Posts tagged with children-s-books
Buckets of tears
According to Publishers Weekly, HarperCollins Children’s Books plans to publish Neil Gaiman's poem What You Need to Be Warm as a picture book featuring illustrations by 13 well-known children's artists. Gaiman wrote the poem after asking his Twitter followers...
Agaton Sax and the Diamond Thieves, by Nils-Olof Franzen
As a lifelong fan of detective stories written for children, from Nate the Great to Bad Machinery, I was excited to hear about the recent reprints of Nils-Olof Franzen's Agaton Sax novels, a beloved but long out-of-print Swedish pastiche of the Sherlock Holmes stories. I had heard of these books, but only found one vintage edition—Agaton Sax and the Diamond Thieves—that was both in decent shape and affordable...
Snow & Rose, by Emily Winfield Martin
Emily Winfield Martin is best known as a visual artist, but her recent novel Snow & Rose proves she's a competent writer, as well. Inspired by the little-known “Snow White and Rose Red” fairytale, Martin has reworked it into a full-length children's book that is greatly enhanced by her delicate, richly colored illustrations...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Snow & Rose, by Emily Winfield Martin
This week's Book Giveaway is Snow & Rose, a fairytale retelling written (reasonably well) and illustrated (extremely well) by painter Emily Winfield Martin. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/09/19...
Did you know...
I missed this when it was published this summer, but it's still interesting: Mental Floss posted an article called "15 Facts About The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in honor of the Eric Carle children's classic's 50th anniversary. Most of them were...
How-to
There's a great article in The Atlantic about raising your children to become avid readers. The whole things is worth reading (and I enthusiastically second the tip about seeding your house with books, particularly if you have very young children...
The Magic Pudding, by Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay's 1918 novel The Magic Pudding is proof positive of my theory that Australian fiction—even their fiction for children—is not for the faint of heart. It centers around the Magic Pudding, a rude, sulky, anthropomorphic dessert, and the three friends who form the Noble Society of Puddin'-Owners...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Magic Pudding, by Norman Lindsay
This week's Book Giveaway is Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding, which was originally published in 1918 and is considered to be an Australian children's classic. (It is also exhibit A in my ongoing argument that Australian literature is a uniquely red-blooded beast.) This giveaway will run through 10/25/19...
Hard pass
If you (unlike me) are anxiously awaiting Guillermo del Toro's upcoming film adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, apparently there's a documentary about Schwartz's work freshly out on DVD. Needless to say, I'll be skipping that, too...
BOOOO
For the second year in a row, The Guardian and The Observer have conducted a research study on diversity in children's picture books, and the results are extremely disappointing. According to the newspapers' research, the 100 best-selling picture books published in 2018...
READ TO YOUR KIDS.
There is a great article on WHYY about "Reach Out and Read", a program that hands out free books to parents of young children at well-child checkups, starting at six months of age...
Solid suggestions from a guy who knows
There's a great tip buried in this New York Times interview with James Holzhauer, the dude who has been busily cleaning up on Jeopardy! during the past few weeks...
The Casket of Time, by Andri Snaer Magnason
More books are published in Iceland per capita than anywhere else in the world. A disproportionate number seem to be indistinguishable gloomy thrillers, but a few stand out. Admittedly, Andri Snaer Magnason's The Casket of Time is both thrilling and frequently gloomy, but in an impressively idiosyncratic way...
Impressive
There was a staggering article published on Mental Floss about how important it is for parents to read out loud to their children. According to a recent study...
NO THANK YOU
If you are a braver person than I am, feel free to check out the teaser trailer for Guillermo del Toro's upcoming film adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark...
Maybe give Dahl a rest?
According to Variety, Anne Hathaway will be starring as the Grand High Witch in Robert Zemeckis and Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches. Hathaway will be playing the same role Anjelica Huston played in the 1990 movie...
Holiday Gift Pick #6
Gift Idea #6: The complete Lockwood & Co. series, by Jonathan Stroud (approximately $35 for paperback editions)
If you're shopping for a teenager (or an adult who isn't above reading YA literature), we can't recommend this series highly enough. Seriously, it's wildly imaginative and deeply creepy and the teeniest bit romantic, and...
Holiday Gift Pick #5
Gift Idea #5: Anything by Taro Gomi, but particularly the recent re-release of The Crocodile and the Dentist ($16.99)
Taro Gomi has written more than 400 books, and while he lacks the current kid-lit buzz of, say, Mo Willems, his stories are a consistent hit. I was pleased to see that Chronicle Books has re-released his picture book The Crocodile and the Dentist...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs and Cassandra Jean
This week's Book Giveaway is the graphic novel adaptation of Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. (I realize the original version of the book was also pretty graphics-heavy, but apparently someone decided to go all the way.) Again, a full review will follow shortly, and please note: due to a bunch of overdue postings, this giveaway will run through October 12th...
Summer reading
The Guardian recently posted a great article on tips and tricks to encourage children to read during the summer. I've always been a fan of the "give them no other option" approach myself, but...
A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears, by Jules Feiffer
In a world bursting with children's stories that feel like they were designed by an algorithm to appeal to the widest possible audience, Jules Fieffer's A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears stands out. It's a genuinely weird book, and I'd bet cash money it never would have found a publisher had it been written by a less well-known author...
A steep decline
According to The Guardian, a recent study of UK families indicates that the number of toddlers being read to every day has dropped by nearly 20% since 2013. The "Understanding the Children’s Book Consumer" survey is conducted annually by Nielsen Book Research, and consisted of interviews with roughly 2000 parents...
Pre-teen Holmes
According to Deadline, Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown has signed on to star in a movie adaptation of the popular Enola Holmes mystery series, about the crime-solving baby sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes...
Where's Little My?
There's a Moomin-themed children's hospital opening in Finland later this year, and the official Moomin website has some early pictures of the decor. Sadly, I don't see any images of my favorite character, Little My, but...
A rare bit of great news (in a week that could use it)
There was a lovely article on NPR recently about Books From Birth, a D.C. Public Library program that mails a book a month, every month, to enrolled children from birth to age 5...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Empty Grave, by Jonathan Stroud
This week's Book Giveaway is Jonathan Stroud's The Empty Grave, the last book in our beloved Lockwood & Co. series. I'm strangely reluctant to start this book—it's a little painful to accept that this will be the last time we get to celebrate the beginning of autumn with a new Lockwood book. Where will I get my only-technically-G-rated scares now?!? Anyway, a review will be posted as soon as I accept the inevitable...
No pants = no moral authority
There's an article in the Guardian about a recent study of the moral effects of children's literature. According to the results, children who read stories featuring human characters behaving in moral ways were far more likely to emulate that behavior than children who read stories about anthropomorphic animals...
Not a word-for-word adaptation
The first official trailer was recently released for the upcoming film adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's 1981 children's classic Jumanji. I have no idea if this is supposed to be a sequel or reboot of the 1995 Jumanji movie, but...
Carbs!
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, the Guardian has devoted one of its ongoing "Novel Recipes" segments to New York Pretzels...