When I was a child I knew what Down syndrome was but I didn’t know it because of any picture books that contained characters with Down syndrome. None of my childhood literature covered it, so if I wanted to see someone represented in this way I had to turn on Sesame Street. Though it’s not […]
She’s so cute. Kate thought we wouldn’t have enough to talk about with this week’s podcast because the featured book is so simple in both text and image. Little did she know!!! What happens when an adult woman reads this book for the first time and is told that many consider it a modern day […]
Dreamers By Yuyi Morales Neal Porter Books (an imprint of Holiday House) $18.99 ISBN: 978-0-8234-4055-9 Ages 5 and up On shelves now Work in the children’s book business long enough and you run the risk of harboring grudges. Or, to be more specific, grudges o’ love. Grudges on behalf of the hardworking authors and illustrators […]
People are on to me. I seem to have given away the game. Looking at me you’d never know I harbor a sweet spot for Nonfiction, but my love goes down and deep. Now I know I just did a book trailer premier yesterday. I don’t want you to think I’m getting sloppy on you […]
Yesterday I produced my Fall Prediction listing of 2019 Caldecott and Newbery contenders. But what if one of those books wins the Caldecott or Newbery Award proper? You know what happens in these cases, don’t you? Either the poor winner is so overwhelmed by the question “What’s Next?” from a populace expecting brilliance that they […]
Yeah. I have no idea. I kid, I KID! Actually I don’t kid. This year is crazy, people! The books are all over the place. We’re seeing some shockingly strong Nonfiction contenders, and a plethora of good Caldecotts too. Yet, just like last year, the Newbery potential in the middle grade fiction is just okay. […]
A show of hands. How many of you first heard of Hedy Lamarr by watching copious amounts of Blazing Saddles (where the villain Hedley Lamarr is constantly called Hedy Lamarr by accident)? No? Just me? In between that and confusing her with Dorothy Lamour I was a pretty confused kid when it came to all […]
I run a blog for my job at Evanston Public Library on the side. The way I tend to distinguish it from this site is that the blog is mostly concerned with adult titles and other library-related affairs. Well, recently I reprinted my favorite Ogden Nash poem of all time Don’t Cry, Darling. It’s Blood […]
I can’t help it, folks. This is just too cool not to post. Give Join Making Art FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Sandy Soderberg, Marketing Manager (413) 559-6315 sandys@carlemuseum.org The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Celebrates 50 Years of the Coretta Scott King Awards with Our Voice: Celebrating the Coretta Scott […]
Louisiana’s Way Home By Kate DiCamillo Candlewick Press ISBN: 978-0-7636-9463-0 $16.99 Ages 9-12 On shelves October 2nd There once was a book called Raymie Nightingale. Not a big flashy book with glitter on the cover and fonts that look like escaped balloon animals. Just a quiet book set in the late 1970s in Florida, patiently […]
The summer is dying. Every night the crickets sing. I haven’t had to turn the air conditioning on in my home for weeks and just yesterday morning my daughter begged me to consider increasing the heat (it was 65 degrees inside so . . . no). But summer isn’t quite done with us yet so […]
I’ve always taken a great interest in observing how publishers promote children’s books by longstanding, award-winning authors. Consider the case of Sharon Creech. Sure, she won the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor for The Wanderer, and the Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler, but as any writer will tell you, true children’s […]
As surely as you must be saying, “Didn’t Kate and Betsy just do a Robert McCloskey book?” so too I answer you, “Yep,” and “Indubidably,” and “Is that how you spell that word?” and “No, actually it’s ‘Indubitably’ which just looks wrong but it’s true.” All this you must be saying, but the only point […]
Years ago at NYPL I had the pleasure of hosting a panel, as part of my Children’s Literary Salon series, that I’d been looking forward to doing for years. Back in my college days I was convinced that I had a future as a photographer. That plan didn’t pan out (my technical skills with a […]
It was in 2006 that I read the book Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages. Long before STEM was a common term and there was a national push for girls to embrace math and science, Klages told the story of two friends living in the very heart of the Manhattan Project. Two years later (after […]
Recent Comments