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
Dead End in Norvelt
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolThis week from April 10–13 the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association holds its annual convention. I once took care of the Houghton Mifflin booth during a convention held in a small hotel complex where funeral directors took up the other half of the hall. I couldn’t think of a book that I might bring [...]
20th Century, Award Winning, History, Newbery, SummerFeatured on April 8, 2013
The Moon Jumpers
Picture Books, Preschool books Tonight the full moon appears around the world, and I plan to celebrate with a 1957 title by Janice May Udry, The Moon Jumpers, which won a Caldecott Honor for its illustrator, Maurice Sendak when he was just thirty years old. It has been less than a year since Maurice’s death, and the outpouring of [...]
Award Winning, Bedtime, CaldecottFeatured on March 27, 2013
Three Times Lucky
Elementary School, Mystery/ThrillerThe game’s afoot! This weekend in Cape May, New Jersey, one of my favorite events of the year, Sherlock Holmes Weekend, takes place. Anyone lucky enough to attend can don Victorian garb and stalk gas-lit streets to solve the “Case of Anima Orbis.” I myself always want to go, if only to wear one of [...]
Award Winning, NewberyFeatured on March 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
The Breadwinner
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolMany make reading resolutions for the New Year, and I do as well for the Almanac. Last year, a consulting project I worked on made me painfully aware of how few of our best books for children focus on other than English-speaking countries. So this year I intend to write more Almanac entries with an [...]
Award Winning, Family, History, Social ConscienceFeatured on January 14, 2013
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, 2012
The Great Gilly Hopkins
Elementary School, FictionUnless you are living under a rock, you know today is Halloween. Either for nutritional or theological reasons, Halloween has not been as appreciated in recent years as when I was a child. But I think there is a better holiday to celebrate on October 31. In fact, I am sorry that it is not [...]
Award Winning, Family, NewberyFeatured on October 31, 2012
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, 2012
Little Red Riding Hood
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolBorn in Philadelphia on April 8, 1939, Trina Schart Hyman trained as an illustrator and spent over three decades creating beautiful books and artwork for children. Beloved by her editors, Trina, who was always a force to be reckoned with, delighted in making sure they actually studied what she had drawn. She usually wove in [...]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Fairy Tale, FolktaleFeatured on April 8, 2012
Witches!
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionThe 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, SibertFeatured on February 29, 2012
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
My Brother Sam is Dead
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolOctober 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 WarFeatured on October 27, 2011
It’s Perfectly Normal
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionI live in a highly literate, educated, and politically centrist town in Massachusetts. While others have been cutting school money, Westwood recently passed a tax override for 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, [...]
Award Winning, Boston Globe-Horn Book AwardFeatured on September 29, 2011
Strega Nona
Elementary School, Picture BookOn September 15, 1934, in Meriden, Connecticut, a boy who would become one of the world’s best storytellers was born. Tomie dePaola always credited his Irish and Italian family for providing him with the material for many of his sagas. I don’t know if he came out of the womb spinning tales, but he claims [...]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Food, Humor, MagicFeatured on September 15, 2011
Joey Pigza
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolSeptember 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 NeedsFeatured on September 14, 2011
Swimmy
Elementary School, Picture BookSeptember has been set aside as a month to “Be Kind to Authors and Editors.” On the Almanac, I could use that as my moto 365 days of the year. Authors and editors are the people who make our best books possible, who work to provide quality content for children, and they deserve kindness and [...]
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, Fish, Social ConscienceFeatured on September 10, 2011
Life Story
Elementary School, Picture BookHer sons called her “Ginnee.” Every now and then, she might be, “Oh, Mom,” but she seemed, even in childhood, their best friend. And because of them, she became the best friend, or author, for millions of boys and girls over the years. Today we celebrate the birthday of an artist who created not only one [...]
Award Winning, Caldecott, History, ScienceFeatured on August 30, 2011
Make Way for Ducklings
Elementary School, Picture BookIn August of 1941 a picture book appeared that has become synonymous with the city of Boston for millions of readers. While he was an art student there, Robert McCloskey got the idea for Make Way for Ducklings from a true story that appeared in the newspaper. However, he developed the book in New York [...]
Animals, Award Winning, Boston, Caldecott, DucksFeatured on August 28, 2011
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, 2011
An American Plague
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionOn August 3, 1793, a young French sailor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, contracted a virulent fever, which worsened before he died. Newspaper accounts in the new nation’s capital did not even give his name, and everyone went about their usual business in the City of Brotherly Love. But from that moment on, an invisible killer stalked [...]
Award Winning, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, History, Newbery, Science, SibertFeatured on August 3, 2011
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, 2011
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, 2011
Rabbit Hill
Elementary School, FantasyToday for National Rabbit Week, we’ll look at one of our timeless classics. The Newbery winner Rabbit Hill has been much loved from the time it was published in 1944, during the height of World War II, at least in part because it seems very contemporary in its concerns. Robert Lawson was one of those [...]
Animals, Award Winning, Newbery, RabbitsFeatured on July 19, 2011
My Friend Rabbit
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolJuly 15–21 has been designated National Rabbit Week to pay tribute to this animal for being such a great companion for humans. What is it about rabbits that so inspire children’s book authors and illustrators? Ever since Peter Rabbit went lippety, lippety down the road, rabbits have multiplied like—well—bunnies in children’s books. I’ll be talking [...]
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, Humor, Imagination, RabbitsFeatured on July 16, 2011
Words to My Life’s Song
Elementary School, Memoir, Middle SchoolToday marks a very special birthday: the 88th of author and illustrator Ashley Bryan. Born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Ashley has lived on an island off the coast of Maine for years. He gets to stay there less than he might like, because he is in so much demand as a speaker. [...]
20th Century, African American, Art, Award Winning, History, MulticulturalFeatured on July 13, 2011
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolToday marks the birthday of Étienne de Silhouette, the French finance minister. In 1759, because of France’s credit crisis during the Seven Years War, he had to impose severe economic demands on the country, particularly the wealthy. Something of an artist, Silhouette enjoyed making cut-paper portraits, and his name became synonymous with these creations. After [...]
19th century, Award Winning, History, Newbery, ScienceFeatured on July 8, 2011
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolJuly has been designated both Family Reunion Month and National Black Family Month. We all need to take time to celebrate the strengths and virtues of our families. For some writers, their family and their family stories provide the necessary ingredients for great books. Such is the case of our author of the day, Mildred [...]
African American, Award Winning, Family, History, Multicultural, NewberyFeatured on July 3, 2011
Officer Buckle and Gloria
Elementary School, Picture BookJune has been designated National Safety Month to promote safety at work, at home, on the road, and in our communities. Safety might seem a bit dull as a topic for a book for children, but the book of the day, Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann, demonstrates that highly creative people can make [...]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Humor, SchoolFeatured on June 30, 2011
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Elementary School, Picture Book Today, Charlotte Zolotow, legendary publisher, editor, and writer celebrates her 97th birthday. Sometime in the late seventies I first met Charlotte; Bill Morris, Harper’s devoted head of Marketing, adored her and wanted us to get to know each other. From that day on, I suddenly had a new goal—I wanted to grow up to be [...]
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, Imagination, RabbitsFeatured on June 26, 2011
My Louisiana Sky
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolAround this time of year the Squire Creek Louisiana Peach Festival takes place with a rodeo, parades, and a cooking contest. If you are in the area and want some local culture, the next two days will provide that and more. But if you aren’t, I have an alternative: Kimberly Willis Holt’s My Louisiana Sky, for [...]
Award Winning, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Family, Special NeedsFeatured on June 24, 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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