Heavy Medal
June 30, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Bird Talk: What Birds Are Saying and Why By Lita Judge Roaring Brook Press (an imprint of Macmillan) $17.99 ISBN: 978-1-59643-646-6 Ages 6-10 On shelves now The older you get the more facts seem to change. For example, when I was a kid I remember that some facts were as of yet unprovable but were […]
June 29, 2012 by Betsy Bird
There are works in the works. Works in the works in the works. I can say no more except to mention that the #1s are nigh and will be posted soon. Stay patient, pretties, and enjoy my first review in a long long time instead.
June 29, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Starry River of the Sky By Grace Lin Little, Brown and Company $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-316-12595-6 Ages 9-12 On shelves October 2, 2012 I remember when Grace Lin first started writing chapter books for kids. She’d been doing picture books (mostly for others) for years and when at last she started creating small semi-fictionalized memoirs based […]
June 28, 2012 by Betsy Bird
#2 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962) 307 points The only book I’ve ever finished, turned over, and immediately started reading again. – Lauren Martino Magical. Thrilling. As a kid, I loved that it stretched my brain. Other dimensions! Time travel! Oh how I loved the “Aunt Beast” creatures — how in a […]
June 28, 2012 by Betsy Bird
#2 The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (1979) 258 points One of the very few pictures books that is just perfect – language appropriate, interactive, a great story, a counting exercise and a science lesson all rolled together. – Pat Vasilik Carle is a genius, pure and simple. Is there a 5 year old […]
June 27, 2012 by Betsy Bird
In which our hero ostensibly writes about the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet but, in truth, just wants to talk to you about Shrinky-Dinks. Full credit to Rocco Staino at SLJ for the image to the left here. Day Three of ALA and I can say with certainty that lots of interesting things to do abounded. Collection specialist […]
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June 25, 2012 by Betsy Bird
#3 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (1997) 287 points Oh, our family got hours and hours and hours of enjoyment out of these books. We read all of the first five out loud as a family, with no reading ahead. (Or as little reading ahead as we could stand.) Her imaginative […]
June 25, 2012 by Betsy Bird
#3 Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems (2003) 198 points Proof that temper tantrums are an art form of their own. – DaNae Leu Top three betraying my love for fourth-wall-breaking. – Robin Parry Remember when picture books never broke the 4th wall? When I read this book to students after […]
June 24, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Full credit to the good people of Sterling for keeping a handy coffin on hand! So Friday actually was a bigger kick-off of than I initially led you to believe, and on the conference floor it was all anyone could talk about. I alluded to it briefly but hadn’t expected the conversations about it to […]
June 23, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Check this out: That would be my press pass for this year’s 2012 ALA Conference held in beautiful (though strangely stormy and cold as of Thursday) Anaheim, California. Having hopped a plane from my native New York I now find myself on the opposite coast, a full country-sized swath away from my young. Fortunately there […]
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