Roger Sutton

I can’t decide if the p.r. disaster that was the Children’s Choice Awards last night is exacerbated or ameliorated by the fact that the Children’s Book Council website is down this morning (and, according to Facebook) has been offline since the announcements last night.(Edit 11.45AM:It’s back up.) I do know that the CBCBook Twitter account […]

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I was jawing on the radio yesterday about Common Sense Media’s latest report on the woeful state of young people reading for pleasure. I dunno–kids have been reported to be reading less than they used at least ever since I got into this business thirty-five years ago. If this were in fact true, you’d think […]

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(Said in that same voice that closes Mindy Kalin’s TV show.) Wherein I opine about bedtime books for little kids. My own bedtime currently has me alternating between Thomas Keneally’s The Daughters of Mars (Gallipoli) and Maeve Binchy’s The Glass Lake (family secrets). And I’m close to finishing that biography of P.L. Travers, who sounds […]

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So the Rialto, CA, school district has decided that maybe it’s NOT a good idea to have eighth-graders debate the existence of the Holocaust. I’m of two minds (Opposing Viewpoints: In My Head). While I see the chance for much mischief in such an assignment and believe middle school is too early  for the kind […]

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As I prepare for tomorrow’s Sutherland Lecture by John Green (and don’t think about showing up without a ticket. And don’t even think about getting a ticket) I’m catching up on the two controversies that John has found himself caught up in. The fault for either might be in his stars but definitely not in […]

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  I was showing a friend around Boston yesterday (do make a stop at the Mapparium if you’re ever in the Back Bay; it’s awesome) when we ran into this sculpture  parked outside the Museum of Fine Arts. It’s one of a pair by Antonio López García but of course I thought of Harriet the […]

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Narrative nonfiction is on the lesson plan in Lolly’s Classroom today. Is anyone else worried that the CCSS demand for more nonfiction reading does not seem to be translating into more nonfiction publishing? I have the feeling that publishers are mostly sitting this one out. (As well they might, now that no one seems to […]

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Twice in the past week I’ve been asked to opine publicly about the future of books and libraries for children, first at the NYLA conference in White Plains and then at the investiture of Eileen Abels as the new dean of the Simmons GSLIS. I had far fewer answers than questions, which I present to […]

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I feel like the Fisherman’s Wife here–now that I have a window in my office, I want sunshine. But we are getting accustomed to our new quarters, scary warnings in the cafeteria about noroviruses notwithstanding. We even managed a star meeting! The following books will receive starred reviews in the May/June issue of The Horn […]

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