak up for herself. Shirley desperately wants to join her cousins on their family’s...
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Cari Best, Author, Niki Daly, Illustrator, Niki Daly, Photographer Orchard Books (NY) $15.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-531-09452-5
When her grandma catches the flu, Lizzie gets to commute downtown with Mama, who is a children's librarian. Although it is an ordinary day for her mother, to Lizzie it is filled with wondrous experiences: the subway ``roaring out of the darkness...
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Cari Best, Author, Diane Palmiscano, Author, DK Publishing, Author DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley) $15.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-7894-2513-3
Best's (Taxi! Taxi!) nostalgic paean to the Spaldeen, the pink rubber ball that was once a playground staple, has ample bounce at its start, yet its one-note narrative stretches the concept a bit thin. Fortunately, Palmisciano's (previously teamed...
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Cari Best, Author, Dale Gottlieb, Illustrator Little Brown and Company $14.95 (1p) ISBN 978-0-316-09259-3
Tina and her mother share an apartment in a bustling, close-knit urban neighborhood where there's always something interesting to watch. Tina especially loves Sundays, the day her father, a taxi driver, comes to visit. Today's outing features a...
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Cari Best, illus. by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. FSG/Ferguson, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-374-38819-5
A blind, African-American first grader named Zulay candidly shares her aspirations and frustrations in this frank, encouraging story. Best adeptly portrays Zulay as a rounded, complex character, not just a spokesperson—she’s good at math; loves to...
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Cari Best, illus. by Madeline Valentine. FSG/Ferguson, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-39903-0
There's a new member in the club of disappointing pets that cajole their way into their reluctant owners' hearts: the parakeet Lucille. Her owner, Ava, is especially disheartened because she went to all the trouble of composing a special poem about...
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Cari Best, Author, Erika Oller, Illustrator Orchard Books (NY) $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-531-30009-1
Siblings or pets routinely compete to be ""top banana""; the rivals in this tale, however, are far from the usual suspects. Benny is a parrot whose middle-aged owner, Flora, dotes on him. He feels uniquely beautiful--that is, until Flora introduces...
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Cari Best, illus. by Simone Shin. FSG/Ferguson, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-374-30205-4
Inviting Mama to take a spin in his cardboard box car (“the zippiest car in the whole world!”), young Charlie takes firm control of both the driver’s seat and the role of narrator. As Charlie and Mama make stops around their house, mimicking...
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Cari Best, Author, Christine Davenier, Illustrator , illus. by Christine Davenier. FSG/Kroupa $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-36386-4
An exuberant, can-do spirit pervades Best's (Three Cheers for Catherine the Great!
) uplifting tale of a girl whose passion enables her to create opportunities out of roadblocks. Davenier's (the Iris and Walter books) watercolors initially...
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Cari Best, Author, Sophie Blackall, Illustrator , illus. by Sophie Blackall. FSG/Kroupa $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-39943-6
Only childhood is one big downside, thinks Rosemary. For starters, her name is enormous (in full it is Rosemary Emma Angela Lynette Isabel Iris Malone) because as the only child, she has to be repository of all her overly doting relatives'...
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Cari Best, Author, DK Publishing, Author, Giselle Potter, Illustrator DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley) $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7894-2622-2
Best (Last Licks) and Potter (When Agnes Caws) join their considerable talents for a not-to-be-missed borscht-and-blintzes birthday party for a hardworking Russian grandmother. The tenants in Sara's apartment building have all been invited to...
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Cari Best, Author, Diane Palmisciano, Illustrator Orchard Books (NY) $15.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-531-09494-5
From the high-spirited first spread (depicting the wedding of narrator Cynthia's mother, Inky, and Harry ""the shoe store man""), it's evident that this engaging book will take no getting used to at all. But Harry is an other issue. Dancing with...
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Cari Best, Author, Giselle Potter, Illustrator , illus. by Giselle Potter. FSG/Kroupa $16 (40p) ISBN 978-0-374-36882-1
Potter's piquant watercolors put the crowning touch on this humorous tale of a shy child who saves her school play from disaster. The aptly named Violet hates to be the center of attention. It makes her "itch and scratch and twirl her hair
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Cari Best, illus. by Giselle Potter. FSG/Ferguson, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-374-39904-7
With their customary novelistic depth and nuance, Best and Potter, the team behind Three Cheers for Catherine the Great! and other titles, tell the story of a girl named Beatrice whose initially rocky relationship with spelling (she spells her name...
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Cari Best, Author, Giselle Potter, Illustrator , illus. by Giselle Potter. FSG/Sunburst $6.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-47551-2
"Three cheers indeed!," said PW in a starred review of this tale of Grandma Catherine's party, to which all the tenants of Sara's apartment building have been invited, with one caveat: that there be no presents. Sarah decides to...
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Cari Best, Author, Giselle Potter, Illustrator , illus. by Giselle Potter. FSG/Kroupa $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-39954-2
The characters featured in Three Cheers for Catherine the Great!
return in this second sweet picture book inspired by the author's fond and funny memories of her Russian grandmother. Eight-year-old Sara and her family and neighbors are...
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Adam Bagdasarian, Author, Cari Best, Author, G. Brian Karas, Illustrator , illus. by G. Brian Karas. FSG/Kroupa $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-30394-5
For Robert, the young hero of this expert and empathic comedy of manners,an invitation to a fancy family party has its pros and cons. Being allowed to stay up way past "pajama time," putting on smart-looking duds "just like his daddy"
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Cari Best, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh. Random House/Schwartz, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-593-56463-9
Best (Bug Off!) opens this double infant portrait with two babies greeting each other from their respective fifth-floor apartment windows, “somewhere/ in the big, big city/ across a beep-beep street.” One infant, “this baby,” has dark brown skin and
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