Featured Posts
Odd Duck
First, let me remind you that my expertise is not comic books or graphic novels. I DID grow up reading lots and lots of comic books of the Archie & Veronica and Baby Huey variety and have read many graphic novels for young adults. The TOON … [Read More...]
Fanfare!
Here is Fanfare, the Horn Book's list of the best books for young people published in 2013. The complete annotated list will be sent to Notes from the Horn Book subscribers next week; sign up now (it's free) to get it hot off the server. The … [Read More...]
Holiday High Notes 2013
O come, all ye faithful Horn Book readers… behold our annual selection of new holiday books, with reviews written by the Horn Book staff. Little Santa by Jon Agee; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Dial 40 pp. 10/13 … [Read More...]
Fanfare!
Here is Fanfare, the Horn Book's list of the best books for young people published in 2013. The complete annotated list will be sent to Notes from the Horn Book subscribers next week; sign up now (it's free) to get it hot off the server. The … [Read More...]
Pondhopping: Spotlight on Flying Eye Press
The Horn Book's publications don’t typically review books from the UK, but when several intriguing titles from a new imprint crossed my desk, I thought they deserved mention. Flying Eye Books, a children’s book imprint of UK publisher Nobrow … [Read More...]
Odd Duck
First, let me remind you that my expertise is not comic books or graphic novels. I DID grow up reading lots and lots of comic books of the Archie & Veronica and Baby Huey variety and have read many graphic novels for young adults. The TOON … [Read More...]
Writing for the Very Young: An Emotional Déjà Vu
by Charlotte Zolotow The more I try to analyze children’s books — or the fusion of feelings and events that goes into writing for children — the more I realize what a mystery children’s thoughts are and what a mystery the whole process of … [Read More...]
Talking About Race 2013
Review of the Week
Review of The Abominables
The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson; illus. by Fiona Robinson Intermediate Amulet/Abrams 264 pp. 10/13 978-1-4197-0789-6 $16.95 From Kenneth Grahame’s reluctant dragon to Roald Dahl’s BFG, endearing monsters are a staple of children’s literature, now including Eva Ibbotson’s yetis. The book opens a century ago when the young Lady Agatha Farlingham disappears and is presumed dead during an expedition in the Himalayas with her plant-hunting father. In … [Read More...]
App Review of the Week
The Sick Kitten app review
Polish publisher Festina Lente and digital developer Kartalia have collaborated on a lively animated picture book app of 1824 short story "Chory Kotek" — The Sick Kitten (May 2013) — by Stanisław Jachowicz. Jachowicz, who wrote original fairy tales, published a children's newsletter, and wrote a children's songbook, is considered the father of children's literature in Poland. The app's English translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones is accompanied by Ludwika Micińska's illustrations with music … [Read More...]
Recommended Books
Review of The Abominables
The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson; illus. by Fiona Robinson Intermediate Amulet/Abrams 264 pp. 10/13 978-1-4197-0789-6 $16.95 From Kenneth Grahame’s reluctant … [Read More...]
Holiday High Notes 2013
O come, all ye faithful Horn Book readers… behold our annual selection of new holiday books, with reviews written by the Horn Book staff. Little Santa by Jon Agee; illus. by the author Preschool, … [Read More...]
Review of Giving Thanks
Giving Thanks: Poems, Prayers, and Praise Songs of Thanksgiving edited by Katherine Paterson; illus. by Pamela Dalton All Ages Handprint/Chronicle 56 pp. 10/13 … [Read More...]
Recommended Hanukkah picture books
Hanukkah is here! These picture books, all published in the last several years and recommended by The Horn Book Magazine, will get you in a festive mood for the Festival of Lights. In Daddy … [Read More...]
Thanksgiving reading
There's a lot to be grateful for on Thanksgiving: delicious food, relaxation, the Macy's Day Parade, even football. Above all, we give thanks for time spent with loved ones. The books below (published … [Read More...]
Interviews
Daniel Beaty on Knock Knock
In the November/December 2013 Horn Book Magazine, reviewer Robin Smith asked author Daniel Beaty about making his own childhood experience relatable to many readers in his picture book Knock Knock. … [Read More...]
Walter Dean Myers on Fallen Angels
This Q&A with author Walter Dean Myers appeared on the Zola Books blog on November 7th, 2013, and was shared with the Horn Book by Emma McKinstry of Goodman Media International, Inc. See Betty … [Read More...]
Five questions for Jon Agee
Jon Agee has made a great career from picture books about anti-heros (Nothing, Hyperion, 3–7 years; Terrific, di Capua/Hyperion, 3–7 years) and oddballs (The Other Side of Town, di … [Read More...]
Gene Luen Yang on Boxers & Saints
In the September/October 2013 Horn Book Magazine, reviewer Sam Bloom asked Gene Luen Yang about the process of creating the two volumes of Boxers & Saints. Read the starred review here. Sam … [Read More...]
Chris Raschka on When Lions Roar
In the September/October 2013 Horn Book Magazine, reviewer K. T. Horning asked Chris Raschka about illustrating scary emotional situations in When Lions Roar. Read the review here. K. T. Horning: … [Read More...]
