Keep Children’s Literature Weird. There. There’s your rallying cry for the day. Now Travis Jonker has been nice and consistent on this front, producing his lists of The Most Astonishingly Unconventional Children’s Books every year since 2012. You’re bound to see some overlap with this list, but I’ve a couple of my own particular favorites […]
Ah! One of my favorite lists. Not a long one, to be sure, but beloved. As I’m sure you’ve heard me say far too many times, in the history of children’s librarianship there was once a plethora of folktales and fairytales published every single year. Some of them were great, some them were hugely problematic, […]
Well, folks, I’m sick. Sick as a dog. Sick as a dog on a log in a bog (I think I’ve been writing up picture books too long). Fortunately, and by complete coincidence, today’s post is going to be an easy one. Folks that know me well are aware that there was a time when, […]
Let’s have some fun defining our terms. What exactly do I mean when I say “books with a message”? Basically, I’m talking about books that wear their hearts on their sleeves. We all know that in their earliest form, when people were initially coming up with the idea of making literature for children, the primary […]
Initially I think I was going to call this list “2017 Imports” but that was a bit on the vague side. And was I really going to include all the Australian, British, Irish, Canadian, etc. books I admired this year? Seems a bit much. No, let’s instead offer an homage to the delightful translations of […]
I wish I had kept better statistics over the course of my children’s librarian career. Maybe if I had I could give you a sense of whether or not the number of bilingual children’s books published in 2017 was higher or lower than normal. As it currently stands, I’m just pleased to see these books […]
It’s almost unfair that I’m not including math for older readers on today’s list, but for that I think you’ll be best suited turning to the awesome Mathical Awards, given out each year. The Mathical Book Prize (given by a committee of math teachers, working mathematicians, and the occasional librarian like me) celebrates math in […]
Reprints! I may as well call this the zombie list for all that they’re celebrated, but celebrated they should be. I am always truly delighted when a picture book rises from the out-of-print dead to engage and delight young readers once more. Steadily throughout the year I’ve kept track of some of the brighter stars […]
They can’t win a darn thing, and that’s the truth. Sorta. Each year picture books are considered and assessed by the Caldecott committee to determine which titles are the “most distinguished” contributions to the field of children’s literature. And every year truly beautiful contenders will fall by the wayside, winning nothing. Why? Because when the […]
And now, what could arguably be considered our most subjective of lists. As I like to say when I’m on the road with Funny Girl, humor really changes from person to person. What makes me laugh isn’t necessarily going to be what makes you laugh and vice versa. Still, I have this thing about honoring […]
There’s always one. One sneaky little abecedarian delight that manages to elude my notice when I type up this list. This year it was almost The Little Red Cat, but I managed to remember it just in time. Still . . . I don’t trust myself. Someone’s not here. Can you figure out who it […]
This year something struck me about the rhyming picture book crop that usually eludes my notice. I think it’s easy to assume that because a book rhymes, it’s automatically funny. But some of the books on today’s list, like The Road Home or even The Pomegranate Witch, dare to be touching. This begs the question […]
You know what’s funny? Last year I fully intended to do a wordless picture book list, but wasn’t able to find enough books. This year I was going to do nursery rhymes, and then found a complete and utter lack of them. But wordless? Not a problem! Wordless appears to be back, to the point […]
HIC! By Anushka Ravishankar Illustrated by Christiane Pieper Tara Books $18.00 ISBN: 9789383145645 Ages 4-7 On shelves now Ladies and gentlemen I ask you, and I ask you truly, can you think of a more international childhood experience than the hiccups? Here we have an unwanted occurrence that comes to every nation in the world. […]
This week the “Best of” lists just started hopping out of the woodwork like fleas. On the one hand you have Kirkus, slowly releasing their lists in dribs and drabs, and on the other you have NYPL simultaneously dropping its YA and JUV lists with a great big thunk. I hear that even Chicago Public […]
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