Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
Little Bear
Beginning Readers, Elementary School Born in Denmark on September 13, 1920, Else Holmelund Minarik came to the United States when she was four. At first she hated English, the new language that she had to learn, but she became devoted to it—and to teaching first graders how to read words that had once perplexed her. As she observed her […]
Animals, Bears, Family, HumorFeatured on September 13
David Goes to School
Elementary School, Picture BookOver the last two months, we’ve been looking at some optimistic books about a child going back to school. Whether it is The Magic School Bus or Kindergarten Diary, these books end happily with their protagonists very satisfied to be in school. But for some children, school may be a bit more of a challenge. […]
Humor, SchoolFeatured on September 8
Pinkerton, Behave!
Elementary School, Picture BookSeptember has been designated World Animal Remembrance Month. So since I like to think about dogs, I’m going to feature some famous dog protagonists who deserve to be remembered: Spot, Art Dog, the unnamed heroes of Go, Dog. Go! and Steven Kellogg’s irrepressible Pinkerton. Possibly September should just be designated Steven Kellogg appreciation month. Steven […]
Animals, Dogs, HumorFeatured on September 3
Miss Nelson Is Missing!
Elementary School, Picture BookAs August comes to a close, many children head back to or have already started school. Today I’m recommending one of my favorite stories about school, one that some teachers like to use at this time. It not only tells a great story, but also sends a subtle message. By the time James Marshall created […]
Humor, SchoolFeatured on August 31
Kindergarten Diary
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolOur book of the day yesterday, Wemberly Worried, has been around for a decade. But last year, Antoinette Portis added a new book to read during Get Ready for Kindergarten Month. Kindergarten Diary explores what a young child might think and experience each day in a new school. Portis, the very creative inventor of Not […]
Humor, Imagination, SchoolFeatured on August 20
Wemberly Worried
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolFor some children, the end of August means preparing to go to school for the very first time. For them August has been designated Get Ready for Kindergarten Month. If you are hunting for a book that might help the very young overcome some of their anxieties about school, today we’ll look at Kevin Henkes’s […]
Animals, Humor, Mice, SchoolFeatured on August 19
The Penderwicks
Elementary School, FictionAs the Almanac has evolved, frequently I get ideas, directly or indirectly, from the readers of this column. Every year John Schumaker, @MrSchuReads, takes a character from a beloved children’s book, travels with it, and takes photos that he shares on his website. You can see his video of his trip with year on Read, […]
Family, Humor, Seasons, SummerFeatured on August 16
The Rescuers
Elementary School, Fantasy Around this time of year the Norway Cup takes place, and more than fourteen hundred international youth soccer teams traveled from different countries to compete. Well, our book of the day doesn’t have much to do with soccer. But it begins when Nils, one of the book’s three heroes, has to be fetched from Norway […]
Adventure, Animals, Humor, MiceFeatured on August 5
Whales on Stilts
Elementary School, FictionIt is amazing how many holidays exist, and what strange ones some of them are. Today is National Walk on Stilts Day. According to those who observe this day, walking on stilts allows you to build coordination and have a lot of fun at the same time. The holiday organizers want you to get out, […]
Adventure, Humor, ImaginationFeatured on July 27
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday is National Hot Dog Day, and July is National Hot Dog Month. So it seems a good time to focus on hot dogs, one of America’s favorite and “most patriotic” foods according to promoters. Although the book of the day seems like a natural for publication, Mo Willems’s first book about the pigeon, Don’t […]
Animals, Birds, Food, Humor, ImaginationFeatured on July 23
My Friend Rabbit
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolJuly 15–21 has been designated National Rabbit Week to pay tribute to this animal for being such a great companion for humans. What is it about rabbits that so inspire children’s book authors and illustrators? Ever since Peter Rabbit went lippety, lippety down the road, rabbits have multiplied like—well—bunnies in children’s books. I’ll be talking […]
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, Humor, Imagination, RabbitsFeatured on July 16
Stuart Little
Elementary School, Fantasy On July 11, 1899, Elwyn Brooks White, known to his friends as Andy and the literary world as E. B., was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He would eventually become a Maine man, where he lived with his wife Katharine. White published his first article in The New Yorker in 1925 and continued to […]
Animals, Family, Humor, Imagination, New YorkFeatured on July 11
The BFG
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School On July 9, 1982, Queen Elizabeth II woke up in Buckingham Palace to find a stranger sitting at the end of her bed. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, the intruder had actually planned to commit suicide in the queen’s bedroom, but then decided that wasn’t “a nice thing to do.” Instead he simply wanted to […]
Humor, Imagination, LondonFeatured on July 9
Officer Buckle and Gloria
Elementary School, Picture BookJune has been designated National Safety Month to promote safety at work, at home, on the road, and in our communities. Safety might seem a bit dull as a topic for a book for children, but the book of the day, Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann, demonstrates that highly creative people can make […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Humor, SchoolFeatured on June 30
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
Elementary School, Poetry In the 1930s, an author who called himself “Old Possum” sent his godchildren (Tom Faber, Alison Tandy, Susan Wolcott, and Susanne Morley) a series of poems about cats. Playful, irreverent, and brilliantly written, these fourteen poems (a fifteenth “Cat Morgan Introduces Himself” appeared in 1952) were published in England by Faber and Faber in September […]
Animals, Cats, Humor, ImaginationFeatured on June 28
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type
Elementary School, Picture Book, Preschool On June 23, 1868, the first American typewriter was patented by Luther Sholes. Beginning in 1937 the dairy industry has dedicated June as National Dairy Month, a time to call attention to the important role that milk and milk products play in our diets and the outstanding contributions made by dairy farmers. So how do […]
