Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionMay 1, International Workers Day, is celebrated in more than eighty countries around the world The observance originated in the United States in the 1880s as workers mobilized to secure an eight-hour workday. The Association of American Publishers has designated May as Latino Book Month. So today seems like a perfect time to look at [...]
History, Latino, Multicultural, PoliticsFeatured on May 1, 2013
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
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, 2013
The Giant and How He Humbugged America
Elementary School, NonfictionMarch has been designated Ethical Awareness Month. Really good books that allow children and adults to explore ethical issues are not that easy to come by, although both Wonder and How to Steal a Dog can be used for this purpose. But a 2012 nonfiction book by Jim Murphy, The Giant and How He Humbugged America, [...]
Civil War, HistoryFeatured on March 18, 2013
The Wreckers
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolToday marks the birthday of Canadian writer Iain Lawrence. He was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, called simply “the Sault,” which is pronounced to rhyme with zoo. Once a year his brother would sing, “Happy Birthday to you. You were born in the Sault.” Possibly this early nonsense verse encouraged Lawrence to seek a [...]
Adventure, England, History, SurvivalFeatured on February 25, 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
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 this year, 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 in line with accepted [...]
20th Century, History, Women, World HistoryFeatured on December 27, 2012
Monsieur Marceau
Biography, Elementary School, Picture Book December has been designated Read a New Book Month. During this month many hunt for new books from the 2012 publishing year to give as gifts. If you are one of those people take a look at the picture book biography, Monsieur Marceau, written by Leda Schubert and illustrated by Gerard Dubois. The story of [...]
History, Theater, World War IIFeatured on December 10, 2012
Unspoken
Elementary School, Picture BookDecember has been designated Read a New Book Month. I look forward to this celebration because I can present some new gems just published this year. First on that list for me is Henry Cole’s remarkable wordless picture book, Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad. In artwork created only with charcoal, paper and pencil, [...]
Civil War, History, Social ConscienceFeatured on December 5, 2012
Balloons Over Broadway
Elementary School, Nonfiction, Picture BookFor more than eighty years, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has entertained Americans. For many households the viewing of the parade is as essential as eating turkey. But how did such an event come about? In Balloons Over Broadway, author and illustrator Melissa Sweet takes readers behind the scenes of the parade as she presents [...]
History, Holidays, Humor, Thankgiving, ToysFeatured on November 22, 2012
Chickadee
Elementary School, Historical FictionNovember has been designated Native American Heritage Month. A perfect book for this month is Louise Erdrich’s fabulous new novel for young readers ages eight through twelve, Chickadee. Several years ago, Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, began a series of books set in the same region as Laura Ingalls [...]
19th century, History, Multicultural, Native AmericanFeatured on November 12, 2012
Castle: How It Works
Beginning Readers, Elementary School, NonfictionToday marks the death date of Chaucer, the birthdate of English historian Thomas Macaulay, and the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, when the English defeated the French. When I looked at those three events, a new beginning reader comes to mind: David Macaulay’s Castle: How It Works. Good beginning readers with historical or informational content [...]
Architecture, HistoryFeatured on October 25, 2012
The Lincolns
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionOn October 15, 1860, eleven-year-old Grace Bedell wrote to a candidate running for the presidency, Abraham Lincoln. She stated that her brothers would vote for him if he grew a beard. “You would look a good deal better for your face is so thin,” she advised. Lincoln wrote back, and then, as a reporter announced, [...]
Civil War, HistoryFeatured on October 15, 2012
Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss
Adults, High SchoolToday is National Comic Book Day. Certainly comic books and graphic novels have become the hottest commodity in children’s publishing in the last few years. Last year I looked at one of the towering historical figures in that world: Crockett Johnson and The Carrot Seed. If you are a fan of Crockett Johnson, then a [...]
