Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
A Crooked Kind of Perfect
Elementary School, FictionToday I am recommending a book to chase the holiday blues away. Sometime during this joyous, or not so joyous, season, people find themselves a bit depressed. When that feeling comes upon you, make sure you have a copy of Linda Urban’s A Crooked Kind of Perfect nearby. Urban’s first novel, published in 2007, provides [...]
Family, Humor, Music, SchoolFeatured on December 17, 2012
Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten!
Elementary School, PreschoolAlthough some schools began in August, this week many children are headed back to school and some are headed there for the first time. Starting kindergarten is a topic so well covered by children’s books that I sometimes mistakenly think no one can come up with an original approach. But then creative people always find [...]
Asian American, Family, Multicultural, SchoolFeatured on September 5, 2012
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolAround this time of year, many children have already headed back to school or are in the process of doing so. If you are hunting for a book that might make middle school sound more interesting than the child in your life thinks it will be, pick up the book of the day, Lauren Tarshis’s [...]
Family, SchoolFeatured on August 27, 2012
Make Lemonade
Fiction, Middle School, Poetic NovelToday marks the seventy-fifth birthday of American author Virginia Euwer Wolff. She grew up on her family’s fruit ranch in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. Her father died when she was five—she would later create many fatherless children in her novels. A violinist, Wolff attended Smith College, and then traveled with her husband and two children. In [...]
Family, School, WomenFeatured on August 25, 2012
My Life as a Book
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle School Lazy July days—perfect for summer reading. But what if you don’t like to read; what if you actively avoid reading? Such is the dilemma of our protagonist of the day, twelve-year-old Derek, who begins his saga in My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian with these bold words: “I DON’T WANT TO READ THIS [...]
Family, Humor, SchoolFeatured on July 9, 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
Wonder
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolApril 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 NeedsFeatured on April 12, 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
Breadcrumbs
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School 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, SchoolFeatured on December 21, 2011
Freak the Mighty
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolFrom November 11–17, 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 ten years [...]
Humor, School, Special NeedsFeatured on November 7, 2011
Harriet the Spy
Elementary School, FictionOn October 21, 1964, a book appeared that critics consider the beginning of modern fiction for children. Before that day, it had been controversial in its own publishing house, causing disagreement among the members of Harper & Row’s children’s book department. The gatekeepers of children’s books wanted to keep it out of the hands of [...]
Family, New York, SchoolFeatured on October 21, 2011
Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
Elementary School, Graphic NovelNext week America celebrates National School Lunch Week. And as that old ditto goes: “Teachers come and teachers go,/It’s the lunch lady who you get to know.” But how well do you really know the lunch lady? Do you know what she does when she leaves the school? In our book of the day, an [...]
Humor, SchoolFeatured on October 13, 2011
The Agony of Alice
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolFrom September 30 through October 6, 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, SchoolFeatured on September 26, 2011
Punctuation Takes a Vacation
Elementary School, Picture Book What if we had the English language as we know it, but no punctuation had been invented? The sentences you are reading now would be nearly impossible to comprehend. The importance of punctuation in communication lies at the heart of today’s holiday, the annual National Punctuation Day. For the organizers, today serves as a “celebration of [...]
Humor, SchoolFeatured on September 24, 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
David Goes to School
Elementary School, Picture BookOver the last two months, we’ve been looking at some optimistic books about a child going back to school. Whether it is The Magic School Bus or Kindergarten Diary, these books end happily with their protagonists very satisfied to be in school. But for some children, school may be a bit more of a challenge. [...]
Humor, SchoolFeatured on September 8, 2011
The Library
Elementary School, Picture Book Over the years I have collected a list of titles, shared by teachers and librarians, to use for the beginning of school. Many, of course, started classes in August, but some schools still begin after Labor Day. So I’m going to focus on two more crowd pleasers that adults love to share. I’d be happy [...]
SchoolFeatured on September 7, 2011
Miss Nelson Is Missing!
Elementary School, Picture BookAs August comes to a close, many children head back to or have already started school. Today I’m recommending one of my favorite stories about school, one that some teachers like to use at this time. It not only tells a great story, but also sends a subtle message. By the time James Marshall created [...]
Humor, SchoolFeatured on August 31, 2011
The Magic School Bus
Elementary School, Nonfiction, Picture Book Children around the country have either headed back to school or are about to do so. Much of the drama of these first days centers on the teacher: Who will he or she be? Will the teacher be nice or mean? Easy or hard? The best I can wish for these children is that they might [...]
