Publications about books for children and young adults
The Horn Book's blogs include Read Roger, Out of the Box, and Calling Caldecott. You can follow them all here, or individually via each blog's own URL and/or RSS feed.
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 you may have heard a little something about. It was adapted for the screen in [...]
In his 2012 Boston Globe–Horn Book Picture Book Award speech, illustrator Jon Klassen talks about having a false memory of a scene from the movie There Will Be Blood. Meanwhile, Horn Book Magazine reader Martha Bennett Stiles had the same experience with the book Mountolive. Memory is a funny thing. Has that ever happened to [...]
While walking in the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain this weekend, I finally witnessed what Mac Barnett was talking about in his 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Picture Book Award speech for Extra Yarn. (BTW, the 2013 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards announcement is coming up!) And here’s a view of the city of Boston from Peters [...]
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 reading? I’m juggling audio editions of The Woman Upstairs and Inferno on my phone; The Oracle Glass and [...]
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 [...]
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 Lucy’s early childhood in New York City, growing up in a family of foodies with great faith in [...]
We’re super-psyched to present our annual Summer Reading List, complete with free downloadable PDF sampler. These new books, published 2012-2013, have been hand-selected for kids of all ages, from preschoolers to teenagers. There’s (more than one) something for everyone! So hop on a hammock, sprawl on a beach — and don’t forget to bring a [...]
I had a great time at the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California Spring Workshop last Saturday in South Pasadena. Kristin Fontichiaro and I each spoke about the Common Core State Standards, she offering a great perspective on the ways school and public librarians can support CCSS curriculums while I pondered what effects and implications [...]
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 Robin’s review here. Robin L. Smith: What was the first Beatles song you memorized? Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer: The [...]
We just posted “Peter Rabbit and the Tale of the Fierce Bad Publisher,” Caroline Fraser’s excellent article about Emma Thompson’s The Further Adventures of Peter Rabbit and Frederick Warne’s methods for getting around copyright laws in order to keep protecting its cash cow. Or bunny. (Cash bunny? Buck bunny?) As someone who occasionally needs to [...]
