Picture Book News...

-

Somehow, I missed two really extraordinary picture books when I was composing my end of the year list. I am lucky enough to have a coworker who is also a middle school librarian and she and I discuss books and swap websites all the time. I may not have said it here on this blog, but I have said it before - librarians are supercool people with, naturally, really great resources and lots to share and I am grateful to know a few in person and a handful of others through their excellent blogs. At the beginning of December last year, Georgia sent me a link to a list of Books to Give Kids... Even Those You Don't Know Very Well and she printed up a copy for our kid's-book-shy coworkers. The list was compiled by Lisa Von Drasek for EarlyWord which is an amazing website that helps librarians stay current (or more than current) on what's coming up and out in the world of books. I was very pleased to see some of my favorites on the list and thrilled to find books I'd never heard of. Because I'd never heard of them, that meant I had to special order them into the store where I work or track them down at the library, leaving me no time to get them on to my Best Picture Books of 2010 list.  But, they are here now!  

Also, a few reviews of a book or two that just hit the shelves and are worth sharing!

And, here are a some of those blogs by librarians that are always a great resource:

100 Scope Notes
Travis Jonker, Elementary School Librarian

Pink Me
(YNL) Your Neighborhood Librarian

One Librarian's Book Reviews
Melissa, Librarian

Charlotte's Library
Charlotte, Archaeologist by day, Friends of a small New England Library by night
(Don't miss the fabulous round-up of middle grade sci-fi/fantasy posts from other blogs that Charlotte compiles every Sunday.)

Fuse#8
Elizabeth Bird, librarian at the Children's Center at the 42nd Street Library in NYC


Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more