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The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

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Around this time of year many school children find themselves on summer vacation, often with an assignment to read a number of books over the summer.  I myself was never so happy as a child as when I had unlimited time to read and a pile of new offerings by my chair. Well, if you […]

Adventure, London
Featured on June 9

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

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On May 21, 1904, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris. Today the Fédération administers the World Cup. What the rest of the world calls “football” has been renamed soccer in the United States. Over the last decade, because of soccer’s obvious advantages—an exciting game, team play, and inexpensive equipment—the sport […]

Family, Soccer, Sports
Featured on May 21

The White Mountains by John Christopher

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On April 16, 1922, John Christopher was born as Samuel Youd in Lancashire, England. Leaving school at sixteen, Christopher began writing adult science fiction novels, but then a British publisher asked Christopher if he would try his hand at a science fiction novel for young readers. Quite naively Christopher believed that writing a book for […]

Adventure, Dystopia, Quest
Featured on April 16

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

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April 12 marks a day that I am very fond of: Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) Day. It reminds us to put aside whatever we are doing and take time to enjoy a book. Since Beverly Cleary’s birthday also falls on this day, families can find no better place to go than Cleary’s books. Today […]

Family, School, Special Needs
Featured on April 12

Alabama Moon by Watt Key

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As the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War continues from March 21-23 in Jackson County, Alabama, one of the largest reenactments of the war takes place. The Siege of Bridgeport attracts thousands of people for this annual event with period music, encampments, and vendors. I myself have never attended a reenactment that I didn’t love […]

Adventure, Survival
Featured on March 23

City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

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March has been designated Write a Letter of Appreciation Month. I always say that the Children’s Book-A-Day Almanac is my daily love letter to an author. So today I want to write an almanac letter of appreciation to Jeanne DuPrau for her magnificent novel, The City of Ember. At the beginning of The City of […]

Adventure, Dystopia
Featured on March 5

Witches! by Rosalyn Schanzer

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The end of February can be brutal in New England. Certainly more than one inhabitant of the region has felt that powers of darkness have seized the barren land. And during the end of February 1692, the Reverend Samuel Parris and other ministers in Salem, Massachusetts, grilled two children, nine-year-old Betty Parris and her eleven-year-old […]

Award Winning, Colonial America, History, Politics, Religion/Spirituality, Sibert
Featured on February 29

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

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On February 21, 1916, the German High Command launched an offensive in Verdun, France. It was to become the longest battle of World War I, ending on December 15 of that year, claiming a million men. No matter how many movies I watch or books I read, I still have trouble wrapping my mind around […]

Animals, History, Horses, World War I
Featured on February 21

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

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Last weekend Carnival took place  in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One of the last great folk festivals, the event continued until Shrove Tuesday. If, like me, you’d love to attend but missed it this year, pick up the book of the day, Eva Ibbotson’s Journey to the River Sea, to celebrate Brazil and its people. […]

20th Century, Geography, Survival
Featured on February 17

The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson

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January has been designated Book Blitz Month, a great time  to indulge in the books of your favorite author. For me the perfect author to pick up in January during the long, cold New England nights, would be Eva Ibbotson. She wrote so many different kinds of books—all of them combining literary excellence with child […]

Adventure, Geography
Featured on January 17

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Illustrated by Erin McGuire

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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, School
Featured on December 21

Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone

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On December 20, 1606, three small ships, Susan Constant, Goodspeed, and Discovery departed from London, England, to America. When they landed on May 14 of the next year, the passengers, sent by the Virginia Company, established what would become the first permanent settlement in the United States: Jamestown, Virginia. The characters of this early-American drama—Captain […]

Adventure, History, Pioneer, Survival
Featured on December 20

Bigger than a Bread Box by Laurel Snyder

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December has been designated Read a New Book Month. One of the best books of the last couple of years, Laurel Snyder’s Bigger than a Bread Box, features twelve-year-old Rebecca. Her life is suddenly torn in two when her mother takes Rebecca and her little brother, Lew, to live at her grandmother’s home in Atlanta, leaving […]

Family, Magic
Featured on December 16

Annotated Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie with notes by Maria Tatar

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On November 23, 1903, an already popular writer and playwright began the first draft of a play entitled “ANON” and set in the night nursery of the Darling family. A few years later, in 1911, he extended the script ideas of that play, Peter Pan, into a longer novel for children, Wendy and Peter. In […]

Adventure, Survival
Featured on November 23

The Goats by Brock Cole

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Today for Young Readers Week I am going to look at one of the most powerful books ever written for twelve- to fourteen-year-olds. Like all books that change us and make us a different person, I remember exactly where I was and how I felt the first time I read it. I was Editor of […]

