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Zero the Hero. By Joan Holub. CD. 12:45 min. with hardcover book. Spoken Arts. 2012. ISBN 0-8045-4242-2. $29.95.
Gr 1-3–Zero dons superhero garb and tries to change his reputation because he’s tired of feeling like nothing. It’s clear that he makes no impact in addition, subtraction, or division. And in multiplication he sends the other numbers fleeing in fear of extinction. Finally, in despair, Zero rolls away. However, once he’s gone the other numbers miss him. They can’t make 10. They [...]
Jan Ormerod, author and illustrator of many books for young children, died Wednesday in England. Ormerod began her kid-lit career more than 30 years ago after the birth of her first child; previously she taught art and design. Her first book, Sunshine, won the 1982 Mother Goose Award for British kid lit and was named the Australian Picture Book of the Year and an ALA Notable Book.
Scholastic will offer a free, behind-the-scenes video tour of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History with author David Baldacci as a guide. The “Decoding History” virtual field trip coincides with the release of Baldacci’s new book, “The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Day of Doom,” the latest in the bestselling series.
The Fire Chronicle: The Books of Beginning, Book 2. By John Stephens. 10 CDs. 12:22 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape. 2012. ISBN 978-0-307-87982-0. $37.
Gr 4-7–In The Emerald Atlas (2011), the first book in John Stephens’s series, we met Kate, Michael, and Emma who were searching for their missing parents and got caught up in a magical adventure that nearly turned deadly, tested their family bonds, and gained them the first Book. In this second [...]
Antonio Frasconi, the award-winning illustrator best known for his woodcuts, died on January 8 at age 93. Among his notable contributions to children’s literature are his bilingual picture books The House That Jack Built, a Caldecott Honor Book, and The Snow and the Sun, an ALA Notable Book.
With the free BiblioBoard iPad app readers can dip into curated collections of “licensed, open source and public domain materials” on topics ranging from Punk Rock to The Brothers Grimm.
BOLDEN, Tonya. Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty. 120p. bibliog. chron. glossary. illus. index. notes. photos. reprods. Abrams. Jan. 2013. RTE $24.95. ISBN 978-1-4197-0390-4. LC 2012000845.
Gr 5-9–After a dramatic opening description of abolitionists waiting for word that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, this title reviews the events that led up to the Civil War, examines Lincoln’s reasons for writing it, and details the role of abolitionists. Bolden makes excellent use of primary sources; the pages are filled [...]
I am sharing two very different books today, which I can only tenuously connect thanks to the Alex Awards. (Thus the completely unimaginative title of this post!) Let’s begin on a light-hearted note. First, a review of Raiders!, which won a place on the Booklist Editors Choice: Adult Books for Young Adults, 2012. Our reviewer [...]
Librarians who serve children in predominantly Latino communities were shocked this past December to read a New York Times article claiming that there is a dearth of Latino characters in books written for young readers—a notion that is at odds with their own experiences. In fact, they tell School Library Journal, there is actually a wealth of resources currently available to these kids, and librarians have the power (and the responsibility) to make those meaningful connections.
Britannica Digital Learning
www.info.eb.com/school
Grade Level: PreK Up
Cost The list price is $525 for up to 700 students and 75 cents for each additional student. Discounts are available for school district and consortium purchases. In addition, some states pay for the subscription in public schools and libraries. The following federal funding is available: Title I, Title II, Title III, Title IV, Title X; Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); Investing in Innovation (i3); Race to the Top Funds; 21st Century [...]
Pete Remembers Woody. 2 CDs. range: 57:42-53:56 min. Prod. by Appleseed Recordings. Dist. by CDBaby.com. ISBN unavail. $20.
Gr 9 Up–This masterful album celebrates the centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth in 1912. Producer David Bernz has compiled a number of stories that Pete Seeger (now in his 90s) told about Woody and himself, which were recorded in informal sessions over a span of time in their private homes. These reminiscences are interspersed with Woody’s songs, performed by a number of well-known [...]
Back in December, I wrote a post in which I wondered why we don’t see more nonfiction books recognized in awards for teens, and in particular, why memoirs and biographies are so dominant among the nonfiction titles that do show up. Commenter Meghan suggested: My own experience as a public librarian has shown it’s easier [...]
Patricia Polacco’s In Our Mothers’ House, an acclaimed picture book about a family with two mothers, is finally back on K–6 school library shelves in Utah’s Davis School District, more than eight months after a committee pulled the book and restricted its access.
The Association of Jewish Libraries has given its 2013 Sydney Taylor Book Awards to Hannah’s Way, by Linda Glaser; His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg, by Louise Borden; and Intentions, by Deborah Heiligman.
Lisa Graff’s sixth middle school novel, A Tangle of Knots, which debuts next month, incorporates an unusual feature: a range of carefully selected cake recipes that help illuminate the various traits of its key characters. School Library Journal spoke with Graff about this unique idea, the baking skills she honed for months while writing the book, and what’s next on her to-do list.
With the announcement of the Caldecott winners less than a week away, Junior Library Guild examines some of 2012′s front-runner picture books.
BROWN, Don. Henry and the Cannons: An Extraordinary True Story of the American Revolution. illus. by author. 32p. bibliog. Roaring Brook. Jan. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-266-6. LC 2012013450.
Gr 1-4–As the American Revolution was getting underway, George Washington knew he needed cannons to defeat the British. Unfortunately, he was camped outside British-held Boston, and the nearest big guns were 300 miles away at Fort Ticonderoga, New York. They were thought to be impossible to retrieve, until Henry Knox agreed to [...]
Fans outside of Carnegie Hall display their loot from John and Hank Green’s An Evening of Awesome.
The Freedom Maze. By Delia Sherman. 8 CDs. 8:19 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape. 2012. ISBN 978-0-499-01463-9. $55.
Gr 5-8–Sophie’s mother drops her off to spend the summer at her grandmother’s house in the Louisiana Bayou. Once a prolific sugar plantation, the property is derelict and overgrown. In the garden, Sophie discovers a maze, now in ruins, much like Sophie’s life since her parents’ divorce. It’s 1960, and the stigma of the divorce, combined with [...]
Sixty percent of publishing executives believe that tablets have become “the ideal reading platform,” and 45 percent believe that dedicated e-readers will soon be irrelevant, according to a recent online, by-invitation survey conducted by global research and advisory firm Forrester.
