Featured Posts
ALA Awards 2012: Horn Book reviews of the winners
The most prestigious honors in children's literature, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, were awarded to Jack Gantos and Chris Raschka on January 23, 2012, at the American Library Association's midwinter meeting in Dallas. Also announced … [Read More...]
ALA/ALSC announces Caldecott
A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka won and the honor books were Blackout by John Rocco, Grandpa Green by Lane Smith, and Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell. Did you all listen to the awards live? Robin is in Dallas and will … [Read More...]
Review of the Week
Review of The One and Only Ivan
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate; illus. by Patricia Castelao Intermediate Harper/HarperCollins 305 pp. 1/12 978-0-06-199225-4 $16.99 g e-book ed. 978-0-06-210198-3 $9.99 “I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. / It’s not as easy as it looks.” In short chapters (the book has an open layout and frequent illustrations) that have the look and feel of prose poems, Applegate has captured the voice of Ivan, a captive gorilla who lives at the “Exit … [Read More...]
To aid in your Tuesday-morning quarterbacking
. . . Kitty has posted the Horn Book reviews of all the ALA award and honor books. (And I am very proud of my metaphor however trite as it was only on Sunday that our advertising manager Al Berman was explaining to me that I really needed to get more … [Read More...]
Must-see TV
This morning, shrieks of laughter filled our normally quiet office as the Horn Book staff watched The Colbert Report's Maurice Sendak interviews. If you haven't seen these, head right over to Comedy Central's website; they're not to be missed! … [Read More...]
Big Deal in Big D
I know you have all heard the Youth Media Awards compared to the Oscars, but that has never been how I felt. I mean, we are all wearing convention-wear (sensible shoes and the like), toting bulging cloth bookbags, gripping paper, pen, various … [Read More...]
Books to Unite the Digitally Divided Family
This article is adapted from the keynote speech author Richard Peck delivered at the Horn Book at Simmons Colloquium, “Engaging Worlds, Real and Imagined,” on October 1, 2011. Ladies and gentlemen, winners of the Boston Globe–Horn Book … [Read More...]
Recommended Books
Review of The One and Only Ivan
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate; illus. by Patricia Castelao Intermediate Harper/HarperCollins 305 pp. 1/12 978-0-06-199225-4 $16.99 g e-book ed. … [Read More...]
Reviews of the 2012 Belpre Illustrator Award winners
Winner: Duncan Tonatiuh for Diego Rivera: His World and Ours (Abrams) Review in The Horn Book Guide, fall 2011 The first half of the book provides background on Rivera's life and the inspiration … [Read More...]
Reviews of the 2012 Batchelder winners
Winner: Eerdmans for Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak; trans. from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson; illus. by Philip Hopman Review in The Horn Book Magazine, November/December 2011 It really happened: … [Read More...]
Reviews of the 2012 Belpre Author Award winners
Winner: Guadalupe Garcia McCall for Under the Mesquite (Lee & Low Books) Review in The Horn Book Guide, spring 2012 Eldest Lupita leads her seven younger siblings through the uncertainty of … [Read More...]
ALA Awards 2012: Horn Book reviews of the winners
The most prestigious honors in children's literature, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, were awarded to Jack Gantos and Chris Raschka on January 23, 2012, at the American Library … [Read More...]
Interviews
Kadir Nelson Talks with Roger
Roger Sutton: Your new book, Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, weaves together historical facts—about slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation, real people like Rosa Parks … [Read More...]
Five questions for Jane Yolen
For a writer so notoriously prolific (closing in on three hundred titles, according to Wikipedia) Jane Yolen is notable for maintaining a high standard of writing across many genres, including poetry, … [Read More...]
Qu’ils mangent de la brioche
In preparing for an interview this afternoon with Daniel Handler about his and Maira Kalman's forthcoming (and terrific) book Why We Broke Up, I came across "Thirteen Observations Made by Lemony … [Read More...]
Five Questions for Melissa Sweet
The first helium-filled creatures to bob through Manhattan on Thanksgiving morning were brought to being by master puppeteer Tony Sarg in the 1920s. Now master illustrator Melissa Sweet, a prolific … [Read More...]
Five questions for Claire A. Nivola
An earlier picture book by Claire A. Nivola, Elisabeth, told about the true experience of her mother, Ruth, a Jewish child whose family fled Nazi Germany. In Orani: My Father’s Village, … [Read More...]
The Horn Book Social Club