Featured Posts
Do we need another hero?
The plan to create a new Oscar for "outstanding achievement in popular film," meaning, it seems, superhero movies and action films, has me thinking about what that would look like in children's books. Although the Academy doesn't seem to have worked … [Read More...]
Week in Review, August 6th – 10th
This week on hbook.com… August 2018 Notes from the Horn Book newsletter: 5Q for Sergio Ruzzier on The Party and Other Stories [Fox + Chick] plus more uncommon graphic novels for beginners, picture-book bios of groundbreaking women in STEM, lies and … [Read More...]
Five questions for Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick
In new picture book Dear Substitute (Disney-Hyperion, 4–7 years), a little girl arrives at school to find her regular teacher out sick (“Dear Substitute, / Wow. This is a surprise. / What are you doing here?”). She works through the disorientation of … [Read More...]
August 2018 Horn Book Herald: Back-to-School Edition
Welcome to our back-to-school issue of The Horn Book Herald, in which we chat with Dear Substitute co-authors Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick, recommend new books for students of all ages as well as essential reading for parents and teachers, … [Read More...]
Illustrators — finally!
"Illustrators -- finally! Authors get all the credit for everything!" said my eight-year-old when I told him I was going to be spending time with a few. On Friday, July 27, I was invited to Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA, by the incomparable … [Read More...]
Blogs
Do we need another hero?
The plan to create a new Oscar for "outstanding achievement in popular film," meaning, it seems, superhero movies and action films, has me thinking about what that would look like in children's books. Although the Academy doesn't seem to have worked … [Read More...]
Week in Review, August 6th – 10th
This week on hbook.com… August 2018 Notes from the Horn Book newsletter: 5Q for Sergio Ruzzier on The Party and Other Stories [Fox + Chick] plus more uncommon graphic novels for beginners, picture-book bios of groundbreaking women in STEM, lies and … [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...]
June Picture Books on the Radar
Happy June, everyone! We hope you're all staying cool and are lucky enough to have at least a little bit of down time this summer. We are here to check in, as we've been doing all of this year, to see what’s being published this month and what looks … [Read More...]
Review of the Week
Review of The Itchy Book
The Itchy Book [Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!] by LeUyen Pham; illus. by the author; with additional illustrations by Mo Willems Primary Hyperion 58 pp. g 5/18 978-1-368-00564-7 $9.99 Pham’s early reader touches on herd-mentality and nonconformity in a make-believe prehistoric setting. A turtle snoozes in front of a rock etched with the words “Dinosaurs Do Not Scratch.” “Huh. You learn something new every day,” muses a passing bespectacled dinosaur kid. With instant, … [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 Itchy Book
The Itchy Book [Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!] by LeUyen Pham; illus. by the author; with additional illustrations by Mo Willems Primary Hyperion 58 pp. g 5/18 … [Read More...]
Review of Stop, Go, Yes, No!: A Story of Opposites
Stop, Go, Yes, No!: A Story of Opposites by Mike Twohy; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 32 pp. g 8/18 978-0-06-246933-5 $17.99 The playful and … [Read More...]
Review of Dear Substitute
Dear Substitute by Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick; illus. by Chris Raschka Primary Disney-Hyperion 40 pp. 6/18 978-1-4847-5022-3 $17.99 With her regular teacher out sick (we … [Read More...]
Five questions for Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick
In new picture book Dear Substitute (Disney-Hyperion, 4–7 years), a little girl arrives at school to find her regular teacher out sick (“Dear Substitute, / Wow. This is a surprise. / What are you … [Read More...]
August 2018 Back-to-School Horn Book Herald: High School
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo HarperTeen 361 pp 3/18 978-0-06-266280-4 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-266282-8 $9.99 Fifteen-year-old Xiomara, a self-described "brown and big and … [Read More...]
Interviews
Five questions for Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick
In new picture book Dear Substitute (Disney-Hyperion, 4–7 years), a little girl arrives at school to find her regular teacher out sick (“Dear Substitute, / Wow. This is a surprise. / What are you … [Read More...]
Five Questions for Sergio Ruzzier
The Party and Other Stories [Fox + Chick] (Chronicle; 5–8 years) stars two friends whose relationship isn’t always so smooth. It looks like a picture book from the outside, but simply structured … [Read More...]
Sarah Crossan 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 In Sarah Crossan's Moonrise, Joe goes … [Read More...]
An Interview with Denene Millner
In 2016 Chicago-based Agate Publishing announced the launch of a new line under its Bolden Books imprint dedicated to the work of African American authors. Writer, editor, journalist, and founder of … [Read More...]
Five questions for Catherine Gilbert Murdock
In The Book of Boy (Greenwillow, 9–12 years), we meet a young goatherd accompanying the pilgrim Secundus on his quest for relics, traveling from France to Rome in 1350. Boy is on a quest of his … [Read More...]
