Featured Posts
There’s only color and light
Today we are meeting with a group of consultants and some of the New York brass to rethink the Horn Book's digital presence--the website, the Guide Online, maybe the newsletters and e-editions of our print publications. (The Horn Book Guide will be … [Read More...]
Week in Review, August 14th – 18th
This week on hbook.com… This week’s featured BGHB reminiscence: "Seeing the Grey: Reading Molly Bang’s The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher with Children" by Megan Dowd Lambert Reviews of the Week: Picture Book: The Little Red Cat … [Read More...]
Five Questions for Mayim Bialik
You may know Mayim Bialik as one of the stars of The Big Bang Theory. Or as Blossom. Or as young Bette Midler in Beaches (*sob!*). Or as a real-life neuroscientist. Or a blogger. Or a mother. Or a *Jewish* mother! Or, now, as a YA nonfiction author … [Read More...]
Dos and Don’ts of Writing Complex Teens…by an actual complex teen
As seen on Facebook: Friend of The Horn Book Christine M. Heppermann -- author, poet, and mother of one most excellent teen Audrey Hinsdale (read her Family Reading post "My Own Discretion Advised") -- posted this advice from her daughter on the "Dos … [Read More...]
BGHB at 50: Seeing the Grey: Reading Molly Bang’s The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher with Children
I served on the 2012 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards committee with Thom Barthelmess and Lauren Adams, and I wrote about my kids’ responses to our selections here. So when the Horn Book editors issued an invitation to reflect on past winners and … [Read More...]
Blogs
There’s only color and light
Today we are meeting with a group of consultants and some of the New York brass to rethink the Horn Book's digital presence--the website, the Guide Online, maybe the newsletters and e-editions of our print publications. (The Horn Book Guide will be … [Read More...]
Measure Up! app review
Measure Up! by PBS Kids (2016; iOS and Android) introduces concepts of measurement in a series of activities and videos based on its educational television shows. In a frame narrative, programming "hosts" Dot, Del, and Dee explore an island. Each of … [Read More...]
Reading Is LIT: How a Classroom Project Can Impact an Entire Community
As a school librarian, I strongly believe in the importance of books as mirrors and windows for students, especially with so many divisive things happening in our society. Using these sorts of books in the classroom helps to start tough dialogue … [Read More...]
Banquets and bling
Continuing with this series of behind-the-scenes of the Caldecott committee, I thought it would be fun to give you peek at the Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder Banquet, which took place just last month at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. (If you haven’t … [Read More...]
Review of the Week
Review of And Then There Were Four
And Then There Were Four by Nancy Werlin High School Dial 416 pp. 6/17 978-0-8037-4072-3 $18.99 After a three-book detour through the fantasy genre (Impossible, rev. 9/08, and sequels), Werlin (The Rules of Survival, rev. 9/06) returns to her mystery/thriller roots for another psychological page-turner. Five students at a private boarding school are called together under mysterious circumstances to a remote, dilapidated building on campus. The building collapses, and they all … [Read More...]
App Review of the Week
Measure Up! app review
Measure Up! by PBS Kids (2016; iOS and Android) introduces concepts of measurement in a series of activities and videos based on its educational television shows. In a frame narrative, programming "hosts" Dot, Del, and Dee explore an island. Each of three locations on the island highlights a specific type of dimension measurement: "Treetop City" focuses on height and length, "Magma Peak" on volume/capacity, and the "Crystal Caves" on weight. Simple interactive opportunities (indicated with … [Read More...]
Recommended Books
Review of And Then There Were Four
And Then There Were Four by Nancy Werlin High School Dial 416 pp. 6/17 978-0-8037-4072-3 $18.99 After a three-book detour through the fantasy genre (Impossible, rev. 9/08, and … [Read More...]
Review of How It Feels to Be a Boat
How It Feels to Be a Boat by James Kwan; illus. by the author Preschool. Primary Houghton 40 pp. g 7/17 978-0-544-71533-2 $16.99 Kwan provides a warm, kooky existential … [Read More...]
Review of Forest World
Forest World by Margarita Engle Intermediate Atheneum 195 pp. g 8/17 978-1-4814-9057-3 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4814-9059-7 $10.99 Eleven-year-old Edver wishes his … [Read More...]
Review of The Music of Life: Bartolomeo Cristofori & the Invention of the Piano
The Music of Life: Bartolomeo Cristofori & the Invention of the Piano by Elizabeth Rusch; illus. by Marjorie Priceman Primary, Intermediate Atheneum 48 pp. 4/17 978-1-4814-4484-2 … [Read More...]
Review of It All Comes Down to This
It All Comes Down to This by Karen English Intermediate, Middle School Clarion 368 pp. g 7/17 978-0-544-83957-1 $16.99 The daughter of an art gallery–owning mother and a lawyer … [Read More...]
Interviews
Five Questions for Mayim Bialik
You may know Mayim Bialik as one of the stars of The Big Bang Theory. Or as Blossom. Or as young Bette Midler in Beaches (*sob!*). Or as a real-life neuroscientist. Or a blogger. Or a mother. Or a … [Read More...]
Five questions for Mitali Perkins
Mitali Perkins's latest novel You Bring the Distant Near (Farrar, 12–16 years) is a sprawling family epic that follows three generations of women in the Das family — matriarch Ranee; her daughters … [Read More...]
Five questions for Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise
Sisters Kate and M. Sarah Klise created their first book together before either of them turned twelve! Since then, author Kate and illustrator Sarah have collaborated on many picture books and … [Read More...]
Five questions for 2017 Fiction and Poetry winner Angie Thomas
1. You shared on Twitter that in manuscript stage you wondered how this book’s subject matter would be received (“Are novels that deal with sensitive current issues a no-no?”). How much was that … [Read More...]
Five questions for Susan Juby
In The Fashion Committee (Viking, 14 years and up), author Susan Juby takes readers back to Green Pastures Academy, a high school for the arts and setting of her 2015 book The Truth Commission … [Read More...]
