In 1929 the General Federation of Women’s Clubs adopted a holiday that became generally observed in the country by 1949 as National Author’s Day. The resolution for the holiday reads: “by celebrating an Author’s Day as a nation, we would not only show patriotism, loyalty, and appreciation of the men and women who have made […]
Humor, Technology
It’s November when Americans vote in national elections. November is also Picture Book Month, a time set aside to celebrate the need for picture books in the lives of children. Both causes merge in our book of the day, which both educates and entertains young people — just as good picture books should. Winner of the 2001 Caldecott Medal for David […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, History, Humor, Politics
On November 3, 1938, Bette Bao was born in Shanghai, China. By the age of eight she came to the United States with her father and mother and one sister. When Mao Zedong and his Communist party won the Chinese civil war, the Boas were stranded in America. Bette’s youngest sister Sansan had been left […]
Baseball, Family, History, Immigration, New York, Sports
This week has been designated World Communication Week to remind us that computer access has made worldwide communication possible. Even this blog, read around the globe, and my national and international friendships on Facebook and Twitter would not be possible without all the technological breakthroughs that have sustained the Internet. If Twitter were a country, […]
Imagination
In Luxor, Egypt, on November 4, 1922, the English archaeologist Howard Carter, funded by the wealthy Lord Carnarvon, discovered a pharaoh’s tomb that had not yet been plundered by grave robbers. This tomb contained more than five thousand artifacts of Tutankhamun from Ancient Egypt. For children, King Tut, as he became known, is naturally interesting, […]
Ancient, History
To celebrate World Origami Days (October 24–November 11) I would recommend one of my favorite books of the last five years. The ancient Japanese art of Origami does not seem an obvious premise for a trendy, very funny, and contemporary novel, but then great children’s writers always find new slants on old topics. In The […]
Origami, School
November has been designated Adopt a Senior Pet Month. Most families want to find a puppy or kitten when they chose a pet, but there are so many benefits in bringing a more mature animal into the house. My own senior pet, a Bernese mountain dog named Lady, turns twelve this month. Two years ago […]
Animals, Dogs, Family
Today we celebrate the birthday of one of the most original creators of children’s books, Lothar Meggendorfer, born in Munich in 1847. Meggendorfer did not want the images of a book to lie flat on the page—he thought they should move. Decades before motion pictures or interactive computer graphics, he experimented with paper engineering to […]
Holidays
The second week of November we celebrate National Young Readers Week. I wish that all young readers had access to the books we celebrate every day on the Almanac. Today we’ll look at one, published in 1993, which I consider a contemporary classic, Rodman Philbrick’s Freak the Mighty. When I first read this book about […]
Humor, School, Special Needs
In November we recognize National Aviation History Month. Flight and flyers have always appealed to children, and this month we’ll look at four superb books that chronicle the Age of Aviation. Let’s begin with the Wright Brothers because they made National Aviation Month possible. There have been endless treatments and biographies of the Wrights Brothers […]
Flight, History, Planes, Transportation
The second week of November we celebrate National Young Readers Week, an event created in 1989 by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress to help schools recognize the joys and benefits of reading. To go along with the activities this year, I recommend two books, one a classic and the other […]
Adventure, Award Winning, Nature, Newbery, Survival
On November 9, 1731, American astronomer, mathematician, clockmaker, and surveyor, Benjamin Banneker, called “the first black man of science,” was born in Elliott’s Mills, Maryland. Banneker published an almanac, becoming the first black man to do so. His life has been frequently presented in books for children, including Andrea Davis Pinkney’s Dear Benjamin Banneker. When […]
History, Immigration, Slavery, Women
On November 7, 1917, a revolution began in Russia that would change the twentieth century. In what is sometimes called the October Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution, or the October Uprising (because at the time Russia used the Julian or Old Style calendar), Bolshevik Red Guards began to seize buildings in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and the Winter […]
20th Century, History, World War I
Today for Young Readers Week I am going to look at one of the most powerful books ever written for twelve- to fourteen-year-olds. Like all books that change us and make us a different person, I remember exactly where I was and how I felt the first time I read it. I was Editor of […]
Adventure, Seasons, Summer, Survival
On November 10, 1923, the eighth puppy in a litter of Akita Inu dogs was born on a farm near Odate, Japan. He would become one of the most famous dogs in the world. Although Akitas are naturally smart and loyal, Hachi, which means eight, would come to exemplify just how devoted a member of […]
Animals, Dogs, True Story
On this day in history, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, World War I ended in 1918. America’s involvement came late in the conflict, and, in fact, most of the books written about World War I for young readers have originated in England. But Crossing Stones by Helen Frost, written entirely […]
