Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
The Amulet of Samarkand
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolJuly marks Audio Book Month, a perfect time to listen to a title that will entertain the entire family. I owe the audio of the day to Alison Morris of Scholastic Book Clubs, who raved about Simon Jones’s rendition of The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud for Listening Library. How right she was. Now [...]
Adventure, London, MagicFeatured on July 16, 2012
The Boggart
Elementary School, FantasyOn May 23, 1935, Susan Cooper was born in England. While at Oxford, she listened to lectures by J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, who had set up the curriculum in English Literature and Language. Although this meant as a student that she didn’t read much written past 1832, it did give her a lot [...]
England, Magic, TechnologyFeatured on May 23, 2012
The Star of Kazan
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolJanuary has been designated Book Blitz Month, a great time to indulge in the books of your favorite author. For me the perfect author to pick up in January during the long, cold New England nights, would be Eva Ibbotson. She wrote so many different kinds of books—all of them combining literary excellence with child [...]
Adventure, GeographyFeatured on January 17, 2012
The Borrowers
Elementary School, Fantasy On January 4, 1838, Charles Sherwood Stratton, the most famous small person in history, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After being discovered by another resident of the city, P. T. Barnum, Stratton received a new name, General Tom Thumb. Our book of the day, Mary Norton’s The Borrowers, celebrates General Tom Thumb—and little people in [...]
Adventure, ImaginationFeatured on January 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
Bigger than a Bread Box
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolDecember has been designated Read a New Book Month. One of the best books of the last couple of years, Laurel Snyder’s Bigger than a Bread Box, features twelve-year-old Rebecca. Her life is suddenly torn in two when her mother takes Rebecca and her little brother, Lew, to live at her grandmother’s home in Atlanta, leaving [...]
Family, MagicFeatured on December 16, 2011
The Thief Lord
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolOn October 12, 1797, Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, handing Venice over to Austria. In one of the best children’s books of the last decade, the city of Venice comes so alive that it almost seems like a character itself. In the The Thief Lord, the first novel by German author Cornelia Funke [...]
Geography, HistoryFeatured on October 12, 2011
The Hobbit
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolOn September 21, 1937, a children’s book appeared in England that, like other English classics such as Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Potter’s Peter Rabbit, or Grahame’s Wind and the Willows, began as a story told to a specific child. Actually, the idea of the book came when the author, correcting 286 school exams, found a blank [...]
Adventure, QuestFeatured on September 21, 2011
Larklight
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolI have been waiting for September 19 all year. It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day! What an inspired idea for a celebration. Last year, all my Facebook friends went nutty with this one! I can hardly wait to see “Pirate speak” twitters this year. Pirate lore for children, however, tends to be a bit formulaic. [...]
Adventure, PiratesFeatured on September 19, 2011
Theodosia
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolMany states observe Archaeological Month during September, with activities for children to think about this profession as a career. Even to me as an adult, the lure of going on an archaeological dig remains one of my unfulfilled fantasies. The book of the day R. L. LaFevers’s Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos definitely flames [...]
Ancient, Archeology, History, London, ScienceFeatured on September 9, 2011
Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolOn September 4, Joan Aiken (1924-2004) was born in Rye, East Sussex, England, the newest member of a family of authors. Her father, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Conrad Aiken, was just one of the creative people in Joan’s life. Homeschooled by her mother, Joan Aiken decided at age five that she, too, wanted to be a [...]
19th century, History, LondonFeatured on September 4, 2011
The Golden Compass
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolAugust has been designated Audio Book Appreciation Month. Certainly one of the great changes in children’s book publishing during my career has been the increase in superb audio recordings of novels. Since in August many families spend time in the car going to and from vacation spots, I am going to talk about my two [...]
Adventure, London, MagicFeatured on August 17, 2011
The Cabinet of Wonders
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolToday marks National Relaxation Day. We are encouraged to leave our stress-filled lives, kick back, put our feet up, and enjoy something. To me that sounds like an invitation to read an engrossing book. For a relaxing day, I would recommend picking up Marie Rutkoski’s series ideal for ten- to fourteen-year-olds that begins with The [...]
History, London, MagicFeatured on August 15, 2011
Comet in Moominland
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolIf you spent your childhood in Europe, particularly Scandinavia or England, you will be more familiar with the books of the day than if you grew up in the United States. Unfortunately, these gems have never gained the popularity in America that they enjoy abroad. And American children are poorer because of that. Born on [...]
Adventure, Geography, PoliticsFeatured on August 9, 2011
The Rescuers
Elementary School, Fantasy This year, from July 29 through August 4, the 40th Norway Cup took place. More than fourteen hundred international youth soccer teams traveled from different countries to compete. Well, our book of the day doesn’t have much to do with soccer. But it begins when Nils, one of the book’s three heroes, has to be fetched [...]
Adventure, Animals, Humor, MiceFeatured on August 5, 2011
Tuck Everlasting
Elementary School, Fantasy“If you had to choose only one children’s book, which one would it be?” I am often asked that difficult question. Fortunately, I have not yet been marooned on a desert island with only one book to last me for the rest of my life. But I do have a book to offer up as [...]
