Graphic novels are everywhere nowadays, and for good reason. Their narrative style offers many entry points for readers: they can be colorful, visually engaging, often diverse, and enjoyable. Some publishers have launched imprints devoted to them, strengthening commitment to the category’s future and giving librarians more opportunities to cheerlead, share, and...
Here in New England it’s just about fall (starts this Saturday), and last weekend we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The start of Rosh Hashanah also coincided with the start of National Hispanic Heritage Latine/x Heritage Month (September 15–October 15), with this month’s issue of Notes dedicated to...
The revision for my next picture book was late. I usually meet my deadlines, but this time I had a good excuse. A routine colonoscopy had revealed a large tumor, and it was cancerous. My treatment schedule would last a year, including two rounds of chemo, radiation, and two surgeries. As...
A few things have changed for the Horn Book since our last issue when Martha V. Parravano, “Keeper of the Horn Book Flame” and the one-and-only recipient of our MVP Award, announced her (semi)retirement; read, re-read, and have a good cry over her July/August editorial, “What a Gift That Is.”...
We book people can be suckers for books about book people. See “Make way for...book-makers,” featuring seven picture-book biographies about authors, illustrators, editors, and a sculptor of literary ducklings. Visitors can quack at those famous creatures at the Boston Public Garden year-round; a little farther north, in Brunswick, Maine, visit the Curtis...
Cover art by Renée Kurilla from It's Fall! The Writer’s Page: Marisabina Russo’s journey from picture books to a graphic memoir. Field Notes: Amanda Lawrence on hosting a middle-grade graphic novel book club. A poem by Lynne Rae Perkins. Horn BOO!: a roundup of Halloween and seasonal books....
“Bear with Me” (ha!) as I present our annual Back-to-School issue of Notes from the Horn Book, featuring our Five Questions interview with Kerascoët about their BTS-perfect picture book of the same name. My kids have bear-ly been out a month, so we’re still in the dog days; if Summer...
Not all deserving books bring home ALA awards. The books that didn’t win. Not-dog Every Dog in the Neighborhood by Philip C. Stead; illus. by Matthew Cordell Don’t Worry, Murray by David Ezra Stein Locked out Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall Swept away A Day for...