Review of The Bats on the Bus, by Alison Jackson, illustrated by Scott Magoon

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

The Bats on the Bus

by Alison Jackson
illustrated by Scott Magoon

Christy Ottaviano Books (Little, Brown and Company), 2026. 40 pages.
Review written August 17, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

This book makes me want to do a library story time again! And specifically, a story time for Halloween.

The idea is simple, and the execution is classic. We begin with:

The Bats on the bus hang
UPSIDE DOWN,
UPSIDE DOWN,
UPSIDE DOWN.

The Bats on the bus
hang UPSIDE DOWN . . .

All around the town.

Are you able to read that without singing it? I wasn’t.

Next, the Ghosts on the bus shout BOO! BOO! BOO! The Witches on the bus scream WHERE’S MY BROOM? The Giants on the bus stomp UP AND DOWN! And so on.

It ends when the Children on the bus yell TRICK OR TREAT! They lift their masks and we see that all the scary creatures on the bus were children in masks headed to a Fright Fest. (Well, except those bats hanging upside down.)

This book has all the elements of a Story Time Hit.

scottmagoon.com
alison-jackson.com

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Patapsco Literary Festival

Conference Corner 0

I attended Patapsco Literary Festival in Historic Old Town Ellicott City yesterday!

For months, a friend from my gaming group who works in Ellicott City has told me I should visit and that I’d love the bookstore there. But I always balked, since it takes more than an hour-and-a-half to get there from my house. And with working full-time and church plus gaming on Sundays, Saturdays are the only days when it would be feasible – but that’s also my day to get household chores done, work on my website, and sleep late.

But then my friend Jill told me about the book festival coming up. And yes, I wanted to do some work on my website. And my home is a mess. But what better reason to see Ellicott City? On top of the urging from Jill, as it happens, Ellicott City was my very first home – it’s listed on my birth certificate as where my mother lived.

I did still sleep late. So I wasn’t there for very much of the Literary Festival. But I got to hear two sessions. And there were no crowds – which is better than the National Book Festival, which took most of the day and because of crowds, I only got to hear two sessions anyway. And I enjoyed it so much, next year I will try go again, but not sleep late this time.

The first session I attended was “Beyond the Margins: Literary Careers Outside of Authorship,” featuring translator Mojdeh Bahar, illustrator Phyllis Saroff (pictured above). The moderator had insightful questions about how translating poetry is like making art, and illustration is a form of translation. I purchased a book, Song of the Ground Jay: Poems by Iranian Women, translated by Mojdeh Bahar. I’m going to look for science picture books illustrated by Phyllis Saroff on the library vendor website. (It’s a smaller publisher, but she says they’ve gotten good reviews from School Library Journal, and I could see the excellence in her work.)

Edited to add: When I got to the library and checked our catalog, it turns out we have almost all of the books she’s illustrated! The only exception I could find is the most recent one, Return of the Terns: How Scientists Are Saving Island Birds, so I’m going to put it in an order.

The second session I attended featured Alma Katsu, being interviewed by Jill’s friend Becky. Alma was fascinating to listen to. In the past, she worked for the CIA, including papers about deep fake technology – before the explosion of the public using AI, and how it can be used for nefarious purposes. She has several historical horror novels out, her first one being about the Donner Party being followed by a sinister force. She has another that sounds interesting about the Japanese interment, based on her husband’s family’s experience. I am not a horror fan, so I opted to buy the spy novel she had available, Red London. Though she and the moderator both said her books are lighter on the horror, so I will probably try one if I like the spy novel (as I expect to). She said her spy novels are different in that they are not set during World War II, and they feature the experience of women, as she met many interesting women when she worked for the CIA.

So despite the over three hours in the car on a wet day (but at least no thunderstorms), I was glad I took the time to go. Main Street at Ellicott City is lovely, and it struck me that my parents were probably familiar with the very same buildings. I loved it that there was no chain store in sight, and each shop had plenty of character. I bought a couple other books, too. And, yes, it cost me more than ordering from Amazon, but it came with such a lovely experience.

