It’s Monday, Mrs. Jolly Bones! By Warren Hanson Illustrated by Tricia Tusa Beach Lane Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4424-1229-3 Ages 4-7 On shelves March 19th Older children are not big fans of reading about middle-aged adults. That’s just obvious. Unless that adult is a furry woodland creature, of course. Then [...]
Review of the Day: Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle
By on January 25, 2013
Flora and the Flamingo By Molly Idle Chronicle Books $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-4521-1006-6 Ages 3-7 On shelves February 3rd Did you know that flamingos are pink because of their diet of plankton? Did you know that the flamingo is the national bird of the Bahamas? And did you know that when it comes to a pas [...]
Counting Down Caldecott
By on January 15, 2013
As K.T. Horning embarks on her decade-by-decade Caldecott Medal retrospective (Mei Li in January; Prayer for a Child coming up in March) in the Horn Book Magazine, I’m reminded of Leonard Marcus’s own Caldecott Celebration, a book for kids (but you’ll like it too) in which he similarly looked at one winner from each decade, [...]
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Open Circle Names 25 Best Books for Kids’ Social and Emotional Learning
By on January 14, 2013 4 Comments
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Open Circle Program at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), a provider of evidence-based social and emotional learning for K–5 kids, has released its list of the top 25 children’s books that connect to kids’ social and emotional development . The chosen books cover a range of important skills, such as self-awareness, self-management, empathy, dealing with conflict, and problem-solving.
OUR Liza with a Z
By on January 4, 2013
PW‘s Elizabeth Bluemle (who, by the way, has a wonderful article coming up in the March/April Horn Book Magazine) visits our own Liza Woodruff, who unaccountably left work as a circulation assistant at the Horn Book to live in Vermont with her lovely husband and children and dogs while she pursues a full-time career as [...]
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Review of the Day: The Chicken Problem by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson
By on December 5, 2012
The Chicken Problem
By Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson
Random House
$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-375-86989-1
Ages 3-7
On shelves now.
I was once in Prospect Park in Brooklyn when I passed a very small child wearing a porkpie hat running as fast as his chubby legs could carry him. Behind him his father yelled out (to little avail), “Pontius! Pontius, [...]
Review of the Day: The Chicken Problem by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson
By on December 5, 2012
The Chicken Problem By Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson Random House $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-86989-1 Ages 3-7 On shelves now. I was once in Prospect Park in Brooklyn when I passed a very small child wearing a porkpie hat running as fast as his chubby legs could carry him. Behind him his father yelled out (to [...]
O Come All Ye Faithful?
By on November 29, 2012
Don’t miss Leonard Marcus’s latest column about picture book covers, and speaking of that, SLJ stalwart Rocco Staino reports on a gallery of ‘em that would make Judy Blume blush. Or would they? The pictures were created by several well-known picture book artists in service of raising money for the National Coalition Against Censorship. They [...]
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Word salad, yum.
By on November 27, 2012
Jon Klassen’s This Is Not My Hat certainly encourages discussion– see Lolly’s review here, Robin’s review here and mine over here–but over at Amazon I discovered a rather breathtaking display of the strategic (psychotic?) deployment of the non sequitur as a tool. (By a tool? Discuss.): “This book is another in the long line of [...]
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Candlewick is back in Cambridge
By on November 9, 2012
this Saturday, with “From Screen to Book” at the Cambridge Public Library, an afternoon’s discussion of picture books and digital media. The presenters include three illustrators, Candlewick art director Ann Stott, and agent Holly McGhee; the moderator is Jenny Brown from Shelf Awareness, who, incidentally, wrote a great account of the Horn Book at Simmons [...]
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Un-documented
By on October 26, 2012
Henry Cole’s Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad (see the Review of the Week, by Betty Carter) presented us with some very complicated questions. It’s a terrific and intriguing book, a wordless, pencil-illustrated tale of a young girl feeding and protecting a person hiding behind the cornstalks in her family’s barn; soldiers and a [...]
Watch and Read—Spotlight on Media Tie-ins: Game On! Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph
By on October 25, 2012 Leave a Comment
Wreck-it Ralph, the newest 3-D animated release from Disney, takes audience into world of video games to tell a humor-filled tale of friendship, heroism, and self-discovery. Fans of Ralph will also enjoy exciting but accessible picture books and chapter books based on the film.
On Clifford’s 50th Birthday, Four Questions for Norman Bridwell
By on September 24, 2012
Review of the Day: Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds
By on September 20, 2012
Creepy Carrots!
By Aaron Reynolds
Illustrated by Peter Brown
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
$16.99
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Ages 4-8
On shelves now
A children’s librarian is half media specialist, half psychic. It isn’t enough to have to know the books in your collection. You have to know what that pint-sized patron standing before you REALLY wants when they [...]
Calling Caldecott back on the hunt tomorrow
By on September 12, 2012
Lolly Robinson and Robin Smith will inaugurate this season of the Calling Caldecott blog tomorrow, and I know that the questions posed in the logo (What can win? What will win? What should win?) will provide plenty of discussion. At the HBAS colloquium later this month, I’m going to be talking to Erin Stead, Phil [...]
Book Talking of the Literal Variety
By on September 1, 2012
As you may have heard Candlewick Press is all about the picture books these days. In fact, they’re so into them that they’ve become vastly ambitious and have launched a campaign called “We Believe in Picture Books”. Part of the plan is to post a video a day for a year celebrating the great picture [...]
Review of the Day: Step Gently Out by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder
By on August 11, 2012
Step Gently Out
By Helen Frost
Photographs by Rick Lieder
Candlewick Press
$15.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5601-0
Ages 3-8
On shelves now
I have lots of little soapboxes scattered around my home that I like to pounce on in idle moments. Big soapboxes. Little soapboxes. Anyone who knows me is forced to hear me expound from one of them at least once [...]
Spring Picture Book Announcements
By on August 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
Thursday, March 8, 2012– 1:00 PM ET Learn about OwlKids Books’ exciting answer book How? The most awesome question and answer book about nature, animals, people, places—and you! By Catherine Ripley and illustrated by Scot Ritchie. One of NorthSouth’s highlighted books comes from the author and illustrator duo Carol Roth and Sean Julian with a story about a sleepy kitty who can’t find her mommy in Where’s My Mommy? Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group presents the beautifully illustrated More, the story of a hoarding magpie and a few well-intentioned mice. Candlewick Press celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and is still going strong with publishing enjoyable books like I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. Archive now available!
All the Way to America
By on April 3, 2012
Link to youtube video All the way to america After reading All The Way to America by Dan Yaccarino, we asked the 2nd graders to draw a picture of objects or ideas that are passed down in families. Some of the objects that came up in the discussion, a hand-cranked coffee grinder, a ceremonial wine cup, [...]
High Schoolers Return to Enjoy Irma Black Finalists
By on February 26, 2012
If anyone is worried about picture books being too young for their 1st and 2nd graders, may I present you with exhibit A. These high schoolers returned to visit during their Winter Break. They immediately grabbed the Irma Black Finalists and began reading them aloud to each other. I grabbed my IPAD and captured their obvious [...]