Adventure, School, ScienceFeatured on August 27, 2011
Kindergarten Diary
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolOur book of the day yesterday, Wemberly Worried, has been around for a decade. But last year, Antoinette Portis added a new book to read during Get Ready for Kindergarten Month. Kindergarten Diary explores what a young child might think and experience each day in a new school. Portis, the very creative inventor of Not [...]
Humor, Imagination, SchoolFeatured on August 20, 2011
Wemberly Worried
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolFor some children, the end of August means preparing to go to school for the very first time. For them August has been designated Get Ready for Kindergarten Month. If you are hunting for a book that might help the very young overcome some of their anxieties about school, today we’ll look at Kevin Henkes’s [...]
Animals, Humor, Mice, SchoolFeatured on August 19, 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
11 Birthdays
Elementary School, FictionToday marks Best Friends Day, a time to celebrate the BFF in your life. Nothing can be so wonderful in the life of a child as a best friend. And, conversely, nothing can be more terrible than a rift between them. I still wince with pain when I think about my “breakup” with my BFF in [...]
Birthdays, Family, Holidays, SchoolFeatured on June 8, 2011
The Schwa Was Here
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolGet out your party clothes! Today those in the know celebrate National Paper Clip Day. The modern version of this lowly but extremely useful object was patented on November 9, 1899 by William D. Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut. But during World War II the paper clip became the symbol of national unity in Norway. Forbidden [...]
Animals, Award Winning, Blindness, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Dogs, Humor, School, Special NeedsFeatured on May 29, 2011
Lilly’s Plastic Purple Purse
Elementary School, Picture BookThis week Reading Is Fundamental celebrates an important concept: Reading Is Fun Week. Nothing will guarantee the reading success of children more than if they find enjoyment in reading. Today I’m going to look at a picture book that is sure to delight young readers. In Kevin Henkes’s Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, a young mouse absolutely [...]
Humor, SchoolFeatured on May 13, 2011
The Hundred Dresses
Elementary School, Fiction, High School, Middle School Born on May 9, 1906, in West Haven, Connecticut, Eleanor Estes worked in the New York Public Library until her first book, The Moffats, was published in 1941. Although she won the Newbery Award for Ginger Pye in 1951, Estes’s earlier book, The Hundred Dresses, has emerged as one of our most unusual and powerful [...]
School, Social ConscienceFeatured on May 9, 2011
Miss Spitfire
Elementary School, Historical FictionThe first week in May (6th-10th) has been earmarked Teacher Appreciation Week—to celebrate some of the most important work going on in our society. In preparation for the week, you might want to pick up our book of the day. Perfect for sharing with third through fifth grades, Sarah Miller’s Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller [...]
19th century, History, School, Special Needs, True StoryFeatured on May 4, 2011
Junie B. Jones
Elementary School, Fiction Today we celebrate Kindergarten Day, observed on the birth of Friedrich Froebel, who founded the first kindergarten in Blankenburg, Germany, in 1837. Froebel believed that play, toys, and music formed the building blocks of children’s education. Certainly the most famous kindergartner in the canon of children’s books, Junie B. Jones, does not initially believe that [...]
SchoolFeatured on April 21, 2011
Henry Huggins
Elementary School, FictionAll 95th birthdays are special, but today marks this important milestone for one of America’s most beloved writers for children, Beverly Cleary. When Cleary’s characters are listed—Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, Ribsy, Ralph S. Mouse—they remind people of childhood favorites, even friends. Born in McMinnville, Oregon, on April 12, 1916, Beverly Alice Bunn lived for a [...]
Animals, Dogs, Family, Humor, SchoolFeatured on April 12, 2011
Maniac Magee
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolTwenty-one years ago, in April 1990, Jerry Spinelli’s Maniac Magee was published. I first read an advanced reading copy of the book before it was published and then watched it sweep the prizes, including the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and Newbery Medal. Still going strong, it has now become a classic, one of the books [...]
Award Winning, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Family, Humor, Newbery, SchoolFeatured on April 8, 2011
Love That Dog
Elementary School, Poetic NovelApril has been designated Poetry Month by the Academy of American Poets. If I could make any single volume the book of the month, I would choose Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog, published by the Newbery-Award winner author in 2001. In a small volume of one hundred pages, Sharon uses free verse to celebrate poetry and the [...]
Animals, Dogs, SchoolFeatured on April 7, 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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