Review of Jesus and John Wayne, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Christian, History, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

Jesus and John Wayne

How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Liveright Publishing, 2020. 356 pages.
Review written September 25, 2026, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com.
Starred Review

I don’t remember which of many recommendations prompted me to order my own copy of Jesus and John Wayne right around the time it first came out, but I know there were many, and I was happy to order it. Once I had it, I’m afraid it competed with the library books I had checked out, but didn’t have a due date. (This is something I often have to contend with.) This is also a history book, and a little dense. Yes, it’s a history of what Christians were doing, but it didn’t seem right for devotional reading, which often jumps to the top of my queue.

But then after my proposal was accepted and I got to be a co-creator at Wild Goose Festival, I saw that Kristin Du Mez was going to be there, too! And her new book, Live Laugh Love sounded similar, but talking more about “Christian femininity” than the focus on masculinity in Jesus and John Wayne. So I preordered the new book, and decided I really should get the old one read before the festival.

Well, I was halfway through Jesus and John Wayne when I went to Wild Goose Festival and got to hear the author speak twice. She talked about both books, and now I’m all the more eager to read the next one, which arrived on the publication date this week.

This is a history book about white evangelicalism in America, and how the movement got carried away with the idea of rugged masculinity epitomized by John Wayne.

The book starts with the early twentieth century and looks at people like Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, and John Wayne. It finishes in 2020 and Donald Trump – who got support from 80% of white evangelicals.

Along the way, we see a turn toward rugged masculinity as the way God designed men and complementarianism as God’s plan for marriage, and overall structures of authoritarianism as God’s design for society.

I grew up pretty deep in evangelical circles. I attended Christian schools through college (I was a little disappointed that my alma mater, Biola University, wasn’t mentioned.), and went to Bill Gothard’s Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts seminars before I was even a teen.

However, I got more and more progressive in my politics after college, and from 1996 to 2006, lived in Germany with my husband in the military – and thus completely missed the rise of Fox News and some of these other developments. Reading this book was fascinating to me, because so much was familiar, yet a lot I hadn’t noticed at all.

Another interesting thing to me was that while I was physically reading this book, a chapter at a time, I was listening to the audiobook version of Ibram X. Kendi’s latest book, Chain of Ideas, about right-wing political parties all over the globe. There were times when I was listening that I thought, “Yeah, they just mentioned that” – and I realized, no, I’d read about it in the other book (or vice versa).

This book also dovetails well with Sheila Wray Gregoire’s writings on marriage and Marissa Franks Burt’s writings on parenting, because both marriage and parenting are affected by the developing teaching that men are to be authority figures in the church and in the home.

It’s also interesting reading for me as someone coming out of evangelicalism, having my eyes opened to some trends I went along with and didn’t see. Sheila Wray Gregoire had already opened my eyes about books like Love and Respect, but this book helped me notice the militaristic background to John Eldredge’s writings that had blown right past me.

Back in 2016, I was incredulous that the same folks who told me that Bill Clinton should not be president because of his immorality were now supporting Donald Trump, who bragged about “not even asking” women before he sexually assaulted them. This book helped me understand the way the culture of evangelicalism and all its trends slowly changed so that Donald Trump epitomized exactly what people were looking for.

At Wild Goose Festival, the author explained that her editor told her she had to end on a hopeful note, but she had trouble coming up with anything. Here’s how the book finishes:

Although the evangelical cult of masculinity stretches back decades, its emergence was never inevitable. Over the years it has been embraced, amplified, challenged, and resisted. Evangelical men themselves have promoted alternative models, elevating gentleness and self-control, a commitment to peace, and a divestment of power as expressions of authentic Christian manhood. Yet, understanding the catalyzing role militant Christian masculinity has played over the past half century is critical to understanding American evangelicalism today, and the nation’s fractured political landscape. Appreciating how this ideology developed over time is also essential for those who wish to dismantle it. What was once done might also be undone.

You’ll find detailed, well-researched history here, supported with 32 pages of small-print citations at the back. As someone who grew up in that world, I gained wider understanding of how it morphed to what it is today. I can’t wait to read her next book, focusing on women!

kristindumez.com

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Review of Holloway, by Elana K. Arnold

Historical, Paranormal, Science Fiction, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Holloway

by Elana K. Arnold

Clarion Books, 2026. 330 pages.
Review written September 11, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

After I heard Elana Arnold speak about this book at the National Book Festival, I put it on the top of my TBR pile. I’m going to call it Historical fiction, but it could also be called Paranormal or Science Fiction.