Family, History, Women, Women's Suffrage, World War I
November has been designated Life Writing Month, dedicated to the idea that each person has a story to tell from his or her own history. Next week, we celebrate National Geography Week. Our book of the day, Uri Shulevitz’s How I Learned Geography, can be used for both occasions. This powerful picture book, perennially popular […]
Geography, History, World War II
November has been designated Native American Heritage Month. A perfect book for this month is Louise Erdrich’s fabulous new novel for young readers ages eight through twelve, Chickadee. Several years ago, Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, began a series of books set in the same region as Laura Ingalls […]
19th century, History, Multicultural, Native American
Today I’m focusing on another book for National Young Reader’s Week, one of the relatively new titles I think is destined to become a classic. A mystery and suspense novel, it also presents the work of Albrecht Durer, painter and printmaker, to young readers in grades three through six. Precocious as a child because of […]
Adventure, Animals, Art, Insects
On November 13, 1926, a short story appeared in a New Zealand newspaper, the Christchurch Sun, by a young writer, who had emigrated to England from Australia. It recounted the saga of an “underneath nurse” age seventeen, and her charges Jane, Michael, Barbara, and John. On a day out, she puts on gloves, tucks a […]
Adventure, Humor, Magic
While I was vacationing in the Rangeley Lakes area of Maine in October a sign caught my eye: “Wilhelm Reich Museum.” Although I could not get in, I was intrigued to see the location of the laboratory of the radical psychoanalyst who worked with Sigmund Freud. While there I thanked him silently for his little-known […]
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, Magic
Born on November 14, 1907, Astrid Lindgren grew up on a farm just outside Vimmerby, Sweden. Pippi Longstocking, the book for which she became world-renowned, published in the United States sixty years ago, arose from stories she told her seven-year-old daughter. Sick in bed with pneumonia, the young girl asked for a story about Pippi […]
Adventure, Animals, Humor
This month schools began participating in the National Geographic Bee, an annual contest sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The third week of November the Society marks Geography Awareness Week, providing a multitude of project materials at their website. Since 1989, participants from fourth through eighth grades have competed in this annual event for scholarships, based […]
Geography, Humor
On November 16, 1915, Jean Fritz was born to American missionaries in Hankow, China. She spent the next thirteen years there—and observed another culture while “wondering what it was like to be an American.” Fritz would write about that childhood in the 1980s for her compelling autobiography, Homesick: My Own Story, a Newbery Honor Book, […]
Award Winning, History, Newbery
On November 17, 1820, Nathaniel Palmer and his men on the Hero became the first Americans to set foot on the Antarctic Peninsula. He was a young man, twenty-two, when he accomplished the act for which he has been immortalized. When I think of young Americans journeying to Antarctica, the book that instantly comes to […]
Animals, Award Winning, Penguins, Sibert
Next for National Aviation Month, I’ve chosen a book honoring women who loved flying. When Lieutenant Colonel Eileen M. Collins became the first woman to command a spacecraft that orbited the earth, a group of women pilots had been invited by her to sit at the coveted VIP spots at Cape Canaveral. This group included […]
Award Winning, History, Sibert, Space, Women
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln helped dedicate seventeen acres of the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Orator Edward Everett delivered the main speech that day. He spoke for two hours; Lincoln’s short address lasted about two minutes. Although contemporaries thought little of the president’s address, today we consider “The Gettysburg Address” one […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Civil War, History
Today marks the seventy-fifth birthday of one of the loveliest ladies in the children’s book field, Marion Dane Bauer. I first met Marion, who has lived in Minneapolis most of her life, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at Hattiesburg’s fabulous book festival. I already knew I loved her work; but after meeting Marion, I realized that the […]
Award Winning, Feelings, Friendship, Newbery
On the third Saturday in November, the town of Gettysburg celebrates Remembrance Day with a parade of Civil War groups and organizations. One of the most dramatic events of the battle at Gettysburg occurred on the second day when Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Bowdoin College professor who commanded the 20th Maine, was sent to defend Little […]
Adventure, Award Winning, Civil War, History, Newbery
On November 21, 1908, Elizabeth George Speare was born in Melrose, Massachusetts. After finishing degrees from Boston University, she taught in the Massachusetts schools, then married and moved to Connecticut. When her children entered junior high school, she began writing articles and eventually books for children. One thing that distinguishes Speare from other writers is […]
Adventure, Award Winning, History, Newbery, Pioneer, Survival
For more than eighty years, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has entertained Americans. For many households the viewing of the parade is as essential as eating turkey. But how did such an event come about? In Balloons Over Broadway, author and illustrator Melissa Sweet takes readers behind the scenes of the parade as she presents […]
