Horn Book Family Reading
Featured Posts
Twenty Yawns
Having won a 2015 Caldecott honor for Nana in the City, Lauren Castillo will surely be on the Caldecott committee's radar. This is a very different book in theme and even in palette, but once again she does here what she does best: keep the focus … [Read More...]
2016 BGHB Nonfiction Day
It's BGHB Week! Today we're honoring our 2016 Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Award winners. Read reviews of all of the 2016 nonfiction winners here; see below for more web extras to celebrate them. Join us on September 30-October 1, 2016, for the … [Read More...]
When the censor is you
While you all know what I think of the term "self-censorship" (which does not mean censorship by oneself so much as of oneself, and you are not your library), SLJ's survey of censorship by school librarians is eye-opening. Siân and I will be talking … [Read More...]
What do ordinary people do during war?
This is one of the questions from a student that gave me pause a long time ago. It was a sort of typical survey humanities course, and I vividly remember her interesting and important question. My own history education was often centered on primary … [Read More...]
A truly great guy
Clarion Books and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have asked me to invite you all to a memorial service for their longtime colleague and my friend James Cross Giblin, to be held at NYC's LGBT Center, 208 W. 13th St, on Friday, October 28th at 2:30PM. RSVP … [Read More...]
Blogs
When the censor is you
While you all know what I think of the term "self-censorship" (which does not mean censorship by oneself so much as of oneself, and you are not your library), SLJ's survey of censorship by school librarians is eye-opening. Siân and I will be talking … [Read More...]
5th Annual Boston Teen Author Festival recap
My, how the Boston Teen Author Festival has grown. The fifth annual celebration was held at the Cambridge Public Library and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School on Saturday, September 24th. The day began with an opening panel to introduce the … [Read More...]
What do ordinary people do during war?
This is one of the questions from a student that gave me pause a long time ago. It was a sort of typical survey humanities course, and I vividly remember her interesting and important question. My own history education was often centered on primary … [Read More...]
Twenty Yawns
Having won a 2015 Caldecott honor for Nana in the City, Lauren Castillo will surely be on the Caldecott committee's radar. This is a very different book in theme and even in palette, but once again she does here what she does best: keep the focus … [Read More...]
Review of the Week
Review of Lucy
Lucy by Randy Cecil; illus. by the author Primary, Intermediate Candlewick 144 pp. 8/16 978-0-7636-6808-2 $19.99 In the fictional, old-fashioned metropolis of Bloomville, store-clerk-by-day Sam moonlights as a (stage fright–suffering) juggler. His daughter Eleanor lavishes attention on the neighborhood dogs, including a stray named Lucy. When Lucy — who is often in survival mode — catches moments of respite, she dreams of her happy-home former life. The story builds in four … [Read More...]
App Review of the Week
Toca Builders app review
Toca Builders (Toca Boca, May 2016; iOS and Android) opens with a choice of an empty platform or one of several options where work has already started. That work involves constructing towers (or whatever you want) with colored blocks and painting these structures and/or the space around them. Each grid floats in what appears to be water; neither the builders nor the blocks are able to move beyond the edge. The six builder characters (whose names and attributes are listed in the section for … [Read More...]
Recommended Books
Books mentioned in the September 2016 issue of Nonfiction Notes from the Horn Book
National Parks Service at 100 Brown, Craig Mule Train Mail Gr. K–3 40 pp. Charlesbridge 2009 Trade ISBN 978-1-58089-187-5 Paperback ISBN 978-1-58089-188-2 Carson, Mary Kay Park … [Read More...]
Sports science and technology
Anniss, Matt The Impact of Technology in Sports Middle school, high school 56 pp. Heinemann Impact of Technology series. This survey takes a positive look at how technology has changed … [Read More...]
Folklore and mythology collections
Leupin, Herbert Tales from the Brothers Grimm Gr. K–3 156 pp. NorthSouth Nine tales, including "Snow White" and the less-familiar "Mother Holly," are straightforwardly retold and … [Read More...]
Internet safety and security
Gitlin, Martin and Goldstein, Margaret J. Cyber Attack Middle school, high school 72 pp. Twenty-First Century A tour of internet tinkering begins with innocently inventive cyber explorers … [Read More...]
National Parks Service at 100
Brown, Craig Mule Train Mail Gr. K–3 40 pp. Charlesbridge The book opens with postman Anthony at the top of the Grand Canyon loading mules with letters and packages. The landscape's … [Read More...]
Interviews
Fall 2016 Publishers’ Preview: Five Questions for Kevin Sands
This interview originally appeared in the September/October 2016 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Fall Publishers’ Preview, a semiannual advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a … [Read More...]
Fall 2016 Publishers’ Preview: Five Questions for Jennifer Mathieu
This interview originally appeared in the September/October 2016 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Fall Publishers’ Preview, a semiannual advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a … [Read More...]
Fall 2016 Publishers’ Preview: Five Questions for Helen & Thomas Docherty
This interview originally appeared in the September/October 2016 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Fall Publishers’ Preview, a semiannual advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a … [Read More...]
Fall 2016 Publishers’ Preview: Five Questions for Ed Vere
This interview originally appeared in the September/October 2016 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Fall Publishers’ Preview, a semiannual advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a … [Read More...]
Fall 2016 Publishers’ Preview: Five Questions for Brendan Wenzel
This interview originally appeared in the September/October 2016 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Fall Publishers’ Preview, a semiannual advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a … [Read More...]
