Author: Alexander Fernández-Pons

Editor-in-Chief; Father, Writer, Theatre Director, Judge

A Reflection on Thanksgiving Past and Present

It’s been well over 30 years since I experienced a Thanksgiving like that; a Thanksgiving with a large extended family, surrounded by those with whom I share a common ancestry, but really so much more. Whether through blood or marriage, those familial bonds, made often through strife laced with love (and not the other way around), are indelible. They are what put the “crazy,” in Crazy Glue. Yes, we have framily, but even those of us who roll our eyes at going home for the holidays, sometimes wish we had a home to go home to.

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Review: I’ll Believe You When . . . .

I’ll Believe You WhenAuthor: Susan SchubertIllustrator: Raquel BonitaLantana Publishing/Lerner BooksAges: 7 to 8 I love idioms. They are probably the most playful part of any

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OFF THE SHELF REVIEW: Space Maps (Your Tour of the Universe)

This gorgeous book draws on the latest discoveries of modern astronomy to take children to the farthest reaches of the universe through a mixture of circular maps and flat maps of the Solar System and the galaxies beyond.

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Review: I Do Not Like Stories

In delicate drawings and without providing a single word, Sookocheff manages to give the book an interesting central figure; unfortunately, it’s not the central figure the book set out to have. This is a case where the supporting cat, steals the show.

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OFF THE SHELF REVIEW: When Pumpkins Fly

Seeing a pumpkin for the first time, the local kids eagerly carve and light their first jack-o-lantern. But when everyone adjourns to the community hall for the Halloween dance, the pumpkin is left alone outside.
He doesn’t know why he’s a quilt. His parents are both sheets, and so are all of his friends. (His great-grandmother was a lace curtain, but that doesn’t really help cheer him up.) He feels sad and left out when his friends are zooming around and he can’t keep up.

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Review: La Frontera (My Journey with Papa)

I want you to stop for a moment and imagine being a parent telling your eight-year-old that you’re about to send him on a journey that will take him to another country, mostly by foot, across hundreds of miles, across all sorts of terrains, in all sorts of weather, facing untold dangers, in search of a better life. Now imagine that you’re the eight-year-old.

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OFF THE SHELF REVIEW: Trap the Monster

Turn the pages in this delightfully silly board book to lock a wolf behind bars, send a vampire away in a rocket ship, and smash a monster with a fly swatter… until there’s nothing left to be scared of!

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OFF THE SHELF REVIEW: The Ultimate Survival Guide to Bedtime Monsters

This guide offers ten easy steps to ensure you’ll never be bothered by monsters again. Not even carrot monsters. This hysterically illustrated picture book offers actionable solutions to fears about monsters that will make kids feel confident and that parents will appreciate too, like Step 2: brush your teeth before bed, because monsters hate the smell of minty fresh breath.

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OFF THE SHELF REVIEW: A Tiger Called Tomás

When Tomás and his family moved to a new house on a new street, he took it into his head that the new people might not like him.

He doesn’t know why he’s a quilt. His parents are both sheets, and so are all of his friends. (His great-grandmother was a lace curtain, but that doesn’t really help cheer him up.) He feels sad and left out when his friends are zooming around and he can’t keep up.

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