September 18, 2013

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Pick of the Day: Papa’s Mechanical Fish

submarine surrounded by turqoise sea

With luminous, playful artwork, an exuberant look at the development of one of the first submarines.

Pick of the Day: The Mighty Lalouche

legs in red striped tights

A captivating tale about small people capable of great feats

Michelle Knudsen, Andrea Menotti Score Bank Street CCL’s Top Book Prizes

Here the students of The Good Hope School in St. Croix hold up the contenders.

New York’s Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature has named Michelle Knudsen’s Big Mean Mike the winner of its Irma Black Award for the best read-aloud picture book for first and second grade and Andrea Menotti’s How Many Jelly Beans? the winner of its Cook Prize for the best picture book that teaches science, technology, engineering, and math principles.

Pick of the Day: Round Is a Tortilla

Children preparing tortillas

THONG, Roseanne Greenfield. Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes. illus. by John Parra. 40p. glossary. Chronicle. Apr. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-4521-0616-8.
PreS-Gr 2
–This picture book in rhyme focuses on everyday things–a square for a park, a round pot of stew, a rectangle for the scoreboard at the baseball game. All of the shapes and activities reflect Hispanic culture–stars are for parties and the celebration depicted is a fiesta. Round is a sombrero; squares are ventanas, or windows; [...]

Pick of the Day: A Long Way Away

The words that make up the title form a pyramid

From space to seabed and vice versa

Pick of the Day: Frog Song

red body, blue legs on frog

a beautifully presented lesson on frogs

JLG’s On the Radar: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Dog playing with red ball

Junior Library Guild editors select new and fun wordless picture books that provide an opportunity for children to focus on meaning, characters, and plot without the impediment of vocabulary.

JLG’s On the Radar: Be Not Afraid—Picture Books for a Not-So-Scary Storytime

The Dark by Lemony Snicket

Junior Library Guild editors select picture books perfect for the younger set who beg for a scary story, but are safe enough to prevent nightmares.

Pick of the Day: The Highway Rat

goofy-looking pirate on horse

A rollicking tale of a swashbuckling rat, inspired by Alfred Noyes’s Highwayman.

Pick of the Day: Have You Seen My New Blue Socks?

busy green duck in foreground

a small green duck frets unnecessarily about some “misplaced” socks

Pick of the Day: Perfectly Percy

stylized porcupine and blue balloon

This winsome tale about a porcupine and a balloon would make a perfect choice for toddler storytimes.

Pick of the Day: Take Me Out to the Yakyu

Yakyu in bold red capital letters

American and Japanese baseball compared

Pick of the Day: Exclamation Mark

yellow square with smiley face exlamation mark

A fun treatment of punctuation

Bank Street CCL Announces Irma Black Award, Cook Prize Finalists

BankStreetkids reading

New York’s Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature (CCL) has announced the finalists for its Irma Black Award for the best read-aloud picture book for first and second grade, and the finalists for its Cook Prize for the best picture book that teaches science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) principles. Both winners will be determined by students from around the world.

Samsung Sponsors Educational Grant & Scholarship Programs | News Bites

Samsung Scholarship program logo

This week’s News Bites include info on Samsung’s competitions for teachers and students, 2 new picture book imprints, a new conference about kidlit in the digital age.

Pick of the Day: Nelly May Has Her Say

figure posed with a pup and a pail

With one smart heroine and witty wordplay, Nelly May Has Her Say, which is based on the English folktale “Master of All Masters,” will delight.

Pick of the Day: Bunnies on Ice

bunny dressed in pink in foreground

WRIGHT, Joanna. Bunnies on Ice. illus. by author. 32p. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. 2013. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-404-2. LC 2012001187.
PreS-Gr 1–This budding champion (a white snow bunny) loves to ice skate so much that she patiently waits for perfect conditions.  When the other bunnies are doing summer things, she is planning what she will do when the snow falls. She proceeds to wait through the fall as she dresses her scarecrow with a pair of skates. Then when the snow [...]

Pick of the Day: The Goldilocks Variations

bands of pastel colors

AHLBERG, Allan. The Goldilocks Variations. illus. by Jessica Ahlberg. 40p. Candlewick. 2012. RTE $17.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6268-4.
PreS-Gr 2
–With whimsical illustrations and interactive features such as flaps, pop-ups, and pull tabs, the Ahlbergs showcase six silly variations on the classic tale. The standout of the bunch has the heroine wandering into the “trood (or spaceship) of The Three Bliim.” Full of silly alien words, the tale begs to be read aloud. In other adventures, Goldilocks takes on 33 bears, the furniture (chair, [...]

Hats Off to Dr. Seuss!

Hats Off to Seuss!_Group Photo

All things Seuss were in the air Monday at the 42nd branch of the New York Public Library as Random House Children’s Books and Dr. Seuss Enterprises launched its “Hats Off to Dr. Seuss!” campaign, a yearlong celebration of the famed children’s book author.

Old-time Gals with Gumption | The Picture Books of Shana Corey

Herecome

Shana Corey’s picture-book biographies feature little-known women with buckets of gumption.