We’re sitting in the children’s section of the public library in Springdale, Utah while we’re camped at Zion National Park…it’s a fantastic library, and would be even if it didn’t have this amazing canyon view from the window. I noticed … Continue reading
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Down the Colorado: John Wesley Powell, the One-Armed ExplorerWritten and illustrated by Deborah Kogan RayFrances Foster Books/FS & GAges 8-10Map, author’s note, chronology, bibliography I’m joining the many bloggers in Nonfiction Mondays, a roundup found at Anastasia Suen’s blog Picture … Continue reading
All throughout my career in children’s bookselling/publishing, I have heard and read many debates about so-called “issue books” – yes, of course they are necessary, but are they good literature? Why do we want kids to read them? Etc…I could … Continue reading
While in Tucson during December we noticed a small announcement in a local paper about two traveling exhibitions of international books published for children and teens. So we dusted ourselves off and drove over to the university for the one … Continue reading
What is it about fantasy that is SO gratifying, especially when you’re sick? I spent the last few days watching The Lord of the Rings on DVD, and reading Libba Bray’s The Sweet Far Thing, the last in the trilogy … Continue reading
OK, so I know I said that as a former bookseller I was often tempted to sell books by saying “this is a great boy book,” but honestly, starting with Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island and the Hardy Boys, I was … Continue reading
In my opinion, Deborah Wiles is the Fannie Flagg of children’s books. She writes with that same humor (OK, a bit more G-rated) about those same people in those same Southern towns…even when writing about death or some other heavy … Continue reading
Why? Well, he’s an extremely nice guy, for starters. And he gets paid to read children’s books, review children’s books, and write books about – well, children’s books. As a matter of fact, I think we should make Leonard a … Continue reading
There are certain publishing people whose opinion I will always listen to, and Barry Cunningham is one of them. We got to meet Barry a few years ago when he was squiring Cornelia Funke to the Educational Paperback Association’s annual … Continue reading
I think it would be a blast to write a story starring Clementine, Ramona Quimby, Judy Moody and any of the other irrepressible elementary school heroines. The result would be kind of like a junior version of Cynthia Voigt’s Bad … Continue reading