Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
Josephine
Elementary School, Picture Book Black History Month encourages the sharing of books about African American history with children. And although there has always been a certain predictability to the titles authors and publishers offer for young readers on this topic, we have recently seen some unique and unexpected titles, such as Steve Sheinkin’s Port Chicago 50. Such is the […]
20th Century, African American, Dance, History, Multicultural, ParisFeatured on February 17
The Shadow Hero
Elementary School, Graphic Novel, Middle School September has been designated a month to be kind to editors and writers, which is always good advice. One of the writers and artists I have not mentioned enough on the Almanac, Gene Luen Yang, is our hero of the day. Those who have had a chance to meet this charismatic and charming creator in […]
Asian American, History, Imagination, MulticulturalFeatured on September 22
The Port Chicago 50
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionFebruary has been designated Black History Month since 1976, and this observance has allowed for both the acquisition and publishing of many fine children’s and young adult books. But although there are so many stories from Black American history to be told, these books often focus on the same subject areas or heroes. Hence I […]
20th Century, African American, History, Multicultural, World War IIFeatured on February 10
Ghost Hawk
Elementary School, Fantasy, Historical FictionThis week we celebrate Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators week, and I’d like to use the day to talk about an author whom I have admired for more than forty years. As a young Horn Book assistant editor, I read the galleys of the second children’s book by Susan Cooper, The Dark Is Rising, and […]
Colonial America, History, Multicultural, Native AmericanFeatured on February 5
The Other Side
Elementary School, Picture Book Today, many in the blogging community will be celebrating multiculturalism in children’s books. For a list of those participating, check pragmaticmom and Jump Into a Book. In a society where our children come from a variety of racial backgrounds, the plea for high-quality content, featuring characters of all races, has never been more important. On […]
African American, Civil Rights, History, MulticulturalFeatured on January 27
The Egypt Game
Elementary School, FictionSeptember has been designated Read a New Book Month. But for me, rereading a book I haven’t picked up for decades often seems like reading a new one. At the beginning of every school year, I ask my graduate students to talk about the book they most loved as a child. Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The […]
Ancient, Award Winning, History, Multicultural, NewberyFeatured on September 16
Salt
Elementary School, Historical FictionOn September 5, 1812, the siege of Fort Wayne, Indiana, began, one of the incidents in the War of 1812. As a child growing up in Fort Wayne, I always thought that important American events happened elsewhere, in towns like Boston. And I believed that the Miami people, who had lived for centuries in the […]
History, Multicultural, Native American, War of 1812Featured on September 5
The Book Thief
Elementary School, High School, Historical Fiction, Middle School May serves as both Personal History Awareness Month and Jewish American Heritage Month. When I saw these events, I immediately thought of one of the most amazing novels of the last ten years, Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief. Although Zusak grew up in Australia, his mother had lived in Munich during the reign of Hitler […]
Award Winning, History, Jewish, Multicultural, Printz, World War IIFeatured on May 27
Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionMay 1, International Workers Day, is celebrated in more than eighty countries around the world The observance originated in the United States in the 1880s as workers mobilized to secure an eight-hour workday. The Association of American Publishers has designated May as Latino Book Month. So today seems like a perfect time to look at […]
History, Latino, Multicultural, PoliticsFeatured on May 1
Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909
Elementary School, Picture Books Today marks the birthday of Clara Lemlich, born in 1886 in Ukraine to a Jewish family. Following a pogrom in 1903, Clara and her family immigrated to the United States. She stood a mere five feet tall, but as Brave Girl, our book of the day, tells us, she had grit and was going to […]
20th Century, Clothing, History, Jewish, Multicultural, New York, WomenFeatured on March 28
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
Chickadee
Elementary School, Historical FictionNovember 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 AmericanFeatured on November 12
Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten!
