Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
One-Eyed Cat
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolToday marks the ninetieth birthday of writer Paula Fox, born in New York City. Her memoir Borrowed Finery tells the haunting story of her childhood and her rejection by her mother who left her in an orphanage. Paula was initially raised by Reverend Elwood Corning and his bedridden mother; later Fox’s Cuban grandmother took care [...]
Animals, Award Winning, Cats, Family, Great Depression, History, NewberyFeatured on April 22, 2013
Book of Animal Poetry
Elementary School, Poetry, PreschoolApril 15 is, of course, tax day—but I have never found a suitable book on the subject for the Almanac. Some concerns really are not appropriate for children. Instead I will focus on a perfect title for Poetry Month, J. Patrick Lewis’s Book of Animal Poetry. In March at the Charlotte Huck Festival in Redlands, [...]
Animals, Science, ZoologyFeatured on April 15, 2013
Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems
Elementary School, Poetry Happy April Fools’ Day! As someone quite gullible, I find this day taxing. But since April is also Poetry Month, I have a reason to celebrate today. In a new offering that will appeal to both adults and children, Jack Prelutsky has teamed up with the talented Carin Berger to create a book that provides [...]
Animals, Art, ScienceFeatured on April 1, 2013
Good Night, Gorilla
Picture Books, PreschoolToday marks the sixtieth birthday of Peggy Rathmann. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Peggy studied commercial art and crafted picture books at the Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles. In 1991 she published her first book, Ruby the Copycat, and was immediately hailed by Publishers Weekly as a “Promising New Author.” Promising indeed. [...]
Animals, BedtimeFeatured on March 4, 2013
Road Trip
Elementary School, FictionFebruary has been designated Responsible Pet Owners Month. The book of the day, Jim Paulsen and Gary Paulsen’s Road Trip, has been dedicated to “everyone who’s ever loved and been loved by a really good dog.” It was pressed into my hands recently by Carol Stoltz of Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when I [...]
Animals, DogsFeatured on February 11, 2013
The Tree House
Elementary School, Picture BooksFrom February 3–9 this year, we celebrate Children’s Authors and Illustrators Week. Of course, on the Almanac I celebrate them every day of the year. But still I appreciate a week where everyone can focus on these extraordinary people. After being in the field for more than forty years, I love finding an author-illustrator unknown [...]
Animals, Art, Award WinningFeatured on February 4, 2013
Homer
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolNovember has been designated Adopt a Senior Pet Month. Most families want to find a puppy or kitten when they chose a pet, but there are so many benefits in bringing a more mature animal into the house. My own senior pet, a Bernese mountain dog named Lady, turns twelve this month. Two years ago [...]
Animals, Dogs, FamilyFeatured on November 6, 2012
Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Animals
Elementary School, Nonfiction, PreschoolLast year I missed the eightieth birthday celebration of illustrator Ed Emberley, but I’m now weighing in on his eighty-first. Ed Emberley was born in Malden, Massachusetts, graduated from the Massachusetts School of Art, and then painted signs for the army and worked in commercial illustration. In the late fifties he began publishing books with [...]
Animals, Art, NatureFeatured on October 19, 2012
George and Martha
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolWere he still living, I’d be sending seventieth birthday greetings to Jim Marshall today. He died at the age of fifty, much too young and with too many great books still to come. And I have missed him, personally and professionally, for twenty years. A highly sophisticated human being, Jim grew up in San Antonio, [...]
Animals, FriendshipFeatured on October 10, 2012
The Fire Cat
Beginning Readers, Elementary School, FictionOctober happens to be Fire Pup Month. But even old dogs can learn new tricks—and today I will be writing about a cat, not a dog! This year I’ve been meeting with a group of children’s book experts and enthusiasts to choose a small library of the best children’s books. Through this project I have [...]
Animals, Cars, Cats, TransportationFeatured on October 1, 2012
The Animal Family
Elementary School, Fiction Born on May 6, 1914, Randall Jarrell did not publish his first children’s book until he was fifty. By that time he had established himself as one of America’s premiere poets for adults and was also renowned for his brilliant literary criticism. Michael di Capua, then at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, lured Jarrell into children’s [...]
Animals, FamilyFeatured on May 6, 2012
Step Gently Out
Elementary School, Picture Book, Preschool In April we’ve been celebrating Poetry Month. I actually wish every day were Poetry Day for children and that a poems were part of their daily literary diet. In the last couple of years, single poetry volumes for children ages two through eight—the work of Joyce Sidman and books like Marilyn Singer’s Mirror Mirror—have increased. [...]
Animals, Insects, NatureFeatured on April 24, 2012
The One and Only Ivan
Elementary School, Fiction April has been designated Pets Are Wonderful Month (PAWS), which all pets are, of course. As I write, my dear Lance snoozes not far from my feet. They provide inspiration and attention. People have kept all kinds of animals, as pets or objects of curiosity, over the years. And the treatment of these animals lies [...]
Animals, Social ConscienceFeatured on April 18, 2012
A Bear Called Paddington
Chapter Book, Elementary SchoolMarch has been set aside to celebrate the idea that “Humorists are Artists.” Funny books are among the hardest things to write for children—and often the writers get less respect than their more serious counterparts. I am, therefore, always happy when the Almanac can celebrate humor and humorists. Published in 1958, Michael Bond’s A Bear [...]
Animals, Bears, LondonFeatured on March 26, 2012
And Then It’s Spring
Elementary School, Picture Book, Preschool It has been an unusually difficult winter in New England this year, with several feet of snow arriving in the region. Although my Bernese Mountain Dog Lance has enjoyed every flake, I find myself longing for the first day of spring. That sense of joy, of the brown, dry earth coming to life has been [...]
