#20-16 | #15-11 | #10-6 | #5-1 5. Oh, No! by Candace Fleming; illustrated by Eric Rohmann [Schwartz & Wade | Grades PreK-2] Click here for additional resources from Watch. Connect. Read. Can a librarian tell you about an outstanding picture book by answering eight important questions? Oh, yes! Q1: Does it star a brave frog, a mean tiger, a helpful [...]
Top 20 Children’s Books of 2012 (#10-6)
#20-16 | #15-11 | #10-6 | #5-1 10. Step Gently Out by Helen Frost; photographs by Rick Leider [Candlewick Press | Grades PreK-2] Click here for additional resources from Watch. Connect. Read. It’s all deceptively simple. A spare, beautiful poem about noticing your surroundings, combined with remarkable images. While photography often strives for accuracy above all, Leider makes beauty his first [...]
Top 20 Children’s Books of 2012 (#15-11)
#20-16 | #15-11 | #10-6 | #5-1 15. Island: A Story of the Galápagos by Jason Chin [Roaring Brook Press | Grades K-4] Click here for additional resources from Watch. Connect. Read. In an explain-off, my money’s on Jason Chin. In each of his three releases to date, Chin takes the complex and makes it engaging for young readers. Island [...]
Top 20 Children’s Books of 2012 (#20-16)
Link Du Jour: E-book Chaos
A Humble Demand: More Nonfiction Book Trailers Please
Book trailers are pretty great, right? We’re all on the same page here? When well done, they’re an excellent way to drum up business for books. But there’s a problem. It seems nonfiction gets almost completely overlooked in the book trailer department. This needs to change. The realization came to me when prepping for the [...]
2012 Librarian Lump of Coal Gift Guide
2012 Children’s Lit: The Year in Miscellanea
It’s time to take a look back at the year that was in children’s lit miscellanea. Most Disgusting Moment in a Picture Book Puking off the crows nest in Pirate Princess by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen; illustrated by Jill McElmurry Throwing up on the captain of a pirate ship? That’s a walk-the-plank-able offense. *** Best Spine Logo [...]
One Star Review Guess Who? (#3)

Can you guess the classic children’s book by its scathing one-star review on GoodReads or Amazon? Yes children. You should definitely let strangers in your house when you are home alone. Don’t worry, even if they start trashing your house they’ll clean it up before mom comes home. And she won’t even know anything was [...]
One Star Review Guess Who? (#3)

Can you guess the classic children’s book by its scathing one-star review on GoodReads or Amazon? Yes children. You should definitely let strangers in your house when you are home alone. Don’t worry, even if they start trashing your house they’ll clean it up before mom comes home. And she won’t even know anything was [...]
On the SLJ Blogs | The Caldecott Medal Infographic
Review: Andrew Drew and Drew by Barney Saltzberg
Andrew Drew and Drew By Barney Saltzberg Abrams Appleseed ISBN: 9781419703775 $15.95 Grades PreK-1 On Shelves Now Find it at: Schuler Books | Your Library A solitary boy creating his world through drawings – sound familiar? With Andrew Drew and Drew, Barney Saltzberg pays homage to Harold and the Purple Crayon, but adds a creative [...]
Encyclopedia Britannica to Be Rebranded ‘Christmas Tree Britannica’
The following is a work of fiction. In a shocking move, Encyclopædia Britannica, a name synonomous with knowledge the world over, is getting out of the information business. They will soon be rebranded “Christmas Tree Britannica” and sell sets of books to be used solely for holiday decoration. “The information biz is rough these days”, [...]
The Caldecott Medal Infographic
You’ve seen infographics, right? Those visual representations of information that seem to be popping up everywhere on the internet? While I’ve seen some about books and reading, I’ve yet to see a children’s literature-specific infographic. So I decided to fire up www.easel.ly and give it a shot. So here we have the world’s first Caldecott [...]
Nonfiction Monday: National Parks by Erin McHugh
National Parks: A Kid’s Guide to America’s Parks, Monuments, and Landmarks By Erin McHugh Art by Neal Aspinall, Doug Leen, and Brian Maebius Black Dog & Leventhal ISBN: 9781579128845 $19.95 Grades 3-6 In Stores Find it at: Schuler Books | Your Library It’s easy to overlook guides. They can be unassuming, but if your library [...]
Covering the Newbery (#82): Crispin: The Cross of Lead
Link Du Jour: Ye Olde Electrical Man
Notes on November 2012
In November… …a missing friend returned. Dismay turned to jubilation when a masked stranger solved our missing READ poster problem. This also led to the discovery of the Star Wars Crawl Creator, which is one of my favorite internet finds of 2012. …we looked ahead. It appears that there’s some nice looking books coming out [...]
Notes on November 2012
In November… …a missing friend returned. Dismay turned to jubilation when a masked stranger solved our missing READ poster problem. This also led to the discovery of the Star Wars Crawl Creator, which is one of my favorite internet finds of 2012. …we looked ahead. It appears that there’s some nice looking books coming out [...]
Opening Remarks
Is this thing working? Well, here we are. Thanks for coming. After five years at WordPress.com and a self-hosted site, this blog is now here at School Library Journal. I was able to bring my old header with me, so It’s feeling like home already. I never wrote a proper opening post when I started [...]








