Featured Posts
The Book That Changed My Life: Advice for an Author
I came across Alice Schertle’s book Advice for a Frog, published in 1995 and illustrated by Norman Green, at a time when I was still trying to find my voice in children’s literature. I’d written two middle-grade novels (rejected); countless … [Read More...]
The Book That Changed My Life: Barbara’s Book
I decided when I was a teenager that I wanted to write and illustrate children’s books. I’d always considered myself an artist, but when I was in high school I narrowed my focus. Children’s books would be my life’s work. This decision came to me, in … [Read More...]
Week in Review, May 14th-18th
This week on hbook.com… 2018 Summer Reading Recommendations: Picture Books, Easy Readers and Primary Grades, Intermediate, Middle School, High School plus 5Q for Stephanie Parsley Ledyard and Jason Chin on Pie Is for Sharing From the March/April … [Read More...]
The Book That Changed My Life: Oh, What a Circus
Dr. Seuss sketched the spiritual background of my childhood — particularly in books such as If I Ran the Circus, If I Ran the Zoo, and On Beyond Zebra! As a kid, I loved weird beasts, and each of these books featured a menagerie of goggle-eyed, … [Read More...]
Happy 100th Birthday, Joe Krush
In a Venn diagram of people who have reached the notable age of one hundred, and of outstanding artists and illustrators, the intersecting circle would be quite small, and would include Joe Krush. Joe celebrates his centenary on May 18, 2018. Along … [Read More...]
Blogs
Horn Book summer reading
Our recommended books for summer are here; may you and yours find among them choices for true free reading. For my own, I'm finishing Susie Steiner's Missing, Presumed and see that there is a sequel. It's a start. You? … [Read More...]
Happy 100th Birthday, Joe Krush
In a Venn diagram of people who have reached the notable age of one hundred, and of outstanding artists and illustrators, the intersecting circle would be quite small, and would include Joe Krush. Joe celebrates his centenary on May 18, 2018. Along … [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...]
May Picture Books on the Radar
Happy May, everyone! Is it just us or does the year feel like it's flying by? Pretty soon, we'll be at the midway mark of 2018. Before we get there, let's check in, as we've been doing all of this year, to see what’s being published this month and … [Read More...]
Review of the Week
Review of The Belles
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton Middle School, High School Freeform/Disney 440 pp. 2/18 978-1-4847-2849-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4847-3249-6 $10.99 In the fantastical courtly society of Orléans, everyone is born ugly — “skin pallid, gray, and shriveled, eyes cherry red, hair like straw — as if all the color was leeched out of them.” Everyone, that is, except the Belles, the few girls in each generation blessed by the Goddess of Beauty with innate loveliness (of diverse … [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
Review of The Belles
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton Middle School, High School Freeform/Disney 440 pp. 2/18 978-1-4847-2849-9 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4847-3249-6 $10.99 In the fantastical courtly … [Read More...]
Review of Night Out
Night Out by Daniel Miyares; illus. by the author Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. g 5/18 978-1-5247-6572-9 $17.99 Library ed. 978-1-5247-6573-6 $20.99 e-book ed. … [Read More...]
Review of Pie Is for Sharing
Pie Is for Sharing by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard; illus. by Jason Chin Preschool, Primary Porter/Roaring Brook 32 pp. 5/18 978-1-62672-562-1 $17.99 This idyllic, joyously inclusive … [Read More...]
Review of A Round of Robins
A Round of Robins by Katie Hesterman; illus. by Sergio Ruzzier Primary Paulsen/Penguin 40 pp. g 3/18 978-0-399-54778-2 $16.99 Sixteen poems follow a pair of robin parents as … [Read More...]
2018 Summer Reading Recommendations
Pie Is for Sharing, as our Five Questions interviewees remind us, and so is this special issue of Notes from the Horn Book, which presents our 2018 Summer Reading list. We’ve selected our top ten … [Read More...]
Interviews
Kirby Larson 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 I met Kirby Larson when she won the … [Read More...]
Five questions for Stephanie Parsley Ledyard and Jason Chin
In Pie Is for Sharing, written by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard and illustrated by Jason Chin (Porter/Roaring Brook, 4–8 years), an inclusive community gathers for a lakeside picnic as a contemplative but … [Read More...]
Alexa Donne 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 "Jane Eyre in Space," said the email … [Read More...]
Making a Difference in Our Nation’s Library: An Interview with Dr. Carla Hayden
Carla Hayden, the first female and first African American Librarian of Congress, talks with Horn Book editor in chief Roger Sutton — her library school classmate! — about Bright April, mirror books, … [Read More...]
April 2018 Horn Book Herald: Spring News: Five questions for Margarita Engle
Poet Margarita Engle is the author of poetry collections (Bravo!: Poems About Amazing Hispanics), picture-book biographies (Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music; The Poet Slave of … [Read More...]
