Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
The Cure For Dreaming
High School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolAround this time of year, I like to alert Almanac readers to some new titles, ideal for holiday gift-giving, that they might have missed. Today I want to sing the praises of the second novel by Cat Winters, The Cure for Dreaming. Now, I have been an active part of the children’s book world since […]
20th Century, History, Politics, Social Conscience, Women, Women's SuffrageFeatured on October 29
Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?
Biography, Elementary School, Picture Book Since 1987, Women’s History Month has been celebrated in March—a time to look at all the unsung heroines and their contributions over the years. In 2013 the talented duo of Tanya Lee Stone and Marjorie Priceman teamed up to create a picture book perfect for Women’s History Month, Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? The […]
History, Science, Social Conscience, WomenFeatured on March 10
Curse of the Blue Tattoo
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolJune has been designated Audio Appreciation Month. Today I am going to talk about an audio series that was recommended to me by my two favorite audio experts: Ellen Myrick, who created the audio section of 500 Great Books for Teens, and Alison Morris of Scholastic. If you are headed out for a road trip […]
Colonial America, History, WomenFeatured on June 10
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
Little White Duck
Elementary School, Graphic Novel, Memoir, Middle School For our last selection for Read a New Book Month, I’d like to look at one of the most original graphic novels to appear in the last couple of years, Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martínez’s Little White Duck. When books for American children focus on other parts of the world, they tend to be […]
20th Century, History, Women, World HistoryFeatured on December 27
Listening for Madeleine
Adults, High School, Middle SchoolOn 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, WomenFeatured on November 29
Make Lemonade
Fiction, Middle School, Poetic NovelToday marks the birthday of American author Virginia Euwer Wolff. She grew up on her family’s fruit ranch in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. Her father died when she was five—she would later create many fatherless children in her novels. A violinist, Wolff attended Smith College, and then traveled with her husband and two children. In the […]
Family, School, WomenFeatured on August 25
Girls Think of Everything
Elementary School, Nonfiction August has been designated National Inventors Month. So often when we think of inventors, we think of dead white men. But in 2000, writer Catherine Thimmesh and illustrator Melissa Sweet published a book that changed that perception for me: Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. Catherine sets the stage in the […]
History, Inventors, Science, WomenFeatured on August 20
Here Come the Girl Scouts!
Elementary School, Picture Book On March 12, 1912, a new organization had its first meeting in Savannah, Georgia. Based on the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides in England that were founded by Sir Robert Baden-Powell and his sister, Agnes Baden-Powell , the Girl Scouts began in the U.S. as a meeting of eighteen girls who were convened by […]
History, Women, Women's SuffrageFeatured on March 12
Bootleg
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionOn September 28, 1839, Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was born in Churchville, New York. She would become the first corresponding secretary of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union; later as its president she became one of the most effective crusaders for two Constitutional amendments: the 18th (Prohibition) and the 19th (Women’s Suffrage). Willard is only one […]
Great Depression, History, Politics, Prohibition, Women, World War IFeatured on September 28
Bread and Roses, Too
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolToday, on Labor Day, I want to highlight a work of historical fiction for children, Katherine Paterson’s Bread and Roses, Too, that will help young readers understand the historical background of the day. As a well-known poster proclaims, “The Labor Movement. The Folks Who Brought You the Weekend.” But almost nothing exists in books for […]
19th century, History, WomenFeatured on September 5
Me . . . Jane
Biography, Elementary School, Picture BookSeptember 1 has been set aside to celebrate International Primate Day. I can think of no better way to mark this day than look at the life of Jane Goodall, who has devoted herself to the study and the conservation of chimpanzees. In 2011 Patrick McDonnell published an exquisite picture book Me . . . […]
Animals, Monkeys, Science, Women, ZoologyFeatured on September 1
Ballet for Martha
Elementary School, Middle School, Nonfiction, Picture Book On May 11, 1894, Martha Graham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of sixteen, she saw her first dance performance “and that night my fate was sealed.” In her early twenties Graham moved to Greenwich Village, New York, and joined the Follies, with assorted animal acts and chorus girls. In 1926 she started […]
20th Century, Dance, History, WomenFeatured on May 11
The Stratemeyer Syndicate
Elementary School, Mystery/Thriller, SeriesOn May 10, 1930, Edward Stratemeyer, author and empire builder, died. He began his career as a ghostwriter for the Horatio Alger series, then fashioned his own adventures about the Rover Boys. In 1906 Stratemeyer began to hire freelance writers to develop his ideas. He created nothing less than a literary assembly line—in the end […]
WomenFeatured on May 10
A Chair for My Mother
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday we celebrate Mother’s Day, a time to remember all of the sacrifices and kindnesses of our mothers. As a body of stories, children’s books are probably kinder to fathers than mothers. But our Book-of-the-Day is about a memorable mother and a child who appreciates her. Vera Williams grew up in a household where her […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Family, Multicultural, WomenFeatured on May 8
Like the Willow Tree
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, SeriesIn honor of Women’s History Month, the book of the day is a title by veteran writer Lois Lowry, Like the Willow Tree. After a hiatus, the Dear America series, a historical fiction series told in diary formats, has been revitalized with this one of the first volumes. Among its many accomplishments, the book presents […]
20th Century, History, Religion/Spirituality, WomenFeatured on March 14
Independent Dames
Elementary School, Nonfiction, Picture Book March has been designated Women’s History month. Fortunately, in the last two decades we have been given scores of books that promote the role of women in history. For some great suggestions you can consult the Amelia Bloomer list compiled by the American Library Association. Today I’d like to focus on one of the exceptional […]
History, Revolutionary War, WomenFeatured on March 10
The Daring Nellie Bly
Biography, Elementary School, Picture BookOn January 25, 1890, stunt newspaper reporter Nellie Bly arrived in New Jersey, after managing to travel around the world in 72 days. She had set out to beat the record of Jules Verne’s imaginary hero, Phineas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days. This feat was only one of Bly’s accomplishments. In Nellie […]
Adventure, History, Transportation, WomenFeatured on January 25
The Midwife’s Apprentice
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolIn Greece January 8 has been designated Midwife’s Day or Women’s Day, to honor midwives. Midwifery, of course, has a long and important history throughout the world. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of medieval times, Karen Cushman chose the practice of helping women deliver babies as the subject for her second novel, The Midwife’s Apprentice, […]
Award Winning, History, Middle Ages, Newbery, WomenFeatured on January 8
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
Middle School, NonfictionNext 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, WomenFeatured on November 18
Crossing Stones
High School, Historical Fiction, Middle School, Poetic NovelOn 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 IFeatured on November 11
Molly Bannaky
Biography, Elementary School, Picture Book 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, WomenFeatured on November 9
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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