Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
Wendell Minor
Elementary School, Nonfiction, PreschoolToday illustrator Wendell Minor celebrates his birthday. Both Wendell and his wonderful wife Florence, one of the great teams in children’s books, happen to be good friends of mine. Normally, that would stop me from writing this post because it is hard for me to be objective. But I think Wendell has worked so hard […]
Animals, History, Nature, Penguins, Revolutionary War, Trains, TransportationFeatured on March 17
The Snowy Day
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolIn 1963 when Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time won the Newbery Award, an artist who had struggled a long time to find his voice received the Caldecott Medal. Born in Brooklyn, Ezra Jack Keats was the son of Polish immigrants. Although his mother encouraged him to create art, something he delighted in doing, his […]
African American, Multicultural, Seasons, WinterFeatured on March 15
Spoon
Elementary School, Picture Book, Preschool Today marks National Cereal Day, so raise a glass of milk or a cup of coffee to your favorite brand. Americans are, as group, addicted to cereal. I recently a saw a Facebook post by someone overseas who lamented she could not get her favorite American cereal in this foreign country. Our book of the […]
Food, Humor, ImaginationFeatured on March 7
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
Babies and Toddlers, Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolOn March 2, 1904, Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Seuss won a Pulitzer Prize for lifetime contribution, one of the few children’s book creators ever so honored, and his books have sold over 200 million copies. Like so many of our pivotal children’s book creators, Seuss struggled to get his first book […]
Humor, ImaginationFeatured on March 2
Tooth Fairy Day
Elementary School, Fantasy, Picture Book, PreschoolOn February 28, Tooth Fairy Day commemorates our love and affection to the kindly tooth fairy and her generosity to children. Many retain wonderful childhood memories of placing a tooth under the pillow and finding some coins in the morning. But does the tooth fairy visit everyone—all over the globe? In Throw Your Tooth on […]
Bedtime, Family, HumorFeatured on February 28
Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday marks National Polar Bear Day, to celebrate the world’s largest carnivore. Although we have honored a lot of penguins on this website (Mr. Popper’s Penguins and 365 Penguins), polar bears have received scant notice. So today I’d like to honor a polar bear—although he happens to be the best friend of a penguin. In […]
Animals, History, Jewish, Multicultural, Penguins, World War IFeatured on February 27
The Story of Babar
Classic, Elementary School, Fantasy, Picture Book, PreschoolNext week, from February 24-28 has been designated as Read Me Week by Reading Is Fundamental to celebrate the importance and fun of reading. All week long, local businesses and organizations who have adopted schools in their area will send out volunteers to read. The week culminates on Read Me Day in Nashville, Tennessee—where local […]
Adventure, Animals, Elephants, France, HumorFeatured on February 23
Knuffle Bunny
Babies and Toddlers, Picture Book, PreschoolFor nearly ten years February has been designated Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month. When I think of a rabbit that needs rescuing in children’s books, the first one that comes to mind appeared in 2004—not a living rabbit but a stuffed toy named Knuffle Bunny. In Mo Willems’s Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, we first […]
ToysFeatured on February 18
Simms Taback
Babies and Toddlers, Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday marks the birthday of one of our most innovative illustrators and Caldecott winners, Simms Taback. When Simms won the award in 2000 for Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, so many members of the illustration community delighted in this news not only because they had long admired his work but also because he had worked […]
Art, Award Winning, Caldecott, Humor, Jewish, Multicultural, MusicFeatured on February 13
Snowflake Bentley
Biography, Elementary School, Picture Book, Preschool On February 9, 1865, close to the end of the Civil War, Wilson Bentley was born in Jericho, Vermont. As a young boy he loved snow and began to keep a record of the weather. Studying snow crystals under a microscope, he discovered that each one was unique, with its own shape and design. He […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Nature, Science, Seasons, WinterFeatured on February 9
Harry the Dirty Dog
Elementary School, Picture Book, Preschool Today for children’s authors and artists week, I’d like to honor a nonagenarian who published her first children’s book sixty years ago, Margaret Bloy Graham. Born in Canada, Margaret moved to New York in the 1940s to work as a commercial illustrator. During that time she became good friends with two other U.S. immigrants, Hans […]
Animals, Bedtime, Dogs, HumorFeatured on February 5
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Elementary School, Picture Book, Preschool Today Judith Viorst, author, poet, and journalist, celebrates her birthday. She became known as a writer through her Redbook columns, full of witty and stylish prose, often about family life. They naturally led to a series of children’s books, some of them addressing childhood psychological issues. The Tenth Good Thing About Barney helps children process […]
Family, HumorFeatured on February 2
Martha Speaks
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolJanuary is appropriately named National Soup Month. Inevitably, when the weather turns chilly, I gravitate toward warm soup, a fire, and a good book. Susan Meddaugh began her career as a graphic designer in the children’s book department of Houghton Mifflin. She worked with James Marshall, Bill Peet, Bernie Waber, and David Macaulay, among others, […]
Animals, Dogs, HumorFeatured on January 24
Angelina Ballerina
Babies and Toddlers, Elementary School, Picture Book, Preschool Today we celebrate Measure Your Feet Day. But why? Well, one reason youngsters might measure their feet would be for special shoes, say ballet shoes. Since this also happens to be the birthday of Katharine Holabird, author of Angelina Ballerina, our book of the day features a very special mouse, Angelina, who loves to dance. […]
Animals, Dance, MiceFeatured on January 23
Scaredy Squirrel
Babies and Toddlers, Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday has been designated Squirrel Appreciation Day. Like many city dwellers, I don’t appreciate squirrels. My dogs, Lady and Lancelot, basically believe that all squirrels deserve to be driven up trees. The squirrels in my back yard retaliate by making fun of these lumbering, large dogs. I have liked these bushy-tailed creatures a great deal […]
Animals, Award Winning, Feelings, SquirrelsFeatured on January 21
Martin’s Big Words
Biography, Elementary School, Preschool Today marks Martin Luther King Day. When we come to the third Monday in January, I am often reminded that I did not celebrate this holiday as a child. But I did have an opportunity to witness the incredible life and amazing accomplishments of Dr. King. When I was a student in rhetoric at Indiana […]
African American, Award Winning, Caldecott, Civil Rights, Coretta Scott King, History, Multicultural, Social ConscienceFeatured on January 17
Caps for Sale
Classic, Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday we celebrate National Hat Day. If you have ever met me, you know I am a hat fanatic. I began wearing them in the mid 1970s, when a bad haircut before a sales conference sent me into a tizzy. I stopped at a store on my way back to work and purchased a hat […]
Animals, Clothing, Hats, MonkeysFeatured on January 15
10 Little Rubber Ducks
Babies and Toddlers, Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolOn January 10, 1992, a cargo of around 29,000 rubber toys—including ducks, beavers, turtles, and frogs—fell overboard from a container ship in the northern Pacific Ocean. Some eventually landed on a remote coast of Alaska. In Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion author Loree Griffin Burns explains what actually happened to […]
Adventure, Animals, Ducks, ToysFeatured on January 10
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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