History, Holidays, Humor, Thankgiving, Toys
The genre of science fiction has always provided endless opportunities for writers—as well as endless memories for the young people who read their work. Today marks the first interracial kiss on TV, between Captain James Kirk and Lt. Uhura of Star Trek. Tomorrow in 1963 the BBC broadcast the first episode of Doctor Who, the […]
Adventure, Technology
On November 23, 1903, an already popular writer and playwright began the first draft of a play entitled “ANON” and set in the night nursery of the Darling family. A few years later, in 1911, he extended the script ideas of that play, Peter Pan, into a longer novel for children, Wendy and Peter. In […]
Adventure, Survival
Today we celebrate the ninety-fifth birthday of an incredible artist, Marc Simont, who in seven decades has illustrated more than one hundred books for children. Born in Paris to parents from the Catalonian region of Spain, Simont lived in France, Spain, and the United States during his childhood. Very much like Jean Fritz, our other […]
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, Dogs
On November 29, many authors will head to one of their favorite bookstores to become booksellers for a day. Indies First was the brainchild of author Sherman Alexie, who wanted to celebrate what every author knows: that without independent bookstores and booksellers to carefully select books and support authors, our lives would be so much […]
Seasons, Winter
We all have at least one talent. November 24, Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day, allows all of us to acknowledge our own individual abilities. Whatever you do best, take some time today to recognize that talent. What if you knew that on a certain birthday, your thirteenth, you would be given a special talent or […]
Adventure, Award Winning, Family, Magic, Newbery
This week the holiday shopping season begins in earnest, and Saturday marks Small Business Saturday. Author Sherman Alexie has spearheaded a movement this year for independent bookstores, which he has named Indies First, by asking authors to help sell books in bookstores: “We book nerds will become booksellers.” And so many of us will help […]
Poetry
Today we celebrate International Hat Day. I personally love, wear, buy, and covet hats—all kinds of hats. Since the book of the day I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen was published last year, it has already gained an enormous number of fans. Klassen is a master of the minimalist form. Starting with sumptuous […]
Animals, Bears, Humor, Rabbits
Today Americans worship those twin pastimes of indulging in food and football. How did this day, Thanksgiving, become a holiday? In searching for the best book on the topic, I discovered that there aren’t as many Thanksgiving books as you might think. Certainly the most intriguing on the subject is 1621: A New Look at […]
Colonial America, History, Holidays, Multicultural, Native American, Thankgiving
On November 26, 1865, a children’s book was published by Macmillan in England that has remained in print ever since: the longest standing and best-known of our classics, Lewis Carroll’s quirky and unforgettable Alice in Wonderland. Although it was clearly written and intended for children, its richness and complexity also make it appealing to adults. […]
Adventure, Other Worlds
On November 18 for National Aviation Month, we looked at Almost Astronauts, the story of some of the astronauts who did not make it into space. To round out the month, let’s take a look at a man who actually traveled to the moon. In an autobiography of one of our most accomplished astronauts of […]
Autobiography, History, Space
Today we celebrate the birthday of one of the most original, and certainly most creative, members of the children’s book community. Tomi Ungerer was born in Strausbourg, France in 1931, and knew both poverty and tragedy at an early age. His father died when he was three. Then, because of economic hardship during the Great […]
Art
Today for National Aviation Month, let’s look at a perfect book for four- to eight-year-olds that explains the Apollo 11 mission. In 1969 families and friends gathered around small television sets in households across America to watch Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin attempt to land on the moon. In Moonshot: The Flight of […]
Adventure, Award Winning, History, Sibert, Space
On November 29 we celebrate the birth date of one of America’s most beloved authors. Madeleine L’Engle was born in 1918 and throughout her life faced many obstacles, including roughly twenty-seven rejections of the book that made her famous, A Wrinkle in Time. Her father was a troubled man—she frequently spoke of him in public […]
Award Winning, Family, New York, Newbery, Women
We are going to end the month with two birthday celebrations—one a writer, the other an illustrator. C. S. Lewis, today’s celebrant, was born on this day in 1898 in Belfast, Ireland. But he would live and write in Oxford, England, where he taught on the English faculty with his good friend and fellow author, […]
Adventure, Animals, Magic, Other Worlds
We’ll end the month of November with another birthday celebration, this time of one of the finest book illustrators of the twentieth century, Margot Zemach, born in 1931. Strangely, and I have never figured out why, male illustrators for children outnumber and generally outrank, in terms of accolades, their female counterparts. But Margot Zemach could […]
Adventure, Award Winning, Caldecott
Daily children’s book recommendations and events from Anita Silvey.
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics . . .
The new books on their way to becoming classics . . .
And events from the world of children’s books—and the world at large.
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