Elementary School, PreschoolAlthough some schools began in August, this week many children are headed back to school and some are headed there for the first time. Starting kindergarten is a topic so well covered by children’s books that I sometimes mistakenly think no one can come up with an original approach. But then creative people always find […]
Asian American, Family, Multicultural, SchoolFeatured on September 5
Carver
Elementary School, High School, Middle School, PoetryAugust has been designated National Inventor’s Month. Possibly because my engineer father held many telecommunications patents, as a child I always felt that invention was something exciting and possible. Certainly in the book of the day, Marilyn Nelson’s Carver, George Washington Carver emerges as a figure any child would want to emulate. Marilyn Nelson has […]
19th century, African American, Award Winning, History, Newbery, ScienceFeatured on August 6
The Wall
Elementary School, Picture Book Today marks the anniversary of the Tet Offensive in 1968. After calling a cease-fire during the Tet holiday celebration, North Vietnam launched a major offensive throughout South Vietnam. A milestone in the Vietnam War, after the Tet Offensive the U.S. Government began to seek a way out of their involvement in the Vietnamese War. Certainly […]
Family, Grandparents, History, Multicultural, Vietnam WarFeatured on January 30
A New Year’s Reunion
Elementary School, Picture Book Today begins the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon. Certainly over the years many American publishers have offered titles appropriate for this holiday. But a few months ago, a book that first appeared in Taiwan in 2008 was released and it’s one of the finest I have ever seen. A New Year’s Reunion […]
Asian American, Family, Holidays, Multicultural, New Year'sFeatured on January 23
A Nation’s Hope
Biography, Elementary School, Picture BookDecember has been designated Read a New Book Month, and this week we are celebrating Kwanzaa. The book of the day, A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis, fits for both holidays and combines the talents of Matt de la Peña and Kadir Nelson in one of the best new offerings of […]
African American, Boxing, History, Multicultural, Sports, World War IIFeatured on December 27
Breadcrumbs
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School December is Read a New Book Month; many are hunting for new books not only to read but to buy for the holidays. Because of the robust young adult market, those authors who write books for fourth through sixth graders have been a bit overlooked. Fortunately, this is not true of our book of the […]
Adventure, Family, Friendship, Multicultural, SchoolFeatured on December 21
Morning Girl
Elementary School, Historical FictionToday we celebrate Columbus Day. Every now and then a book not only educates you but changes the way you view history. Once you have read it, you cannot see things quite the way you once did. That is how I think about the book of the day, Michael Dorris’s Morning Girl. Published in 1992, […]
History, Multicultural, Native AmericanFeatured on October 10
Octavian Nothing
High School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolToday I’m looking at another audio book, like The Golden Compass created by Listening Library, for Audio Book Appreciation Month. M. T. Anderson’s The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party has had a profound effect on good seventh and eighth grade readers, although it may be most appreciated by high school students and […]
African American, History, Multicultural, Revolutionary War, ScienceFeatured on August 26
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
Sally Goes to the Beach
Elementary School, Picture BookAugust has been designated National Beach Month and during this time people are encouraged to make one more trip to their local beach and enjoy the scenery and warm weather before it vanishes. As a landlocked child in Indiana, I envied people their ocean beaches—although we did have beautiful sand dunes bordering Lake Michigan. If […]
Animals, Asian American, Dogs, Family, Multicultural, Seasons, SummerFeatured on August 21
Clemente!
Biography, Elementary School, Picture Book On August 18, 1934, one of the most revered National League baseball players of all times, Roberto Clemente, was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Considered something of a saint in his native land, Clemente made his fame in America, after being drafted in 1954 by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He brought new life to the team […]
Baseball, History, Latino, Multicultural, SportsFeatured on August 18
Code Talker
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolIn 1982 the United States Senate designated August 14 as National Code Talkers Day. In his address that day, Dennis DeConcini, an Arizona Senator, said, “Since the Code Talkers’ work required absolute secrecy, they never enjoyed the national acclaim they so much deserved. I do not want this illustrious yet unassuming group of Navajo marines […]
History, Multicultural, Native American, Politics, World War IIFeatured on August 14
Bad Boy
Elementary School, High School, Memoir, Middle SchoolToday marks the birthday of a man who calls his autobiography Bad Boy. But for the past forty years the children’s book field has considered Walter Dean Myers a “Good and Great Man.” Possibly that should be the title for the second volume of his autobiography. Myers initially made his mark when he entered the […]
African American, Family, History, Multicultural, New YorkFeatured on August 12
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!
Chapter Book, Elementary SchoolFrom August 5–7 in Twinsburg, Ohio, twins from around the world have come for festivities that include contests, talent shows, and fireworks. In years past this assembly has made the Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest gathering of twins at one time. Well, twins have always fascinated children, and literature for children […]
Asian American, Award Winning, Family, MulticulturalFeatured on August 6
The Diary of a Young Girl
Elementary School, Memoir, Middle SchoolOn August 1, 1944, a fifteen-year-old girl wrote what would be the last entry in a diary she had been keeping since June 14, 1942. Her outpourings in this diary over the course of more than two years were remarkable. In this final entry, she talked about her character, striving to become a better human […]
History, Jewish, Multicultural, World War IIFeatured on August 4
Paddle-to-the-Sea
Elementary School, NonfictionToday marks the birthday of one of America’s greatest author and illustrators. Holling Clancy Holling worked on developing his signature style for forty years before the release of his classic, Paddle-to-the-Sea, in 1941. For this book he drew on his years as a Michigan farm boy, a sailor on the Great Lakes, an anthropological researcher […]
Geography, History, Multicultural, Native American, NatureFeatured on August 2
Number the Stars
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolSeventy-six years ago on July 30, 1935, the modern paperback revolution began when Sir Allen Lane published the first Penguin paperback. I have always been grateful that he was knighted for this achievement—and that in the United States, beginning in the sixties, paperback books for children became a staple of publishing lists. Although I love […]
Award Winning, History, Jewish, Multicultural, Newbery, Politics, Social Conscience, World War IIFeatured on July 30
Tar Beach
Elementary School, Picture BookJuly has been designated National Black Family Month, a month for Black Americans “to invest in their families as well as themselves.” The organizers hope that participants will have family reunions, dinners, or network with each other. Today I want to focus on one of the most magical family dinners ever portrayed. Faith Ringgold created […]
African American, Family, Food, Imagination, Multicultural, New York, Seasons, Summer, True StoryFeatured on July 25
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolI live in New England. During the month of July many of us in the region, as well as those from far away, seek out the beauty of the Maine coast—canoeing or kayaking in coves, sunlight on the water, baseball games, lobster, and fresh blueberry pie. These are just some of the images we all […]
20th Century, African American, Award Winning, History, Multicultural, Newbery, Printz, Religion/SpiritualityFeatured on July 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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