Featured Posts
Week in Review, February 18th – 22nd
This week on hbook.com… Reviews of the Week: Picture Book: Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight by Duncan Tonatiuh Fiction: Duck & Goose: A Gift for Goose [Step into Reading] by Tad Hills Nonfiction: Let ’Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the … [Read More...]
“The Truth of Capten Underpants!” (More fanfiction)
It's February vacation week in Massachusetts — hang on — didn't we just have a winter break? Why, yes, we did: Winter Break: The Aftermath. Elissa's post inspired me to pull out some of my favorite comics by one of my favorite comic creators, my … [Read More...]
But what IS reality, really?
Please join Children's Books Boston for "Fact and Fiction: How and Why Authors Draw Upon Reality to Build Fiction," a panel discussion at Simmons University on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. The panelists include novelists Liza Ketchum, Malinda Lo, and … [Read More...]
Be “the hero and the author” of your story
If you have the opportunity to see Elizabeth Acevedo speak, go. I was lucky enough to attend two of her events as the inaugural Gwen Ifill Mentor-in-Residence at Simmons University last week, and I still can't get enough.* (And that's in addition … [Read More...]
Week in Review, February 11th – 15th
This week on hbook.com… February 2019 issue of Notes from the Horn Book: #5Q for Claire Hartfield, intermediate/middle-school nonfiction for Black History Month, picture books that model self-love, community, and pride for very young children of … [Read More...]
Blogs
But what IS reality, really?
Please join Children's Books Boston for "Fact and Fiction: How and Why Authors Draw Upon Reality to Build Fiction," a panel discussion at Simmons University on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. The panelists include novelists Liza Ketchum, Malinda Lo, and … [Read More...]
Week in Review, February 18th – 22nd
This week on hbook.com… Reviews of the Week: Picture Book: Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight by Duncan Tonatiuh Fiction: Duck & Goose: A Gift for Goose [Step into Reading] by Tad Hills Nonfiction: Let ’Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the … [Read More...]
Haiku: A Small Poem with Great Potential
snow melting the village brimming over… with children! --Issa (1763-1828) (translated by David Lanoue) Yes, I was taught that a haiku, a short poem that originated in Japan centuries ago, was supposed to consist of three lines of five, seven, … [Read More...]
The 2019 Robin Smith Picture Book Prize
Perched on her rocking chair (brightly painted by her students with Alabama outsider artist Chris Clark), teacher Robin Smith would launch with glee and gusto into a beloved picture book, her second graders in a semicircle at her feet. Every day for … [Read More...]
Review of the Week
Review of Let ’Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People’s Champion
Let ’Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People’s Champion by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson; illus. by Gordon C. James Primary, Intermediate Carolrhoda 40 pp. g 2/19 978-1-5124-9808-0 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5145-4180-1 $18.99 Nelson (Bad News for Outlaws, rev. 11/09) returns to the Old West for this engrossing picture-book biography of African American cowboy and bronc buster George Fletcher (1890–1973). It wasn’t easy being one of the few black people in Pendleton, Oregon, but … [Read More...]
App Review of the Week
Sesame Street app review
Can you tell me how to get to…tons of wonderful educational videos and games for preschoolers? Just like the neighborhood itself, the Sesame Street companion app (Sesame Workshop, 2014; iOS and Android) is the place to be: a free account gives a child access to a large selection of games as well as new and classic (ad-free) video clips from the television show. The home screen offers a handful of featured videos and games. Below that, large icons link to additional videos organized by topic … [Read More...]
Recommended Books
Review of Let ’Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People’s Champion
Let ’Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People’s Champion by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson; illus. by Gordon C. James Primary, Intermediate Carolrhoda 40 pp. g 2/19 978-1-5124-9808-0 … [Read More...]
Review of Duck & Goose: A Gift for Goose
Duck & Goose: A Gift for Goose [Step into Reading] by Tad Hills; illus. by the author Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 32 pp. 1/19 978-0-525-64490-3 $4.99 Library ed. … [Read More...]
Review of Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight
Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight by Duncan Tonatiuh; illus. by the author Middle School, High School Abrams ComicArts 24 pp. 8/18 978-1-4197-2854-9 $19.99 “You don’t know our names … [Read More...]
Review of The Mad Wolf’s Daughter audiobook
The Mad Wolf’s Daughter by Diane Magras; read by Joshua Manning Intermediate, Middle School Listening Library Rev. 7/18 6 CDs 6.62 hrs. 978-0-525-53134-0 $50.00 Drest is … [Read More...]
Review of Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet
Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet by Curtis Manley; illus. by Jessica Lanan Primary Roaring Brook 48 pp. 1/19 978-1-250-15533-7 $18.99 The ever-fascinating idea that … [Read More...]
Interviews
Five questions for Claire Hartfield
With painstaking historical detail, Claire Hartfield’s nonfiction book A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 (Clarion, 12–16 years) recounts the week of violence in 1919 Chicago that left … [Read More...]
All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah: Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour
Welcome to the first stop on the 2019 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour! Author Emily Jenkins and illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky were kind enough to answer my questions about All-of-a-Kind Family … [Read More...]
Five questions for Newbery Medalist Meg Medina
Meg Medina is the winner of the 2019 Newbery Medal for Merci Suárez Changes Gears (read The Horn Book Magazine's starred review here). For our February issue of The Horn Book Herald: ALA Youth Media … [Read More...]
Walter Wick Talks with Roger
Talks with Roger is a sponsored supplement to our free monthly e-newsletter, Notes from the Horn Book. To receive Notes, sign up here. Sponsored by Twenty years after winning the Boston … [Read More...]
Publishers’ Preview: Middle-Grade Novels: Five Questions for Yoon Ha Lee
This interview originally appeared in the January/February 2019 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Middle-Grade Novels, an advertising supplement that allows participating … [Read More...]