Animals, Cows, HumorFeatured on June 23
The Cat in the Hat
Chapter Book, Elementary SchoolFor many years, 2 Park Street in Boston served as the headquarters for Houghton Mifflin Publishers. In this Beacon Hill landmark, overlooking the Old Granary Burial Ground, a rickety brass elevator cage took employees up and down to their appointed floors, shuddering and whining as it did. This Otis elevator required the care of an […]
Animals, Cats, Humor, ImaginationFeatured on June 18
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Elementary School, FictionToday marks National Fudge Day—and I intend to celebrate. For children’s books aficionados, fudge not only conjures up food but also one of Judy Blume’s most original characters, Fudge, the younger brother of Peter, hero of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. When I entered the children’s book field in the seventies, Judy Blume reigned […]
Animals, Family, Humor, TurtlesFeatured on June 16
Brian Jacques
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolSometimes writing the Almanac can be bittersweet, and today is such a day. On my outline for the first year of the Almanac, I set today aside to celebrate the birthday of a very special writer. Unfortunately for me and countless fans, Brian Jacques died suddenly in 2011. He would have been 74 today. During […]
Adventure, Animals, Humor, Mice, RatsFeatured on June 15
Anne of Green Gables
Classic, Elementary School, Middle SchoolIn June of 1908, Anne of Green Gables appeared on the list of a small Boston firm, L.C. Page and Company. Then-unknown Canadian author L.M. Montgomery had found it difficult to find a publisher in the United States—and so she did what so many new authors do today. She submitted to the Page brothers because […]
Family, Friendship, History, HumorFeatured on June 14
His Shoes Were Far Too Tight
Elementary School, Poetry This week, on June 10, in Australia, Belieze, Cayman Islands, and Fiji they celebrated the “Queen’s Official Birthday.” Queen Elizabeth II actually was born on April 21. Celebrating the Queen’s Official Birthday on a day when she wasn’t born would be just the kind of corkscrew logic that our English author of the day, Edward Lear, […]
Animals, Humor, ImaginationFeatured on June 13
Curious George
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolSeventy years ago in 1941, three days before Hitler’s army marched into Paris, two German Jews who had come to the city on a honeymoon and stayed for a couple of years, found themselves trapped in Paris. Although Hans and Margret Rey had secured railroad tickets, the trains stopped running. So Hans scoured bicycle stores, […]
Animals, History, Humor, Imagination, Monkeys, World War IIFeatured on June 11
The Phantom Tollbooth
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School Today marks the birthday of Norton Juster, a man who should be named the patron saint of all who put pen to paper. One of the things that all writers do, on almost a daily basis, is avoid writing. If most of us put as much energy into writing as we put into not writing, […]
Adventure, Cars, Games, Humor, Imagination, TransportationFeatured on June 2
Flipped
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolToday has been designated Flip a Coin Day. The word flip immediately reminds me of one of the funniest, and yet most true to life, romances written for the ten- to fourteen-year-old set, Wendelin Van Draanen’s Flipped. Told from the point of view of two protagonists, Julie and Bryce, they alternate narrating chapters. In second […]
Family, Humor, RomanceFeatured on June 1
Half Magic
Elementary School, Fantasy “It began one day in summer about thirty years ago, and it happened to four children.” So begins the book of the day, a perfect story about summer. This book holds a unique place in the children’s book canon. It is the only one I know where the author admitted to copying, shamelessly, from another author […]
Adventure, Humor, Imagination, Magic, Seasons, SummerFeatured on May 31
The Schwa Was Here
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolGet out your party clothes! Today those in the know celebrate National Paper Clip Day. The modern version of this lowly but extremely useful object was patented on November 9, 1899 by William D. Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut. But during World War II the paper clip became the symbol of national unity in Norway. Forbidden […]
Animals, Award Winning, Blindness, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Dogs, Humor, School, Special NeedsFeatured on May 29
Duck on a Bike
Babies and Toddlers, Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolOrganizers 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, HumorFeatured on May 26
Swindle
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolToday has been designated Be a Millionaire Day. Oddly enough, the topics of money and becoming rich rarely find their way into the plots of children’s books. Still the preoccupation of being richer than you are must be a universal childhood fantasy. The book of the day, Gordon Korman’s Swindle focuses on some children who […]
HumorFeatured on May 20
The Relatives Came
Elementary School, Picture Book May 18 has been designated Visit Your Relatives Day. The idea of a trip to see family members can bring many different images to mind. When I was a child, one of my happiest times each year came during the month of July when my father, my mother, my two sisters, and I got in […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Family, HumorFeatured on May 18
The Wizard of Oz
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School Today marks the birthday of the American author, Lyman Frank Baum. He worked in a variety of jobs—journalist, actor, theater manager, salesman. In fact, he may well have been the inspiration for his most famous character: the Wizard of Oz. In 1900 Baum released the first book about Oz, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a […]
Adventure, Humor, Other WorldsFeatured on May 15
Lilly’s Plastic Purple Purse
Elementary School, Picture BookThis week Reading Is Fundamental celebrates an important concept: Reading Is Fun Week. Nothing will guarantee the reading success of children more than if they find enjoyment in reading. Today I’m going to look at a picture book that is sure to delight young readers. In Kevin Henkes’s Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, a young mouse absolutely […]
Humor, SchoolFeatured on May 13
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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