Publications about books for children and young adults
Robin Smith is a second-grade teacher at the Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a reviewer for Kirkus and The Horn Book Magazine and has served on multiple award committees.
Poison by Bridget Zinn Middle School Hyperion 280 pp. 3/13 978-1-4231-3993-5 $16.99 g Sixteen-year-old Kyra is a girl with more than her share of secrets. Living in the world of witches, dwarves, potion masters, shape shifters, and the like, she is reluctant to trust anyone, even her best friend and the future queen, Ariana. Readers [...]
It’s about time for us to roll up our tent, shovel our snow, and retreat for a few months of reading and planning. Calling Caldecott might be back here and there if necessary, but mostly we will be waiting on our porches and offices and bookstores for books to talk about starting in September. For [...]
Though we primarily chat about the Caldecott, we get downright giddy when some of out favorites get recognized by other smart folks. The Gryphon award was announced today and two of out favorites are there. This will make Lolly smile. Feel free to post links to other picture book awards in the comments. Many of us [...]
Here are a few pictures from my day. I did not take pictures at the publisher breakfast. It was a tad crowded and I was balancing a coffee cup on my knee. But I did get to hear about a bunch of new books. Always a good thing. Some librarians had volunteered to help out [...]
Well, I am trying to do something I have never done in WordPress before…insert pictures. I must apologize to you and Lolly for the blurriness of said pictures. Turns out that spiffy camera you all have in your iPhone is not the same as the one in my iTouch. First, I have been looking at [...]
Picking honor books is one of the mysterious parts of the whole book committee experience. On the Caldecott committee, the manual is strangely quiet on the question of honor books. After the winner is (finally, sometimes) chosen, ”The committee then addresses the question of whether to name honor books. The committee may name as many or [...]
A number of you run Mock Caldecotts at your school, library, book club, car pool…wherever 15 or so are gathered in the name of picture books. I hope you will share your results right here in the comments. I think many of us would love to know HOW you conduct the reading, discussion, and voting. [...]
It’s amazing anything got done last night, what with me checking the results every thirteen seconds or so! My finger was permanently adhered to the refresh button, I tell you! Lolly has constructed this dandy table and I have done the math. (Fingers crossed that I haven’t messed anything up. Frantic calculating while second graders [...]
I interrupt my neurotic checking of the voting progress for a little clarification and a plea. FIRST, the clarification. Over the past few days I have read or heard the phrase “list of Caldecott contenders” more times that I care to admit. Often people are referring to our puny list as THE list of Caldecott [...]
Booker T. Washington is best known for founding Tuskegee Institute and writing Up from Slavery. Some children might know him as the little boy with a thirst for learning in More than Anything Else. Older readers might be aware of the differences between the philosophies of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington during their time. [...]