Our protagonist is Nora, an autistic teen whose senior year happened during the pandemic. Now she’s backpacking in France on her own in 2021, looking for a place to scatter her anti-vax mother’s ashes.

After a stranger disrupts her campsite, Nora wanders into a Holloway without her phone or her gear. When she meets a nice young man with a dog the next day, he agrees to take her to the village. There are some odd things along their journey. When Nora gets to the village and realizes that it’s 1946, she doesn’t respond calmly.

Nora gets taken to an asylum. As a reader, I thought that was a disaster and the book would be about escaping. I’d heard in the National Book Festival talk that the asylum was a real place, and the characters Nora meets were real people – patients and staff – who lived there.

There are no locks on the doors of the asylum, and it turns out to be a place of refuge, as something called “asylum” should be. Nora meets people who are also dealing with losses and horrors from the past year. She realizes that her mother had long been trying to make Nora act like everyone else, and Nora’s learning what it means to be herself. The result is immersive, thoughtful, and beautiful.

Maybe time, like love, isn’t a straight line. Maybe it’s a curve and an arc and a spiral, too. Maybe it’s a cord wrapped around the neck of a half-birthed child. Maybe time is a cave, so deep there seems no end. Maybe it’s a constellation, each moment a sharp bright point, revealing its meaning only if one can step back, back, back again – or in, closer and closer, and closer, still. Maybe time is a breath, held and released.

elanakarnold.com

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Review of Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery, written by Jane Kurtz, illustrated by Giselle Potter

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery

written by Jane Kurtz
illustrated by Giselle Potter

Beach Lane Books, 2026. 48 pages.
Review written September 18, 2026, from a book sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery is a picture book biography of a woman scientist who didn’t get much credit in her time. It’s told in a conversational style.

Mary Morland was born in a time of ribbons and lace, when small girls were seen as dainty, delicate decorations to make a room pretty.

Did she perch on her chair like a prim little miss?

Well, what would you do if the whole world was waiting outside?

Mary tromped around, exploring.

Wouldn’t you?

We learn how after Mary’s mother died, she went to live with a scientist and journaled about his collection of fossils and shells and went to discover her own. She sent specimens and drawings to a famous scientist, impressed him, and started a correspondence.

Then she met and married a man also interested in fossils. She did drawings for him, organized his collections, and helped with his work.

Did William say, “I am so fortunate that my wife is not a cork brain”?
Did he say, “Let us make sure your name is on these papers so the world will know your part?”
Did he say, “Without you, my dear, my work would be a shemozzle”?

No.
No, he did not.

In those days, women couldn’t vote, couldn’t own property, couldn’t go to college.
Mary did important work for science, but she worked in the shadows.

The Author’s Note at the back explains that it’s mostly through the writings of two of her children that we know how much Mary contributed to the work that her husband got credit for. This book shines light on those contributions in a way that children can understand and enjoy.

I think my favorite spread is about Mary’s housekeeping. (It pictures nine children – I would have liked details in the back matter, but I did get the idea.)

Mary chose to be in charge of a household of chaos.
Every room was stuffed with science books and papers and dusty rocks. One time, she said, she tried to clean things up.

Never again.

If you tiptoed down the hall, past cages full of snakes and green frogs, would you see an elegant and neat dining room?

Not at all.

Is that a pony running around the table with three of Mary’s laughing children on its back?

Yes. Yes, it is.

janekurtz.com
gisellepotter.com

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Review of The Late Mrs. Willoughby, by Claudia Gray

Austenalia, Fiction Review, Historical, Mystery 0

The Late Mrs. Willoughby

by Claudia Gray
read by Billie Fulford-Brown

Books on Tape, 2023. 12 hours, 20 minutes.
Review written July 9, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I was delighted recently to see that the library has ordered another mystery from Claudia Gray featuring characters from Jane Austen books, following up the delightful The Murder of Mr. Wickham. Well, when I looked up the author to put the book on hold – I discovered that somehow I’d already missed three volumes in the series! But my dismay was quickly turned to delight, as this means I get to binge on the three I missed – before the new one comes out.