History, PoliticsFeatured on September 25, 2012
Bomb
High School, Middle School, NonfictionFrom my point of view, author Steve Sheinkin is one of the most interesting young writers of narrative nonfiction today. Like most who choose to write nonfiction, he has an obsession, a passion, for history. But he excels in making history exciting for young readers, in bringing them into the action and adventure of whatever topic [...]
20th Century, History, Politics, ScienceFeatured on September 17, 2012
Shadow on the Mountain
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolSeptember has been designed Read a New Book Month. Certainly those headed back to school, whether teachers or students, will probably encounter some new titles in the next few weeks. I’d like to highlight a book just published this month: Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus. Margi Preus has published two stellar books in [...]
History, World War IIFeatured on September 10, 2012
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, 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
Glory Be
Elementary School, Historical FictionThe summer in New England has been unbearable in parts of July; but I can always drive down to the ocean for a fresh breeze. Not so in my landlocked childhood state of Indiana. For many of my summers, the community pool provided the only escape from long, hazy summer days. Hence I found myself [...]
Civil Rights, Family, HistoryFeatured on July 30, 2012
The Watch that Ends the Night
High School, Historical Fiction, Middle School, Poetic NovelOn July 13, 1864, John Jacob Astor IV was born in Rhinebeck, New York. He would become the richest man in the world—a land developer, inventor, and even author of a science fiction novel. Today Astor is best remembered as one of the victims of the Titanic. He serves as one of the multiple narrators [...]
20th Century, HistoryFeatured on July 13, 2012
The Sherwood Ring
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle School Today marks American Independence Day, the Fourth of July, a time of parades, firecrackers, and outdoor picnics. But every time the Fourth of July comes around, I wonder how much children think about the reason for this holiday. If they don’t, how do we inform them about the American Revolution? Our book of the day, [...]
Colonial America, Ghosts, HistoryFeatured on July 4, 2012
The Secret of the Yellow Death
Elementary School, NonfictionOn June 18–20, 1900, a young visionary doctor, Major Walter Reed, finished his preparations for a trip that would make him famous. Then from June 21–24 he traveled on the U.S.S. Sedgwick from New York to Cuba. Although Reed had long anticipated the trip because he wanted to do something that would “alleviate human suffering,” [...]
20th Century, History, ScienceFeatured on June 18, 2012
The Lions of Little Rock
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolOn June 15, 1836, Arkansas became the 25th state admitted to the Union. Hence today marks Arkansas Admission Day. Certainly in the last part of the twentieth century, Arkansas has loomed large in American politics: It’s the home state of President Bill Clinton and also the site of the highly contested 1957 attempt to integrate [...]
Civil Rights, History, School, Social ConscienceFeatured on June 15, 2012
The Odyssey
Elementary School, Graphic Novel, Middle SchoolAccording to Eratosthenes, a Greek mathematician and poet, on June 11, 1184 BC the city of Troy was sacked and burned by the Achaeans, ending the Trojan War. Although throughout the years, the very existence of Troy itself has been debated by scholars, one truth remains: Whether real or fabled, these events form the backdrop [...]
Adventure, Ancient, History, QuestFeatured on June 11, 2012
The Great Molasses Flood
Elementary School, NonfictionIn the spring of 2012 several first-rate natural disaster books appeared, probably because of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Besides the Titanic books, Sally M. Walker wrote a thrilling account of the Halifax Explosion of 1917 in Blizzard of Glass. Our book of the day by Deborah Kops, The Great Molasses [...]
20th Century, History, ScienceFeatured on May 8, 2012
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, 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
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
Journey to the River Sea
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle School 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, SurvivalFeatured on February 17, 2012
The Wall
Elementary School, Picture Book Today marks the anniversary of the Tet Offensive in 1968. After calling a cease-fire during the Tet holiday celebration, North Vietnam launched a major offensive throughout South Vietnam. A milestone in the Vietnam War, after the Tet Offensive the U.S. Government began to seek a way out of their involvement in the Vietnamese War. Certainly [...]
Family, Grandparents, History, Multicultural, Vietnam WarFeatured on January 30, 2012
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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