Summer Reading Recommendations 2013
Need suggestions for beach reading or books to bring to summer camp? We’ve hand-picked some new favorites, all published 2012–2013, that are ideal for the season. Download a free PDF perfect for sharing with teachers, parents, and of course, kids
Featured Posts
Bernard Waber (1921-2013)
We are saddened to learn of the death of author-illustrator Bernard Waber last week. Waber, the author of more than thirty children's books, is best known for his books featuring urban crocodile Lyle (The House on East 88th Street; Lyle, Lyle, … [Read More...]
From the Guide: Graphic Novels for Children
Accessible text matched with dynamic illustrations in engaging cartoon-panel layouts help make graphic novels inviting packages for younger readers, struggling or reluctant readers, and comics-loving kids. The following sampling of recommended titles … [Read More...]
A whole bunch of questions for Lucy Knisley
In her adult graphic-novel memoir Relish: My Life in the Kitchen (First Second, April 2013), Lucy Knisley portrays specific periods of her life and their associated “taste-memories” in a series of witty, touching vignettes. Relish begins with … [Read More...]
What’s on YOUR list?
Katie Bircher and Elissa Gershowitz bring you our annual list of summer reading recommendations for kids. Strictly recreational, of course, and librarians are welcome to place a "COMMON-CORE FREE!" sticker on the PDF. What about your own … [Read More...]
The Silver Linings Play…book vs. movie
Crossover writer Matthew Quick, author of young adult novels Sorta Like a Rock Star, Boy 21, and the soon-to-be-released Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, made his debut in 2008 with The Silver Linings Playbook (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), an adult title … [Read More...]
January 2013 reviews of the week
As promised, we're going to pop up from time to time off-season to keep us all up to date with new books that will be eligible for the next Caldecott. Every week, this website posts a review from the latest issue of Horn Book Magazine. Whenever … [Read More...]
From the editor — May 2013
Many of the books in this issue of Notes implicitly enjoin us to look up from the page and head out into nature (or, as my mother would say, “put down that book and go out and play!”). As I write this, we’re just coming off of Screen-Free Week, … [Read More...]
Review of the Week
Review of Kelsey Green, Reading Queen
Kelsey Green, Reading Queen [Franklin School Friends] by Claudia Mills; illus. by Rob Shepperson Primary Ferguson/Farrar 122 pp. 5/13 978-0-374-37485-3 $15.99 g e-book ed. 978-0-374-37488-4 $9.99 Kelsey might be the reading queen of her third-grade class, but her throne is threatened when principal Mr. Boone announces a school-wide reading challenge: two thousand books read before April, and he’ll shave off his beard. What to do? Like every … [Read More...]
App Review of the Week
Even Monsters Get Sick app review
Harry’s got a new pet monster named Zub, and it only cost him three stickers, two sticks of gum, and one skateboard. Problem is, it seems like a bad trade: all Zub does is sit around, gurgle, and drip green goo everywhere. It’s not until after Zub sneezes that Harry realizes his monster isn’t lazy and boring — he’s just sick. A doctor’s visit, a bit of medicine, some serious nurturing, and several cans of soup later, Zub perks up, and the two friends can finally have real … [Read More...]
Recommended Books
Review of Kelsey Green, Reading Queen
Kelsey Green, Reading Queen [Franklin School Friends] by Claudia Mills; illus. by Rob Shepperson Primary Ferguson/Farrar 122 pp. 5/13 978-0-374-37485-3 $15.99 … [Read More...]
From the Guide: Graphic Novels for Children
Accessible text matched with dynamic illustrations in engaging cartoon-panel layouts help make graphic novels inviting packages for younger readers, struggling or reluctant readers, and comics-loving … [Read More...]
Summer Reading Recommendations 2013
Need suggestions for beach reading or books to bring to summer camp? We’ve hand-picked some new favorites, all published 2012–2013, that are ideal for the season. Download a free PDF perfect for … [Read More...]
Review of The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny)
The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny) by Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer; illus. by Stacy Innerst Primary Harcourt 40 pp. 3/13 978-0-547-50991-4 … [Read More...]
YA mother-daughter reading recommendations
Last summer, website mom.me asked us to contribute to their feature "Books to Read With Your Teen Daughter." Here are our recommendations from that article — plus a few new ones! — to get you … [Read More...]
Interviews
A whole bunch of questions for Lucy Knisley
In her adult graphic-novel memoir Relish: My Life in the Kitchen (First Second, April 2013), Lucy Knisley portrays specific periods of her life and their associated “taste-memories” in a series of … [Read More...]
Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer on The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny)
In the May/June 2013 Horn Book Magazine, reviewer Robin Smith asked Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer, authors of The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny), about the Beatles' music in their own lives. … [Read More...]
Five questions for Emily Jenkins
Author Emily Jenkins seems equally at home in picture books and intermediate fiction (and even — shh! — in YA, under nom de plume E. Lockhart). Like several of Emily’s previous books, her … [Read More...]
Five questions for Jeanne Birdsall
The first book about the feisty Penderwick sisters, The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, won the National Book Award in 2005. Since then, the family … [Read More...]
Five Questions for Anna Dewdney
Llama Llama... author-illustrator and rock star to preschoolers Anna Dewdney will be our special guest at the Fostering Lifelong Learners conference on April 25th, joining in the conversation about … [Read More...]
