FIND A BOOK

Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell
Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Today I’d like to wish a very happy birthday to Helen Oxenbury, one of our most accomplished children’s book illustrators. Helen turned to illustration as a second career when her own child was born. An accomplished set designer for theater, television, and film, she had already observed the pleasure her husband, John Burningham (whom she […]

Animals, Ducks, Politics, Social Conscience
Featured on June 2

Lulu and the Duck in the Park by Hilary McKay
Illustrated by Priscilla Lamont

,

During the week of August 11–17 a relatively new cause is celebrated: feeding the pets of the homeless. The philosophy behind the Give a Dog a Bone campaign is that “No pet should go hungry or suffer.” In a book of the day, Lulu and the Duck in the Park by Hilary McKay, the heroine […]

Animals, Ducks, School
Featured on August 12

Lucky Ducklings by Eva Moore
Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

, ,

At the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam on June 5, they acknowledge Dead Duck Day and discuss ways to prevent these winged city dwellers from colliding into windows. I, however, don’t like to use Almanac pages to feature dead ducks or dead dogs. But our book of the day, Eva Moore’s Lucky Ducklings, does explore […]

Animals, Ducks, True Story
Featured on June 5

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

,

In August of 1941 a picture book appeared that has become synonymous with the city of Boston for millions of readers. While he was an art student there, Robert McCloskey got the idea for Make Way for Ducklings from a true story that appeared in the newspaper. However, he developed the book in New York […]

Animals, Award Winning, Boston, Caldecott, Ducks
Featured on August 28

Duck on a Bike by David Shannon

, , ,

Organizers of National Bike Month—established to celebrate bicycling for fun, fitness, and transportation—estimate that five million people will participate in biking activities across the country during May. Certainly for many people, nothing says “good weather” and “good times” as much as the idea of a bike trip, however long or short. I just wish the […]

Animals, Ducks, Humor
Featured on May 26

10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle

, , ,

On January 10, 1992, a cargo of around 29,000 rubber toys—including ducks, beavers, turtles, and frogs—fell overboard from a container ship in the northern Pacific Ocean. Some eventually landed on a remote coast of Alaska. In Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion author Loree Griffin Burns explains what actually happened to […]

Adventure, Animals, Ducks, Toys
Featured on January 10

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.