Featured Posts
Calling Caldecott 2019 ballot #1 results
The first round of voting is complete! Thanks to everyone who weighed in. As regular Calling Caldecott readers know — but it bears repeating for new folks — the real Caldecott Committee is required to vote for three books on each ballot, … [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 Globe-Horn Book Award for A Drop of Water, Walter … [Read More...]
Week in Review, January 14th – 18th
This week on hbook.com… Calling Caldecott's first 2019 Mock Caldecott ballot is open now until Monday! From the January/February 2019 issue of The Horn Book Magazine: "Why Stop at Windows and Mirrors?: Children’s Book Prisms" by Uma … [Read More...]
2019 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
From the BCCB's Deborah Stevenson, chair of the O'Dell Award committee: Champaign, IL (January 18, 2019)—The 2019 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to Finding Langston, by Lesa Cline-Ransome, published by Holiday … [Read More...]
Calling Caldecott 2019 ballot #1 is open
Here is a link to the 2019 Calling Caldecott ballot. It will be open until 9 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, January 22. Sometime that afternoon, we will post the results and a link to the second ballot. [Note: because Monday is a federal holiday, we decided to … [Read More...]
Blogs
2019 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
From the BCCB's Deborah Stevenson, chair of the O'Dell Award committee: Champaign, IL (January 18, 2019)—The 2019 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to Finding Langston, by Lesa Cline-Ransome, published by Holiday … [Read More...]
Burn, baby, burn
These days, I expect fire and fury when I look at the news, but imagine my surprise when I was assigning reviews yesterday and unwittingly sorted these four books into the same pile: An instance of art imitating life? Perhaps. But also perhaps … [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...]
Calling Caldecott 2019 ballot #1 results
The first round of voting is complete! Thanks to everyone who weighed in. As regular Calling Caldecott readers know — but it bears repeating for new folks — the real Caldecott Committee is required to vote for three books on each ballot, … [Read More...]
Review of the Week
Review of Max & the Midknights
Max & the Midknights by Lincoln Peirce; illus. by the author Intermediate Crown 280 pp. g 1/19 978-1-101-93108-0 $13.99 Library ed. 978-1-101-93109-7 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-1-101-93110-3 $8.99 It’s the Middle Ages, and redheaded Max is Uncle Budrick’s troubadour apprentice. Max longs to become a knight, but there’s just one problem: Max is a girl, a fact neatly not revealed until almost fifty pages in. She’s shocked when she learns that girls aren’t allowed to … [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
Books mentioned in the January 2019 issue of Nonfiction Notes from the Horn Book
General knowledge 13½ Incredible Things You Need to Know About Everything Gr. 4–6, middle school 176 pp. DK 2017 Trade ISBN 978-1-4654-6112-4 DiPiazza, Francesca Davis Fandom: Fic … [Read More...]
Graphic biographies and memoirs
Agrimbau, Diego Anne Frank Illustrated by Fabián Mezquita. Gr. 4–6 80 pp. Capstone Agrimbau, Diego Leonardo da Vinci Illustrated by Diego Aballay. Gr. 4–6 80 pp. … [Read More...]
Weather and climate
de Seve, Karen Little Kids First Big Book of Weather Gr. K–3 128 pp. National Geographic A comprehensive, age-appropriate exploration of hot, cold, windy, cloudy, and rainy weather, with … [Read More...]
Exploring our oceans
Cottman, Michael H. Shackles from the Deep: Tracing the Path of a Sunken Slave Ship, a Bitter Past, and a Rich Legacy Gr. 4–6, middle school 127 pp. National Geographic The ship Henrietta … [Read More...]
General knowledge
13½ Incredible Things You Need to Know About Everything Gr. 4–6, middle school 176 pp. DK This browsable compendium serves up random trivia on eighty wide-ranging subjects. Each busy, … [Read More...]
Interviews
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...]
Five questions for Caroline Cala
If you were a young reader in the nineties (or even if you weren’t), there’s a good chance you remember Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club books. Author Caroline Cala definitely does, and her hilarious … [Read More...]
2018 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Winner Interviews
On October 6th, the morning following the 2018 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards ceremony, Roger Sutton sat down to chat with several of the winners and judges. Watch their conversations below; click on … [Read More...]
Publishers’ Preview: Picture Books: Five Questions for Laura Vaccaro Seeger
This interview originally appeared in the November/December 2018 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Picture Books, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a … [Read More...]
Publishers’ Preview: Picture Books: Five Questions for Maira Kalman
This interview originally appeared in the November/December 2018 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Picture Books, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a … [Read More...]
