This week on hbook.com… We wish you a happy, healthy, and well-read New Year! A look back at The Horn Book’s highlights of 2015 Calling Caldecott begins voting on Monday, January 4th! Reviews of the Week: Picture Book: On the Ball by Brian Pinkney Fiction: City of Halves by Lucy Inglis Nonfiction: Game Changer: John McLendon […]
Archives for December 2015
2015 in review
December 31, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Happy New Year! We hope your year is full of great reads. Before we ring in 2016, though, let’s take a look back at 2015 — we had a very busy year! BGHB 2015 Fanfare 2015 ALA 2015 coverage Remembering Marcia Brown, Dorothy Butler, George Nicholson, Mal Peet, Sir Terry Pratchett, and Vera B. Williams […]
Pre-voting instructions + ballot 1 choices
December 31, 2015 by 4 Comments
This year, Calling Caldecott has zoomed by! It’s not just our imagination. Last year there were 22 weeks between Labor Day and ALA; this year, only 18. But it feels rushed every year because there are so many good books out there. Even posting three times a week — and sometimes two books to a post […]
Last show and tell of 2015!
December 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
When Out of the Box started over five years ago (!!), it was primarily show-and-tell-type posts: a look at what we literally pulled out of boxes we received. The scope of the blog has widened considerably since then — adding app reviews, movie reviews, event recaps, and lots more — but I still collect notable […]
Review of Game Changer: John McLendon and the Secret Game
December 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Game Changer: John McLendon and the Secret Game by John Coy; illus. by Randy DuBurke Primary, Intermediate Carolrhoda 32 pp. 10/15 978-1-4677-2604-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-1-4677-8810-6 $17.99 Based closely on a 1996 New York Times article by Scott Ellsworth, this picture book tells the dramatic story of an illegal college basketball game planned and played […]
Review of City of Halves
December 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment
City of Halves by Lucy Inglis Middle School, High School Chicken House/Scholastic 361 pp. 11/15 978-0-545-82958-8 $17.99 g e-book ed. 978-0-545-83054-6 $17.99 While on reconnaissance for her lawyer father in the City of London, sixteen-year-old Lily is viciously attacked by a two-headed dog and discovers the existence of the other half of the City she […]
The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep audiobook
December 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
or “You’re getting tiiiiiiired. You’re getting sleeeeeeepy. Avoid this post if you want to accomplish aaaaaaaanything today.” Remember The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep (Crown)? Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin’s runaway bestseller came out in October, and uses “sophisticated psychological techniques” to tell children’s unconscious minds to sleep. Is this a good idea? I dunno. I […]
Picking up dropped stitches
December 28, 2015 by 1 Comment
We are down to the wire, book-coverage-wise; after this post, it’s on to gearing up for our end-of-the-year Mock Caldecott vote. We try to discuss as many eligible picture books as we can here, but inevitably we miss some. This post is intended to catch some of those missed titles. I’m taking a slightly unorthodox approach […]
Review of On the Ball
December 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
On the Ball by Brian Pinkney; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Disney-Hyperion 32 pp. 9/15 978-1-4847-2329-6 $17.99 Pinkney’s latest picture-book offering begins on a soccer field, then takes flight as a young boy’s imagination soars. The opening text reads, “Owen loved playing ball,” and the accompanying illustrations show a boy first dribbling and then […]
Week in Review, December 21st-24th
December 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
This week on hbook.com… From the January/February 2016 Horn Book Magazine: “The Writer’s Page: On Writing the American Familia“ by Meg Medina “What Can Data Tell Us?: An Agent’s Thoughts on the 2015 Nielsen Children’s Book Summit” by Stephen Barbara Marieke Nijkamp Talks with Roger Reviews of the Week: Picture Book: Samurai Santa: A Very […]