Adventure, Seasons, SummerFeatured on August 1, 2011
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolToday marks the birthday of the world’s best-known literary character. He has taken his place along with Sherlock Holmes and Winnie the Pooh as a household name. And he’s only been around since 1998. If you guessed that his name is Harry Potter, you are correct. Harry emerged in the mind of his creator J. [...]
Adventure, Friendship, MagicFeatured on July 31, 2011
Skellig
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolJuly has been designated Make a Difference in the Life of a Child month. The right book for the right child at the right time always has and always will change lives. The book of the day is one that can be very powerful when it gets in a child’s hands at the right moment. [...]
Imagination, Magic, Religion/Spirituality, ScienceFeatured on July 24, 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
Stuart Little
Elementary School, Fantasy On July 11, 1899, Elwyn Brooks White, known to his friends as Andy and the literary world as E. B., was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He would eventually become a Maine man, where he lived with his wife Katharine. White published his first article in The New Yorker in 1925 and continued to [...]
Animals, Family, Humor, Imagination, New YorkFeatured on July 11, 2011
The BFG
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School On July 9, 1982, Queen Elizabeth II woke up in Buckingham Palace to find a stranger sitting at the end of her bed. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, the intruder had actually planned to commit suicide in the queen’s bedroom, but then decided that wasn’t “a nice thing to do.” Instead he simply wanted to [...]
Humor, Imagination, LondonFeatured on July 9, 2011
The Lightning Thief
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolAround this time of year we celebrate the longest day of the year, the summer solstice. This date looms large for the hero of our featured book, a kid who just can’t get a break. He’s never seen his father and lives with an odious and repellent stepfather when not away at boarding school for [...]
Adventure, Magic, Mythology, Seasons, SummerFeatured on June 21, 2011
My Father’s Dragon
Elementary School, Fantasy Around this time of year we celebrate Father’s Day. Now, as a rule, children are not particularly excited to read a book about an adult, even if they love their father. They would rather read about children they want to hang out with. But one of the best children’s books of all times (perfect for [...]
Adventure, Animals, ImaginationFeatured on June 19, 2011
Brian Jacques
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolSometimes writing the Almanac can be bittersweet, and today is such a day. On my outline for the first year of the Almanac, I set today aside to celebrate the birthday of a very special writer. Unfortunately for me and countless fans, Brian Jacques died suddenly in 2011. He would have been 74 today. During [...]
Adventure, Animals, Humor, Mice, RatsFeatured on June 15, 2011
The Phantom Tollbooth
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School Today marks the birthday of Norton Juster, a man who should be named the patron saint of all who put pen to paper. One of the things that all writers do, on almost a daily basis, is avoid writing. If most of us put as much energy into writing as we put into not writing, [...]
Adventure, Cars, Games, Humor, Imagination, TransportationFeatured on June 2, 2011
Half Magic
Elementary School, Fantasy “It began one day in summer about thirty years ago, and it happened to four children.” So begins the book of the day, a perfect story about summer. This book holds a unique place in the children’s book canon. It is the only one I know where the author admitted to copying, shamelessly, from another author [...]
Adventure, Humor, Imagination, Magic, Seasons, SummerFeatured on May 31, 2011
Tom’s Midnight Garden
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolMemorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer. For children summer often means more unstructured time when they can enjoy their own activities. The hero of our book of the day, Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden, Tom Long has been looking forward to his summer idyll with his brother, Peter. But Peter comes down with [...]
Adventure, Gardening, Ghosts, History, Time TravelFeatured on May 30, 2011
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Elementary School, FantasyToday marks the 103rd birthday of British writer, journalist, and Naval Intelligence Officer, Ian Fleming. If his name sounds unfamiliar, you’re sure to know the character he created “Bond. James Bond,” who has become part of our cultural landscape, just like Sherlock Holmes. Like other authors who first distinguished themselves writing for adults – E. B. [...]
Adventure, Cars, Family, TransportationFeatured on May 28, 2011
The Wizard of Oz
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School Today marks the birthday of the American author, Lyman Frank Baum. He worked in a variety of jobs—journalist, actor, theater manager, salesman. In fact, he may well have been the inspiration for his most famous character: the Wizard of Oz. In 1900 Baum released the first book about Oz, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a [...]
Adventure, Humor, Other WorldsFeatured on May 15, 2011
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School Today for RIF’s Reading Is Fun week, I’d like to look at a recent novel. When I ask young readers what books they adore reading, one title keeps coming up—Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Mysterious Benedict Society. During the last five years, end-of-the-world, dystopian novels have started to dominate publishing lists and children’s reading lists. All [...]
Adventure, ImaginationFeatured on May 14, 2011
The Little Prince
All Ages, FantasyOn April 6, 1943, one of the most unusual offerings in the children’s book cannon was published. Whether it was a book for adults or children or more appropriately “all ages” would become part of the ongoing debate about The Little Prince. Certainly some of the early reviewers like P. L. Travers and Anne Carroll [...]
Imagination, Religion/SpiritualityFeatured on April 6, 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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