The Late Mrs. Willoughby is definitely a sequel to The Murder of Mr. Wickham, and you’ll want to read it second – because they refer to the events in the first book, including who did the killing. Once again, though, our sleuths are Jonathan Darcy, the firstborn son of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Juliet Tilney, the daughter of Catherine and Henry Tilney.

Once again, many characters from different Austen novels come together. Juliet is visiting Marianne Brandon and her husband, but Marianne’s one-time love, John Willoughby, has recently inherited a large estate nearby. Meanwhile, Jonathan Darcy was invited to the home of school “friend” John Willoughby, and despite his inclinations, he was urged by his parents to go – as they want him to have actual friends. But it soon becomes clear that Willoughby invited him only to mock him, continuing as he did at school.

But Mr. Darcy and Juliet are happy to be thrown together again – especially when there is a new death to investigate. This time it’s Mr. Willoughby’s new wife, and she dies in an unpleasant way at a dinner party where many are present, after drinking a toast to their new home.

The Willoughbys were clearly not a happy couple. And there seem to be many who hate Mr. Willoughby in the group, but why would they kill his wife? Did Willoughby decide he needed better access to her money without having to deal with her? Or perhaps the young man whom she passed over in favor of Willoughby was feeling vengeful? In polite society, it’s tricky to ask the questions to get to the bottom of the case, but Juliet and Jonathan have done it before, after all.

Something I love about this book is Jonathan Darcy’s social awkwardness. Pretty much the definition of adorkable. He’s portrayed as pretty far on the autism spectrum before such a diagnosis existed. But his earnestness, trying to get things right, and blunt honesty are all endearing to the reader – and perhaps to Juliet Tilney as well. And yes, that fits. He probably inherited some of that from his father….

Another fun mystery for Jane Austen fans.

claudiagray.com

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Review of Kaho’olawe, by Kamalani Hurley and Harinani Orme

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Kaho’olawe

The True Story of an Island and Her People

written by Kamalani Hurley
illustrated by Harinani Orme

Millbrook Press, 2025. 32 pages.
Review written February 4, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2026 Asian/Pacific American Literature Pasifika Picture Book Award Winner

I read this book because it won the Asian/Pacific American Literature Pasifika Picture Book Award – and I wasn’t prepared to learn a story that’s completely new to me.

It turns out, there’s an island named Kaho’olawe in the middle of the Hawaiian Islands that was used for target practice by the U. S. Navy for over fifty years, beginning the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked.

But this book doesn’t start with that. It begins when the island was formed, and tells us about early settlers and abundant growth on the island. And it tells how, even before the bombs, bringing goats to the island devastated its natural habitat.

Twenty years after the U. S. military took over the island, people started protesting. Many pages of the book are taken up with their brave and peaceful protests to restore and heal the island.

But when the military moves out,
it leaves a terrible mess behind!

Debris from the bombings litters the land
where plants and grasses used to grow.
Kaho’olawe’s reefs are covered in red dirt, and
marine animals and plants struggle to live there.

Kaho’olawe endures.

The book goes on to tell us about the volunteers who lovingly are still working to restore the island.

There’s a lot of love and hope in this book, with facts backing it all up in smaller print. An inspiring winner.

kamalanihurley.com
harinani.org

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Review of Pufflings Fly Free! by Colleen Paeff, illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Pufflings Fly Free!

A Rescue Tale from Iceland

by Colleen Paeff
illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2026.
Review written September 18, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Pufflings Fly Free! is a sweet picture book based on real events that happen every year in the Westman Islands of Iceland.

The book starts with a girl named Freya, the youngest in her family, going out late on a full-moon night on Puffling Patrol.

More than a million puffins come to the Westman Islands every year to breed. The parents leave their chicks – their pufflings – when they’re barely able to fly. Most of the pufflings make it to the ocean, where they live on the water, feast on fish, and their wings grow strong. But some unlucky babies accidentally end up on the land of the islands. There, the pufflings are vulnerable to cars, predators, and even starvation.

