Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

(Previously on Nerd vs. Nerd.)
Category: Novels, 1950-Present
I went back to the Devon School not long ago, and found it looking oddly newer than when I was a student there fifteen years before.
“Sounds like A Separate Peace,” I said, “except that it wasn’t Devon . . . ”
“Do you want a clue?” offered Ilene.
Ian shrugged, I [...]

(Previously on Nerd vs. Nerd.)
Category: Poetry
Whan that April with his showres soote / The drought of March hath perced to the roote, / And bathed every veine in swich licour, / Of which vertu engendred is the flowr . . .
“Chaucer, Canterbury Tales,” spake Ian withe full confidence. His comrade, Keir, noddedst him sagely, whilst hee [...]

(Previously on Nerd vs. Nerd.)
Category: Novels, 1900-1950
Mother died today.
The winners’ hopes died, too, as they looked at each other, both of them thinking, That sounds incredibly familiar. The correct answer–which turns out to be one of George W. Bush’s favorite books–went unguessed. Embarrassed silence all around.
Category: Children’s Books
More than anything else in the world, Angelina loved to [...]

(Previously on Nerd vs. Nerd.)
Category: Children’s Movies
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife.
This read with groans by The Losers, and received with laughter by The Winners. The card was refiled under the assumption that only a fool [...]

Every day at Booklist we face a barrage of press releases, queries, and demands. Will you review this first-time author’s second-person account of a third-generation farm family? we are asked. My author is an expert on the mortgage crisis–in fact, his ability to pay his own mortgage is in crisis–and is the ideal interview subject, we are told. Our product, [...]