Adventure, Seasons, Summer, Survival
Featured on November 10

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

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The second week of November we celebrate National Young Readers Week. I wish that all young readers had access to the books we celebrate every day on the Almanac. Today we’ll look at one, published in 1993, which I consider a contemporary classic, Rodman Philbrick’s Freak the Mighty. When I first read this book about […]

Humor, School, Special Needs
Featured on November 7

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

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October has been designated Reading Group Month by the Women’s National Book Association. All kinds of reading groups have become popular over the last couple of decades: teen book groups, mother and daughter groups, parents and children groups. An ideal pick for book groups and classroom discussions is our book of the day: My Brother […]

Award Winning, Family, History, Newbery, Revolutionary War
Featured on October 27

The Summer I Learned to Fly by Dana Reinhardt

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Some books just begged to be discussed with others, and our book of the day for Reading Group Month is perfect for mother/daughter groups: Dana Reinhardt’s The Summer I Learned to Fly. When we first meet the protagonist of the book, she tells us that some smells draw us back to childhood—like her grandfather’s aftershave […]

Food, Romance, Seasons, Summer
Featured on October 16

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

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October has been designed Reading Group Month, organized by the Women’s National Book Association. Today we’ll look at a classic book, ideal for mother/daughter book discussions, and tomorrow a new title. I am always interested in the books that people remember from childhood—children read so many books but which ones stay with them into adulthood? […]

Dance, Great Depression, History, London
Featured on October 15

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

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On October 12, 1797, Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, handing Venice over to Austria. In one of the best children’s books of the last decade, the city of Venice comes so alive that it almost seems like a character itself. In the The Thief Lord, the first novel by German author Cornelia Funke […]

Geography, History
Featured on October 12

Eleanor Roosevelt by Russell Freedman

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Today marks the birthday of both Russell Freedman and Eleanor Roosevelt. Originally a West Coaster, Russell was born in San Francisco and studied at the University of California at Berkeley. Russell’s long-time editor Dorothy Briley once said that he made the most perfect dinner guest she had ever encountered. He could make intelligent conversation about […]

Great Depression, History, Social Conscience, World War I, World War II
Featured on October 11

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
Illustrated by Lane Smith

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Just when I think I can’t be surprised about the existence of a holiday, one comes along that amazes me. Today we celebrate Moldy Cheese Day. Molds play an important part in the production of delicious—but often stinky—blue cheeses like Roquefort and Gorgonzola. Even the milder Brie and Camembert get created by the introduction of […]

Fairy Tale, Humor
Featured on October 9

It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris

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I live in a highly literate, educated, and politically centrist town in Massachusetts. While others have been cutting school money, Westwood recently built a new library. The children’s staff here has to be one of the best I have ever seen in action, responsive to teachers and parents. For me personally, they have provided amazing […]

Award Winning, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Featured on September 29

Bootleg by Karen Blumenthal

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On 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 I
Featured on September 28

The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

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From September 22 through September 28, the American Library Association celebrates Banned Books Week. Often your local public library will display some famous banned books. I am always surprised to see what makes list of “top banned/challenged books” of the decade. Harry Potter leads the list—possibly Harry Potter is going to lead all lists (sales, censorship, […]

Family, Humor, School
Featured on September 26

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

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On September 21, 1937, a children’s book appeared in England that, like other English classics such as Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Potter’s Peter Rabbit, or Grahame’s Wind and the Willows, began as a story told to a specific child. Actually, the idea of the book came when the author, correcting 286 school exams, found a blank […]

Adventure, Quest
Featured on September 21

Larklight by Philip Reeve

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I have been waiting for September 19 all year. It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day! What an inspired idea for a celebration. Last year, all my Facebook friends went nutty with this one!  I can hardly wait to see “Pirate speak” twitters this year. Pirate lore for children, however, tends to be a bit formulaic. […]

Adventure, Pirates
Featured on September 19

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

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Today we are merely preparing for tomorrow, one of the best days on the calendar—International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Because before you can talk like a pirate, you have to read about them. Pirates remain fascinating for children, and in Treasure Island R. L. Stevenson brings together pirates, maps, and one-legged seamen with parrots […]

Adventure, Pirates
Featured on September 18

Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos

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September has been designated Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Month to educate everyone about effective treatments for the disease. In 1998 Jack Gantos published a book called Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key that not only became a National Book Award finalist but also goes a long way in educating young readers about ADHD. Joey Pigza […]

ADHD, Award Winning, Humor, National Book Award, School, Special Needs
Featured on September 14

Theodosia by R. L. LaFevers

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Many states observe Archaeological Month during September, with activities for children to think about this profession as a career. Even to me as an adult, the lure of going on an archaeological dig remains one of my unfulfilled fantasies. The book of the day R. L. LaFevers’s Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos definitely flames […]

Ancient, Archeology, History, London, Science
Featured on September 9

Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson

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Today, 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, Women
Featured on September 5

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.