WHAT TIME IS IT, AMERICA!!!????!!! If you answered that it was time for Children’s Book Week, you’d almost be right. Actually, Children’s Book Week (now in its 96th year) isn’t until May 4th – 10th. In preparation, I have a bit of a treat planned. On Sunday, April 26th at 2:00 p.m. the following program [...]
My Near-Death Adventures (99% True) By Alison DeCamp Crown Books for Young Readers (an imprint of Random House) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-385-39044-6 Ages 9-12 On shelves now Children’s historical fiction novels often divide up one of two ways. In the first category you have your important moments in history. In such books our heroes run about [...]
Here in New York we’re getting very excited. The 90-Second Film Festival is coming!! And soon too! Here’s a PW interview with James Kennedy about the festival and for those of you in the NYC area you can see it at NYPL on Saturday, March 7th at 3:00 p.m. In fact, now that I think [...]
Everybody Sleeps (But Not Fred) By Josh Schneider Clarion Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) ISBN: 978-0544339248 Ages 4-6 On shelves April 7, 2015 When attempting to turn small writhing human beings of very little years into mature, forthright, sterling individuals of singular merit and good humor we run into some challenges. There’s teaching [...]
Hi all! Okay. For this month’s Fuse #8 TV I decided to premiere a new series. *ahem* Introducing: Reading (Too Much Into) Picture Books Ladies and gentlemen, I like a good conspiracy theory. Nothing makes my heart go pitter pat faster than an opinion about a picture book that takes a right hand turn into [...]
While making the rounds through the old internets I came across a recent New Statesman piece entitled Why I want more unlikeable female characters. The premise pretty much boils down to a desire to see “women who are every type of humanity – assholes and all” in our literature and popular culture. And while the [...]
We’re in the thick of the month of February now and recently I ran into an interesting problem. It being Black History Month and all I was looking to create a list of Black Experience children’s books for my librarians to pull from for displays and purchasing and such. So I trolled about online looking [...]
Let’s face facts. When doing a trendwatch piece, it’s almost impossible to top Travis Jonker’s 2014 bit of brilliance 2014: The Year of the Whale. Prior to that piece I had done The Year of the Chloe, The Year of the Jackalope, and The Year of the Raven. And now, in 2015, I’m calling it [...]
It’s not what I would call an overly well known fact but here at New York Public Library we are proud to include the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library amongst our branches. The site “provides talking books and magazines and braille for people who are blind, visually impaired, or are otherwise physically unable [...]
Winnie: The True Story of the Bear That Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh By Sally M. Walker Illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss Henry Holt (an imprint of Macmillan) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0805097153 Ages 4-7 On shelves now I worked in close proximity to the real Winnie-the-Pooh for five years. From 2006 to 2011 he was a daily delight. To [...]
Behold the latest entry in Steve Sheinkin’s “Walking and Talking” series. When he’s not winning a YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction honor for Port Chicago 50 Steve can be found interviewing his fellow authors and illustrators and bringing their talks to comic life. In his latest episode we see not just a drawn version [...]
I am lucky in my profession. Lucky not simply because I have a blog where I am offered the chance to reveal the American cover of Frank Cottrell Boyce’s latest book The Astounding Broccoli Boy. No, I’m lucky because I work in a profession where I even know who Boyce is and how fantastic his [...]
When actress Lena Dunham started talking in the news about how she wanted to turn Catherine Called Birdy into a film, I was intrigued. And apparently she’s not a fly-by-night children’s book lover either. All her tattoos are children’s literature inspired. Hearing this I figured she’d have the usual suspects. Eloise, sure. And she does [...]
The War That Saved My Life By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Dial Books for Young Readers (an imprint of Penguin) $16.99 ISBN: 9780803740815 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. As a child I was what one might call a selective reader. Selective in that I studiously avoided any and all works of fiction that might conceivably be [...]
Folks, I make no bones about the books that I love. And when I saw that jaw-dropping picture book Lindbergh last year in all its high-flying mousie glory, I knew I was looking at something special. Now I am so pleased and honored to offer you a quickie peek and glance at German author/illustrator Torben [...]
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