Who's Reading What on Wednesdays?

Each week, Early Career Committee members are asked to recommend a book published by a house other than their own. Here are their (anonymous) picks...

Old Mikamba Had a Farm | October 30, 2013

Come journey to the plains of Africa and experience farm life in a different way. The age-old song of Old MacDonald carries through this story as readers are introduced to baboons, dassies, warthogs, and springboks along with more familiar animals …

Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow | October 23, 2013

Rarely does one come across a work of limitless imagination, but Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow by Daniel Nayeri is exactly that. It is collection of four novellas, each in a different genre. In “Toy Farm”, a western, …

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock | October 16, 2013

Despite its prominent presence in real-life adolescence, teen angst is a difficult emotion to capture, and is rarely done right in YA lit. It’s a mix of “no one understands me,” “it’s easier to build walls than confront my feelings,” …

Fortunately, The Milk | October 9, 2013

Neil Gaiman’s latest is based upon a simple premise that allows him to throw just about every imagining onto the page. A father is tasked with buying a bottle of milk for his children’s breakfast, but when the trip takes …

The Shade of the Moon’ | October 2, 2013

In this fourth installment of Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It series, it’s three years later and the story this time is not told by Miranda but rather her younger brother Jon. Like Miranda, Jon offers his unique perspective of …

The Watermelon Seed | September 25, 2013

Okay, so summer may have officially ended this past weekend, and I already kissed my Summer Fridays goodbye for yet another year. But I won’t be able to say farewell to the season until I rave about this hilarious debut …

Boot & Shoe | September 18, 2013

In case you missed it last year: pick up two-time Caldecott Honor medalist Marla Frazee’s latest picture book, Boot & Shoe, for a story that will warm your heart as the weather cools. Boot and Shoe, two dogs from the …

The Golden Day | September 11, 2013

As the exquisite cover indicates, there is something very special about Ursula Dubosarsky’s The Golden Day. It’s an elegant little novel, gorgeous in its depiction of aging and loss of innocence. The year is 1967, and 11 Australian schoolgirls (Cubby, …

Ender’s Game | September 4, 2013

This may seem like an obvious choice but, with the movie coming out in November, I just re-read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and could not put it down. The military science fiction novel, which was originally published in …

Harold and The Purple Crayon | August 28, 2013

There is one book that I give every single child I know and most adults, too! It is simple and elegant in illustration and story. It is about one little boy with one very big imagination, and a large crayon …