So – families like Freya’s go on Puffling Patrol. They capture frightened pufflings and place them safely in grass-lined boxes for the night.

Tomorrow they will check its health with a local scientist, then release the bird over the ocean. There, it will learn to fly and dive for fish, like all adult puffins. But tonight, it will stay at Freya’s house, safe from cars and cats and other kinds of danger.

Freya is good at spotting pufflings. But when it comes to catching them, she gets flustered when they flap and nip and can’t seem to hold onto them. Everyone else seems better at it than she is.

But when they’re almost done for the night, a little bird dives into the mouth of an excavator claw – an opening where only Freya can follow. This time, she speaks calming words to the puffling and to herself, and she gathers the baby up without fumbling.

The next day after the scientist checks and bands the birds, Freya gets to set her rescued puffling free to fly out over the water and grow strong.

Six pages of back matter give us more information about puffins and the Puffling Patrol. This is a lovely story packed with real-life facts that will make you want to visit Iceland.

colleenpaeff.com
lindaolafsdottir.com

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Review of One Mad Cat and the Missing Book, by Vicky Fang

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

One Mad Cat and the Missing Book

by Vicky Fang

Candlewick Press, 2026. 58 pages.
Review written September 16, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

I’m writing this review in honor of my six-year-old great-nephew Hayden, whom I recently met for the first time, and who is learning to read. This book achieves that tricky combination of simple language, lots of picture clues for decoding, and an engaging story with a fun plot twist at the end to reward the beginning reader.

Best of all, there’s a #1 on the side of this book, so it’s the first book in a series.

In this book we meet Cat. She is mad. We learn the things she doesn’t like (with pictures): toys, hugs, and jokes. Then there’s a whole spread with other things, and small pictures: dust, noise, parties, wall-to-wall carpeting, bad art, rain, sock puppets, stripes, sneezing, car trips – “Well, you get the idea.”

The only things Cat does like are
snacks,
naps,
and puzzles.

Oh, and her friends!

So when one of her friends, Hedgehog, has a missing book, Cat sees it as a puzzle she can solve. She asks questions and finds clues. She even diagrams a little map of how to get through her school to the library. Some of the things she finds along the way make Cat mad, but she keeps looking to help her friend.

And when Cat solves the puzzle, it’s a surprise for everyone. But we’re not surprised when Cat gets mad about it.

There are six chapters in this small book with about five spreads per chapter, and not a lot of words in each spread. It’s the perfect opportunity for a kid just beginning to sound out words to read a real chapter book. Maybe with a little help, but with enough clues that they’ll probably be able to do it themselves the second or third time around. And this is one that the parents won’t get sick of hearing. In fact, like the best beginning readers, it’s one that older kids will enjoy for the story, even if they already know how to read.

vickyfang.com

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Review of Work in Progress, by James Martin, SJ

Biography, Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

Work in Progress

Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest

by James Martin, SJ

HarperOne, 2026. 352 pages.
Review written June 11, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

I just finished reading a book by the same author about the life of Jesus – in the context of the author’s trip to the Holy Land. It was packed full of spiritual insights and meaningful applications from the Bible and blessed me on every page. This book was completely different.

Don’t get me wrong – Fr. Martin is a great writer, and I enjoyed this book thoroughly. But it’s a memoir about growing up in Philadelphia – and all the different jobs he tried and what he learned from them. Yes, there’s some wisdom along the way (mostly what he didn’t learn as a kid) – but this is a just plain fun story.

The subtitle gives you a hint at the variety of jobs he covers. And he tells about them with a full dose of humor at the kid he was, doing good work, but mainly wanting to have a good time.

I enjoyed the stories – beginning with when the Bicentennial Wagon Train went by the Ice Cream Inn where he was working, he cleared all the tables while the customers were out watching it, not realizing what was going on. Fr. Martin is apparently only a few years older than me, so I remembered being young during those same years.

Honestly, there were few hints that this kid – who he freely admits was partying, drinking, and smoking pot – would end up becoming a priest. He covers that calling in the last chapter, and yes, we get some spiritual insights to go with the fun there.

But mainly this is a story of student jobs in the America of the 70s and 80s – in the hands of a skilled and personable writer. A lot of fun to relive the escapades with him.

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