Narrator Dan Bittner’s youthful sounding voice and subtle style fit this story about 7-year-old Billy Miller. Author Kevin Henkes has written a gentle, low-key chapter book about a boy’s emotions as he faces everyday problems. Will Billy’s second-grade teacher think he’s smart enough? Will his “Papa” be hurt if Billy calls him “Dad”? Is Billy brave enough to read his poem in front of an audience? The stories are sweet and sometimes deeply touching (especially for an adult listener). The intelligent writing uses some sophisticated vocabulary and dramatizes some complex emotional concepts. Bittner reads effortlessly and with enthusiasm, complementing the charming story. M.M.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

The adults in the novel help Billy and his younger sister, Sal, in the same way that Henkes helps his child readers, not didactically but organically, by recognizing their vulnerability, sanctioning their anxiety, and encouraging them to face challenges with confidence and ingenuity…That contemporary novels for elementary school aged boys about ordinary family life are so rare makes this one all the more welcome…Henkes's delightful story is restrained and vivid…forgoing the overdramatic or zany, it shows the substance, warmth and adaptability of beautifully common family love.

It’s the Year of the Rabbit, according to Billy Miller’s new second-grade teacher. It’s also the year of several dilemmas for the boy, including the fear he might “start forgetting things” due to bumping his head while on vacation over the summer. Then there’s the habitat diorama that Billy is assigned—the bat cave he creates doesn’t turn out quite like he’d hoped. Henkes’s (Junonia) gentle slice-of-life novel, divided into four sections, humorously examines these and other plights while capturing the essence of Billy’s relationships with four significant figures in his life: his teacher (who he accidentally insults on the first day of school); his stay-at-home, struggling-artist father; his sometimes annoying, sometimes endearing three-year-old sister; and his mother, about whom Billy must compose a poem to be presented at the end of the school year. Each segment introduces a new conflict that Billy manages to resolve without too much fuss or torment. The book’s clear structure, concrete images, and just-challenging-enough vocabulary are smartly attuned to emerging readers, and its warmth, relatable situations, and sympathetic hero give it broad appeal. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Billy Miller’s second-grade year is quietly spectacular in a wonderfully ordinary way. . . . Henkes offers . . . a sense that experiences don’t have to be extraordinary to be important and dramatic. . . . Sweetly low-key and totally accessible.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Henkes’s delightful story is restrained and vivid in in just this way: forgoing the overdramatic or zany, it shows the substance, warmth and adaptability of beautifully common family love.” — New York Times

“A vivid yet secure portrait of a boy coming into his confidence . . . [with] a comfortable rhythm perfectly suited to young readers. . . . Nuanced and human.” — Horn Book (starred review)

“Funny and often poignant . . . Billy himself might have been daunted by a book with more than 200 pages, but eager young readers will find this a great first chapter book to share or read solo.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“A story with a lot of heart.” — Booklist

“Smartly attuned to emerging readers, and its warmth, relatable situations, and sympathetic hero give it broad appeal.” — Publishers Weekly

“Thoughtful kids able to tackle a book of this length will enjoy reading this on their own, but it would also make a fine choice for reading aloud in the classroom or home.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

A vivid yet secure portrait of a boy coming into his confidence . . . [with] a comfortable rhythm perfectly suited to young readers. . . . Nuanced and human.

A story with a lot of heart.

Thoughtful kids able to tackle a book of this length will enjoy reading this on their own, but it would also make a fine choice for reading aloud in the classroom or home.

Henkes’s delightful story is restrained and vivid in in just this way: forgoing the overdramatic or zany, it shows the substance, warmth and adaptability of beautifully common family love.

A story with a lot of heart.

Thoughtful kids able to tackle a book of this length will enjoy reading this on their own, but it would also make a fine choice for reading aloud in the classroom or home.

Narrator Dan Bittner’s youthful sounding voice and subtle style fit this story about 7-year-old Billy Miller. Author Kevin Henkes has written a gentle, low-key chapter book about a boy’s emotions as he faces everyday problems. Will Billy’s second-grade teacher think he’s smart enough? Will his “Papa” be hurt if Billy calls him “Dad”? Is Billy brave enough to read his poem in front of an audience? The stories are sweet and sometimes deeply touching (especially for an adult listener). The intelligent writing uses some sophisticated vocabulary and dramatizes some complex emotional concepts. Bittner reads effortlessly and with enthusiasm, complementing the charming story. M.M.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Billy Miller's second-grade year is quietly spectacular in a wonderfully ordinary way. Billy's year begins with his worry over the lump on his head, a souvenir of a dramatic summer fall onto concrete: Will he be up to the challenges his new teacher promises in her letter to students? Quickly overshadowing that worry, however, is a diplomatic crisis over whether he has somehow offended Ms. Silver on the first day of school. Four sections--Teacher, Father, Sister and Mother--offer different and essential focal points for Billy's life, allowing both him and readers to explore several varieties of creative endeavor, small adventures, and, especially, both challenges and successful problem-solving. The wonderfully self-possessed Sal, his 3-year-old sister, is to Billy much as Ramona is to Beezus, but without the same level of tension. Her pillowcase full of the plush yellow whales she calls the Drop Sisters (Raindrop, Gumdrop, etc.) is a memorable prop. Henkes offers what he so often does in these longer works for children: a sense that experiences don't have to be extraordinary to be important and dramatic. Billy's slightly dreamy interior life isn't filled with either angst or boisterous silliness--rather, the moments that appear in these stories are clarifying bits of the universal larger puzzle of growing up, changing and understanding the world. Small, precise black-and-white drawings punctuate and decorate the pages. Sweetly low-key and totally accessible. (Fiction. 7-10)