Martha V. Parravano

Massachusetts

Executive Editor at The Horn Book Magazine

widowhood/grief (I love you, Paul), family, accessibility, children’s lit, gardening, british tv, weather; formerly politics but I’m out

Featured in: Favicon

hbook.com

Articles

Review of All the Blues in the Sky

3 weeks ago | hbook.com | Eboni Njoku |Patrick Gall |Martha V. Parravano |Michelle Lee

All the Blues in the Sky by Renée WatsonMiddle School Bloomsbury 208 pp. 2/25 9781547605897 $17.99e-book ed. 9781547605903 $12.59“I didn’t know / best friends could die.” From the very first line, Watson takes a deep dive into the intricacies of grief and healing. On her thirteenth birthday, Sage is looking forward to spending the day with her best friend; instead, she receives news that her friend has been killed by a drunk driver.
Review of The Lost Ones

1 month ago | hbook.com | Deirdre Baker |Patrick Gall |Martha V. Parravano |Michelle Lee

The Lost Ones [Moonwind Mysteries]by Johan Rundberg; trans. from Swedish by Eva ApelqvistMiddle School Amazon Crossing Kids 222 pp. 1/25 9781662525940 $17.99Paper ed. 9781662525957 $9.99Rundberg’s pair of 1880s detectives—twelve-year-old orphan Mika from Stockholm’s Public Children’s Home and police detective Valdemar Hoff—investigate the disappearance of a wealthy family’s teenage daughter, Beatrice.
Review of Song of a Blackbird

1 month ago | hbook.com | Patrick Gall |Martha V. Parravano |Michelle Lee |Adrienne L. Pettinelli

Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout; illus. by the authorMiddle School, High School First Second 256 pp. 1/25 9781250869814 $25.99Paper ed. 9781250869821 $17.99e-book ed. 9781250412119 $11.99This deeply personal and poetic graphic novel illustrates the heroic actions of everyday Dutch people as they resisted the Nazi regime, as well as the lingering trauma inherited by subsequent generations.
Review of In the Desert

1 month ago | hbook.com | Martha V. Parravano |Sylvia Vardell |Julie Danielson

In the Desert by David Elliott; illus. by Gordy WrightPrimary Candlewick 40 pp. 3/25 9781536223385 $18.99In fifteen verses, Elliott celebrates creatures who inhabit the Sahara Desert—and, in one introductory poem, the desert itself. As always in this winning series (see At the Poles, rev. 9/23, and eight other titles), the poems are an enticing mix of the evocative and the witty, with haunting language characterizing some poems and light wordplay others.
Review of This Is the Year

2 months ago | hbook.com | Adrienne L. Pettinelli |Sarah Ellis |Martha V. Parravano

This Is the Year by Gloria MuñozHigh School Holiday 368 pp. 1/25 9780823458363 $18.99e-book ed. 9780823462186 $11.99In this evocative near-future science fiction novel, high school senior Juli is still reeling from the death of her twin sister, Ofe, a year earlier.
Review of I Am the Swarm

2 months ago | hbook.com | Eboni Njoku |Adrienne L. Pettinelli |Sarah Ellis |Martha V. Parravano

I Am the Swarm by Hayley ChewinsHigh School Viking 336 pp. 3/25 9780593623862 $19.99e-book ed. 9780593623879 $10.99In this Cape Town–set verse novel, each woman in the Strand family gains magical abilities when she turns fifteen. As Nell Strand approaches her fifteenth birthday, she is painfully aware of the potential dangers that can accompany this “gift.” Her older sister, Mora, carries songs underneath her skin—and has been hospitalized for trying to cut the music out.
Review of A Home for Unusual Monsters

2 months ago | hbook.com | Patrick Gall |Adrienne L. Pettinelli |Sarah Ellis |Martha V. Parravano

A Home for Unusual Monsters [Kairos Files]by Shaun David HutchinsonIntermediate, Middle School Labyrinth Road/Random 288 pp. 2/25 9780593646335 $17.99e-book ed. 9780593646359 $10.99This sequel to The School for Invisible Boys (rev. 1/24) shifts its focus to twelve-year-old Samantha Osbourne, budding agent for the clandestine paranormal research group Kairos, as she navigates adolescence, grief, and monsters.
Review of Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold

2 months ago | hbook.com | S. R. Toliver |Adrienne L. Pettinelli |Sarah Ellis |Martha V. Parravano

Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold by P. Djèlí ClarkIntermediate, Middle School Starscape/Tor 368 pp. 4/25 9781250825858 $19.99e-book ed. 9781250825865 $11.99In this compelling sequel to Abeni’s Song (rev. 9/23), Abeni and her companions continue their quest to find the elder spirits who might protect Asha (the first book’s benevolent witch who here has been reborn as a child) from the malevolent Witch Priest.
Review of The Bad Idea and Other Stories

2 months ago | hbook.com | Adrienne L. Pettinelli |Sarah Ellis |Martha V. Parravano

The Bad Idea and Other Stories [Earl & Worm]by Greg Pizzoli; illus. by the authorPrimary Knopf 72 pp. 4/25 9780593649664 $10.99Library ed. 9780593649671 $13.99e-book ed. 9780593649688 $6.99In the first of three episodic chapters in this series debut, Worm is irritated by her new neighbor, Earl, a bird. “Why is he up so early?
Review of On Again, Awkward Again

2 months ago | hbook.com | Shenwei Chang |Adrienne L. Pettinelli |Sarah Ellis |Martha V. Parravano

On Again, Awkward Again by Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame MbaliaHigh School Amulet/Abrams 272 pp. 4/25 9781419775635 $19.99e-book ed. 9798887073392 $17.99A clumsy accident and an IBS incident lead to an unlikely meet-cute between Pacy Mercado and Cecil Holloway, two high school freshmen whose quirks make them stand out.