Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
The Glassblower’s Children
Elementary School, Historical Fiction This week, from April 8-10, marks the London Book Festival, a huge international gathering of publishers who exchange rights for books. At the end of March, children’s book publishers gathered in Bologna, Italy, for the Bologna Book Festival, where the Hans Christian Andersen Medal was announced. In honor of international book exchange I’d like to […]
FolktaleFeatured on April 7
Starry River of the Sky
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolIn January we celebrate National Folklore Month. Folklore collections and retellings have tended to be Euro-Centric in books for children, whether retellings from Grimm, Perrault, or the Lang Fairy Books. But after American-born Grace Lin traveled to the land of her ancestors, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, she began incorporating the folklore of this land […]
Asian American, Folktale, MulticulturalFeatured on January 28
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolJanuary has been designated National Folktale Month. Ever since Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith published The True Story of Three Little Pigs, over two decades ago, fractured fairy tales, or folklore, have attracted writers and illustrators. Our book of the Day, Mo Willems’s Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, falls squarely in that tradition. Children enjoy stretching […]
Dinosaurs, FolktaleFeatured on January 7
Little Red Riding Hood
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolBorn in Philadelphia on April 8, 1939, Trina Schart Hyman trained as an illustrator and spent over three decades creating beautiful books and artwork for children. Beloved by her editors, Trina, who was always a force to be reckoned with, delighted in making sure they actually studied what she had drawn. She usually wove in […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Fairy Tale, FolktaleFeatured on April 8
The Mitten
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolDecember 6 marks Mitten Tree Day; to celebrate everyone is encouraged to decorate a Christmas tree with mittens (the tree and mittens can be real or cut out from brightly colored paper). As I write this, I am packing to travel to Canada and Seattle to present a workshop on children’s classics. One of the […]
Animals, Clothing, Folktale, Seasons, WinterFeatured on December 6
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Classic, Elementary School, Picture BookFor the upcoming Great Books Week, I want to look at the work of Paul Galdone. In his lifetime, Paul received very little critical praise for his books, although he did garner two Caldecott Honors for Eve Titus’s Anatole and Anatole and the Cat. Beginning in the fifties, he illustrated the work of others for […]
Animals, FolktaleFeatured on October 5
The People Could Fly
Elementary School, Picture Book August 23 of each year has been designated by UNESCO as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition. This date was chosen because from August 22–23, 1791, an uprising began on the island of Saint Domingue, now Haiti, which helped bring about the end of the slave trade. If […]
African American, Folktale, History, Multicultural, Slavery, Social ConscienceFeatured on August 23
Interrupting Chicken
Elementary School, Picture BookFrom March 22–28, we celebrate World Folk Tales and Fables Week, established to encourage children and adults to explore the lessons learned from folk tales and fables. Although folk and fairy tales form the basis of world literature and culture, adults have often questioned introducing them to children. After all, the material in these legends […]
Award Winning, Bedtime, Caldecott, Fairy Tale, Family, FolktaleFeatured on March 23
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolThe sixteen-day celebration of Chinese New Year, marking the year of the Wood Horse, began on January 31. If you want to prepare for this event there is a perfect book to read, published only a few years ago. What does it mean to be a Chinese-American, particularly if most traces of your native culture […]
Adventure, Asian American, Folktale, Multicultural, QuestFeatured on February 3
Julius Lester
All Ages, Picture BookOn January 27, 1939, Julius Lester was born in Saint Louis, Missouri. Son of a Methodist minister, he lived in Kansas City and Nashville, where he attended Fisk University. Later Lester embraced the Jewish religion, which he wrote about in Lovesong: Becoming a Jew. One of those rare multi-talented individuals who can do many things […]
African American, Award Winning, Caldecott, Folktale, MulticulturalFeatured on January 27
Jerry Pinkney
Elementary School, Picture BookToday is the birthday of Jerry Pinkney, illustrator extraordinaire who has created more than two hundred books for children since he entered the field. Born in Philadelphia, Jerry studied at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and then moved to Boston for work. In 1964 he published his first children’s book, The Adventures of Spider. […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, FolktaleFeatured on December 22
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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