Animals, Nature, Seasons, SpringFeatured on March 20, 2012
War Horse
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolOn 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 IFeatured on February 21, 2012
The World According to Humphrey
Elementary School, Fiction, SeriesToday marks a new holiday, Take Your Child to the Library Day. Patterned after Take Your Child to the Bookstore Day, the holiday emphasizes one of the most important trips that can occur for any child: going to a library, securing a library card, and learning to feel comfortable in a library. No matter how extensive your home [...]
Animals, Hamster, SchoolFeatured on February 4, 2012
Zen Shorts
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday Japan celebrates Coming of Age day, a ceremony to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority: twenty years old. Well, for those who aren’t twenty, or those who are but like to remain child-like in spirit, our book of the day, John J. Muth’s Zen Shorts, explores the Japanese [...]
Animals, Bears, Religion/SpiritualityFeatured on January 9, 2012
The Money We’ll Save
Elementary School, Picture BookIn December many hunt for books both to read and to give as gifts. Well, if you are hunting for a picture book for four- to eight-year-olds and could use a good laugh, I recommend the book of the day, Brock Cole’s The Money We’ll Save. I laughed so much the first time that I [...]
19th century, Animals, Birds, Christmas, History, HolidaysFeatured on December 11, 2011
The Mitten
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolDecember 6 marks Mitten Tree Day; to celebrate everyone is encouraged to decorate a Christmas tree with mittens (the tree and mittens can be real or cut out from brightly colored paper). As I write this, I am packing to travel to Canada and Seattle to present a workshop on children’s classics. One of the [...]
Animals, Clothing, Folktale, Seasons, WinterFeatured on December 6, 2011
I Want My Hat Back
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday we celebrate International Hat Day. I personally love, wear, buy, and covet hats—all kinds of hats. Since the book of the day I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen was published last year, it has already gained an enormous number of fans. Klassen is a master of the minimalist form. Starting with sumptuous [...]
Animals, Bears, Humor, RabbitsFeatured on November 25, 2011
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Elementary School, Picture BookWhile I was vacationing in the Rangeley Lakes area of Maine in October a sign caught my eye: “Wilhelm Reich Museum.” Although I could not get in, I was intrigued to see the location of the laboratory of the radical psychoanalyst who worked with Sigmund Freud. While there I thanked him silently for his little-known [...]
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, MagicFeatured on November 14, 2011
Bone Dog
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolTonight we celebrate All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, a time of carved pumpkins, parties, or door-to-door canvassing in costume for treats. In my childhood the latter activity was quite casual, and costumes often consisted only of sheets with eye holes. But in more recent years Halloween costumes have become elaborate, often prepared with great care. [...]
Animals, Dogs, Halloween, HolidaysFeatured on October 31, 2011
Carl Goes Shopping
Babies and Toddlers, Board Books, PreschoolIn October 1992, the board book edition of a title that had already gained a devoted following of picture book fans appeared, Alexandra Day’s Carl Goes Shopping. Often publishers eager for titles for the very young frequently republish material in board books that have originally appeared as standard picture books. For the Carl books, wordless [...]
Animals, DogsFeatured on October 20, 2011
Horton Hatches the Egg
Elementary School, Picture BookIn October 1940 a new children’s book author and illustrator published his fourth book, one destined to become a classic. Admittedly since he had been rejected some twenty times for his first book, and then only been picked up by a small press, Vanguard, he did not necessarily seem to be poised to become America’s [...]
Animals, Elephants, HumorFeatured on October 19, 2011
Midnight Fox
Elementary School, FictionFor our last book for Great Books Week, I will look at a classic by Betsy Byars, published in 1968, The Midnight Fox. In her career, Betsy wrote picture books, easy readers, historical fiction, and fantasies; she won the Newbery Award for The Summer of the Swans. But The Midnight Fox, a book about a [...]
Animals, Foxes, Seasons, SummerFeatured on October 8, 2011
Arthur’s Nose
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday for Great Books Week (October 7-13) , I’d like to look at a modest picture book that launched an empire: Marc Brown’s Arthur’s Nose. In 1976 a failed television weatherman, Marc Brown, published his first picture book under the astute guidance of Emilie McLeod of Atlantic Monthly Press. Emilie, one of those most respected [...]
Animals, Friendship, HumorFeatured on October 7, 2011
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Classic, Elementary School, Picture BookFor the upcoming Great Books Week, I want to look at the work of Paul Galdone. In his lifetime, Paul received very little critical praise for his books, although he did garner two Caldecott Honors for Eve Titus’s Anatole and Anatole and the Cat. Beginning in the fifties, he illustrated the work of others for [...]
Animals, FolktaleFeatured on October 5, 2011
On the Farm
Elementary School, Poetry, Preschool Since the eighties the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi has been honored with World Farm Animals Day. If I were to pick a single book that celebrates living farm animals, it would have to be On the Farm, an inspired collaboration between poet David Elliott and illustrator Holly Meade. David once actually worked on a farm—although [...]
AnimalsFeatured on October 2, 2011
The Sailor Dog
Elementary School, Picture Book On October 1, 1942, a brave new experiment in publishing was launched as collaboration between Simon & Schuster and Western Printing and Lithograph Company. The project was described as “a new series of 25 cent books for children,” with an initial print run of 600,000 copies each. Carried in independent bookstores, these volumes also made [...]
Animals, Dogs, Sailing, SportsFeatured on October 1, 2011
The Rabbits’ Wedding
Elementary School, Picture BookSometimes, after a controversy has swarmed around a book, it is almost impossible to see it as the author intended. That is true of today’sbook for Banned Books Week (September 30-October 6), Garth Williams’s The Rabbits’ Wedding—one of the next major picture books, after The Story of Ferdinand to create an incredible ruckus. At its [...]
Animals, RabbitsFeatured on September 30, 2011
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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