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Mar 15, 2024 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Chloe Dominique |Laura Hughes
A tender reflection on the relationship between a child and a beloved pet. The story of a boy and a very special chicken. Sam loves Lucy. Once his smallest hen, she became the “star of the flock” after he lavished extra attention on her. Now Lucy watches over the chicks, looks out for hawks, and ensures that the other hens have places to roost. As time passes, her bond with Sam grows stronger.
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Mar 12, 2024 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Carole Weatherford |Laura Hughes |Jory John |Pete Oswald
Five young Black boys come together for a day of ecstatic play at the park. The rose-painted landscape of sunrise greets readers as this book opens on three friends meeting in the morning quiet of a playground. After the kids enjoy a rollicking wagon ride and build an imaginary time machine, two more friends join the group, and the five play pretend, explore a garden, visit the library, shoot hoops, and have adventures until the sun goes down.
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Mar 7, 2024 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Tiffany Chen |Laura Hughes |Jory John |Pete Oswald
A stirring, nonpreachy lesson in kindness, responsibility, and the restorative power of nature. A child learns the power of both nature and kindness in this sweet tale of an early morning spent fishing. The young narrator tiptoes through the quiet house, promising Mama a surprise from the stream. Mabry’s text effectively emphasizes the natural world and the senses, from the smell of the pines to the sounds of the birds, frogs, and wind.
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Feb 6, 2024 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Steve Henry |Laura Hughes |Craig Smith
A more-than-just-OK tale for new readers who appreciate lively friendship stories. Having good friends is always OK. Pete, a colorful parrot, lives alone on an island in the middle of the sea. Pete’s OK with this. A sign reading “Pete,” nailed to a palm tree, announces the parrot’s presence. One day, Turtle comes, asking to stay; Pete says OK, and the pair enjoy fishing together. Dog arrives next and wants to stay.
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Feb 6, 2024 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Michael Todd |Tish Rabe |Laura Hughes
As he did with his nonfiction work for adults, Relationship Goals (2020), Christian megachurch pastor Todd shows young readers how developing a close bond with God can strengthen relationships with family and friends. A mother encourages her daughter to talk to Jesus the same way she would to a best friend. Mom goes on to tell her daughter about relationship goals. Jesus should be first on her list of goals.
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Jan 16, 2024 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Beatrice Alemagna |Laura Hughes |Drew Daywalt |Oliver Jeffers
A uniquely moving story about an unlikely subject. A child has a complex relationship with a large scab that forms after a bad fall. In a straightforward, childlike voice accompanied by charmingly naïve mixed-media illustrations, a pale-skinned narrator with long red hair recounts the story of a scraped knee and its aftermath. A few days after a fall and “you-know-what” dripping down the child’s leg, a humungous scab forms.
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Jan 4, 2024 | 
lifesitenews.com | Laura Hughes
(LifeSiteNews) — In a poignant and inspiring evening at the Birth of Hope Gala, hosted by Southwest Coalition for Life and featuring Jim Caviezel, my thoughts began to focus on the miraculous birth of Jesus.
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Dec 16, 2023 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Chloe Dominique |Laura Hughes |Christina Geist |Tim Bowers
Pleasant enough but not particularly original. Uplifting messages of positivity from the Today show anchor. Hope springs eternal, so the saying goes. Kotb agrees, here delivering to children the cheery news that hope lives inside all of them and that whatever they might wish for can be theirs. All they need is a sunny outlook, and the possibilities for happy outcomes are virtually endless.
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Dec 6, 2023 | 
kirkusreviews.com | Camille Garoche |Laura Hughes
A subtle yet powerful tale about love and loss. For the young child who narrates this story, Tatita looms large. She was there when the child was born and then accompanied the little one everywhere—until she went somewhere, far away, where the child could not go. Now that Tatita is gone, the narrator cannot see, smell, hear, or touch her. Grieving, the child looks for her everywhere. Finally, “I look into my heart, and I can see you again. I listen to my heart, I can hear you again.
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Nov 16, 2023 | 
lavendermagazine.com | Laura Hughes |E.B. Boatner
Songs of Irie Asha Ashati BromfieldWednesday Books$20Jamaica; 1976; warring political factions are coming to violence pre-election around the lives of Irie, whose Daddy runs a record shop in an impoverished area of Kingston, and Jilly, privileged daughter of a wealthy politician living in a mansion on the heights of the capital city. They’ve just graduated a posh girl’s school, where Irie was a scholarship student, and neither one knows the depths–or heights of the other’s life.
