Laurel Snyder. Random, $16.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-375-86917-4
Snyder returns with a story that, like her Bigger Than a Breadbox (2011), offers a relatable heroine and a touch of magic. When 12-year-old Annie Jaffin and her mother visit Annie’s estranged, dying grandmother in the shuttered Baltimore hotel she...
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Laurel Snyder. Walden Pond, $16.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-244341-0
Jinny is the oldest of nine orphans living on an idyllic island. New children are delivered to the island by a mysterious boat, and whenever one arrives, the eldest on the island takes the arrival’s place aboard the vessel to leave the only home he...
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Laurel Snyder. Walden Pond, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-283662-5
Leah Davidson, 13, lives in a tight-knit Atlanta neighborhood—“one big family,” neighbors call it. But ever since last summer, when her brother Sam drowned, Leah’s parents have become ghostlike, and the closeness she once felt with her family and...
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Laurel Snyder. Walden Pond, $19.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-283665-6
In Atlanta, a Jewish witchcraft enthusiast drafts a book about her 13th year, blending mystical components with problems of ordinary life. Zipporah Chava McConnell’s intermarried family are what Zippy thinks of as “like… part-time Jews,” so she’s...
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Laurel Snyder, illus. by David Goldin, Random/Tricycle, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58246-315-5
When an old Jewish man at a bus stop extols the joys of Shabbat and its traditional dinner, Baxter becomes a pig possessed. All he can think about is how "the candles gleam and glow and dance while our sweetest voices lift in song!" But then Baxter...
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Laurel Snyder, illus. by Catia Chien. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-86942-6
Evocative and beautiful, this rhyming rendition of a young Jewish slave girl’s experience during the ten plagues and exodus from Egypt flawlessly evokes the spirit of that Old Testament story. As one of thousands of children forced into harsh labor...
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Laurel Snyder, illus. by Abigail Halpin, Random, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-375-86199-4
Snyder's (Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains) coming-of-age novel addresses economic upheaval and building relationships from a refreshingly positive perspective. Ten-year-old Penelope Grey has a contagious appetite for adventure. She lives in a...
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Laurel Snyder, illus. by Emily Hughes. Chronicle, $14.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-4521-3153-5
In four ebullient linked stories, Snyder (Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova) and Hughes (A Brave Bear) introduce the two eponymous brothers and their down-to-earth family. “I am a mom,” says Mom when she refuses to come out from under the...
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Laurel Snyder, illus. by Aurore Damant. Rodale Kids, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-62336-874-6
In a dry-humored modern fairy tale, Snyder (Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova) explores the concept of less is more as she introduces King Jasper, a young royal who is eager to add some excitement to his kingdom. After Jasper asks the Wizard...
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Laurel Snyder, illus. by Chuck Groenink. Chronicle, $17.99 (56p) ISBN 978-1-4521-4987-5
In this clever tribute to Maurice Sendak, Snyder and Groenink gleefully subvert picture book norms by embracing the beastliest behavior. Jim wakes up one Tuesday as a lion—and a hungry one at that. His growly stomach underscores a growly mood: “He...
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Laurel Snyder, illus. by Jui Ishida. Random, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-375-86868-9
On a camping vacation that takes two Jewish children and their parents from the beach, where “Tall grasses swayed. The salty air/ Was soft and still and everywhere,” to “a place so great and green,/ The deepest field we’ve ever seen,” the family...
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Laurel Snyder, Author, Jaime Zollars, Illustrator , illus. by Jaime Zollars. Tricycle $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58246-187-8
The Slidy Diner is one big health code violation: the proprietress wears a fly-covered sweater and “smells like rotten grill grease,” the toilet is a cesspool, “someone is usually running with scissors” and the sticky buns...
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Laurel Snyder, illus. by Julie Morstad. Chronicle, $17.99 (52p) ISBN 978-1-4521-1890-1
In spare, verselike prose, Snyder follows the life of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova from her artistic awakening as a dancer to the height of her fame and her death in 1931. Morstad gives Pavlova the grace of a porcelain doll, whether she is dancing
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