Elizabeth Bird
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Review of the Day: Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
Good news. I know exactly what to do with this particular middle school book. You need to weigh it down with awards, so many that it can no longer stand under its own weight and is forced to stagger to the display unit that stands front and center in the library where all the best books go. Then, and only then, will it have found its true home.
Unexpected Jolts of Children’s Literature
As you may know, my day job is as a librarian but not, as it happens, a librarian of children's literature specifically. A lot of days I spend my time sorting through all the new releases for adults (horrors!). But since my heart is firmly ensconced in the world of books for kids, I always note when a book has some connection to literature for the young. Today, I'd like to introduce you to six 2019 titles that may be worth noting.
Cover Reveal and Interviews: Talking with Nina Crews and Angela Johnson
Angela Johnson has more than forty books to her name and she can write the gamut from board books to YA. This year, she's giving us a poem-turned-book called A Girl Like Me, with illustrated photography by Nina Crews. Naturally I'd like to show you the cover, but first I had some questions for the creators.
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Dinosaurs Divorce by Laurene Krasny Brown, ill. Marc Brown
This week's challenge from Kate: Deliver unto her a "classic picture book about divorce". So I conferred with my fellow librarians and we all agreed that there is really only one that would fit the bill: A little number from 1986. So how has it aged over the years?
Review of the Day: Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe
There’s something going on in this book. A wry, whipsmart, funny tale that actually may have a thing or two to say about female empowerment. Or not? It’s easy to read too much into this book, but I’d say it’s also just as easy to read into it everything that you need it to be. Intelligent writing for kids that will not just appeal but engage and entice.
The Best So Far: 2019 Picture Book Biographies Done Exceedingly Well
How have I not done this round-up yet?!? It's baffling that I've waited this long, particularly when you take into account the sheer overwhelming number of picture book bios of exceeding beauty and charm we've been privy to in 2019. Here then, are some of the titles that have caught my eye (so far) this year.
Guest Post: What to Do When Disaster Destroys Your Books and How to Harness Social Media for Good
How many of us prepare for what to do if an act of nature claims our materials, our space, even our jobs? Together, teacher Stacey Beam and author April Henry have penned an article on what happened when the worst hit too close to home and what you can do if it happens to you.
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Sam and the Firefly by P.D. Eastman
I'd been meaning to do this, Eastman's third most famous easy book, and the first one he ever did on his own, for a while. Now, for years I've believed that Eastman has illustrated "night" better than most artists. After this recording I feel justified in having felt this way.
Magic Ramen by Andrea Wang, ill. Kana Urbanowicz
Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando looks like a simple tale about the man who invented instant ramen, but look closer and you’ll see that what the book truly is is a paean to the necessity of failure, the beauty of persistence, and the pleasure that comes after messing up 99 times only to get it right on the 100th.