Find a Book by Date
Books featured in December
1
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Today has been designated Rosa Parks Day, marking her arrest on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat on a bus. The incident sparked the yearlong Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott and is considered the beginning of the…
Award Winning, Civil Rights, History, National Book Award, Newbery, Sibert
Featured on December 1
2
On December 2, 1942, the Manhattan Project initiated the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Less than three years later, a group of scientists stood near Alamogordo, New Mexico, to watch the first nuclear explosion. One of them, J. Robert Oppenheimer…
Featured on December 2
3
“It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened." With these words Lois Lowry opens the best novel for children of the 1990s and one of the greatest science fiction works of all time—The Giver. In the early…
Adventure, Award Winning, Dystopia, Newbery
Featured on December 3
4
For those hunting for a book about Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, today I want to remind some people of—and introduce others to—one of the most memorable books about Jewish life and customs ever written, All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor.…
Family, History, Immigration, Jewish, Multicultural
Featured on December 4
5
Today marks Bathtub Party Day, a time to remember, in a society that takes showers for quickness and convenience, the luxury of days gone by and a good bath. Suggestions for the day include getting candles and oils—even inviting a…
Featured on December 5
December has been designated Read a New Book Month. I look forward to this celebration because I can present some new gems of the last couple of years. In 2012 Henry Cole published a remarkable wordless picture book, Unspoken: A…
Civil War, History, Social Conscience
Featured on December 5
6
The celebration of Hanukkah, which takes place this year from December 1–9, has generated a number of fine books for children. Today I’d like to look at two picture books that I particularly admire, one classic and one newer title.…
Award Winning, Caldecott, Hanukkah, History, Holidays, Revolutionary War
Featured on December 6
7
On December 7, 1842, the first concert of the New York Philharmonic, the first symphony orchestra founded in America, was performed. Over the years, the Philharmonic has performed more than 15,000 times and tonight will play a program of Beethoven…
Featured on December 7
8
On December 8, 1861, Georges Méliès was born in Paris, France. He became one of the first French filmmakers, renowned for his creative development of motion pictures. Delighting in special effects, Méliès explored time-lapse photography and hand-painted color in films.…
Award Winning, Caldecott, Film, History
Featured on December 8
Audacious Kids: The Classic American Children’s Story
December has been designated Read a New Book month, but my offering for the Almanac today, although first published in 1992 by Oxford University Press, has just been updated and rereleased this year. Although I know a handful of my…
Featured on December 8
9
On December 9, 1793, Noah Webster established his newspaper, American Minerva. In 1828 Webster published An American Dictionary of the English Language and became the father of the American dictionary. People often wonder how words get into this standard reference…
Featured on December 9
10
Often, with classic children’s books, we remember both the writer and the illustrator. So Lewis Carroll brings to mind the illustrations of Sir John Tenniel. Contemporary readers appreciate Tenniel more than Lewis Carroll ever did—he was basically disappointed with the…
Featured on December 10
December has been designated Read a New Book Month. During this month many hunt for new books to give as gifts. If you are one of those people, take a look at the picture book biography, Monsieur Marceau, written by…
History, Theater, World War II
Featured on December 10
11
12
In some areas of the country, the first snowfall comes in October, but depending on where you are, you may still be waiting for the first snow of the season. I recently watched my young Bernese mountain dog, Lancelot, run…
Award Winning, Caldecott, Seasons, Winter
Featured on December 12
13
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Around this time of year, many families, some who do not even regularly attend church, find themselves in one, supporting the local Christmas Pageant. This event, acted out in communities across America, allows children to play starring roles in the…
Christmas, Family, Holidays, Humor
Featured on December 13
14
On December 14, 1782, the Montgolfier brothers’ first balloon lifted off on its first test flight. Later they would conduct public demonstrations, taking a thirty-three-foot diameter balloon aloft for about ten minutes. From this humble beginning, humans sailing the skies…
Adventure, Award Winning, Humor, Newbery, Technology
Featured on December 14
15
December 15 has been designated Cat Herding Day. Certainly, this impossible task deserves to be celebrated! Eighty-two years ago a classic children’s book demonstrated what a lot of herded cats might look like—although it left the way to accomplish this…
Animals, Award Winning, Cats, Newbery
Featured on December 15
16
Judy Moody Declares Independence
On December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place. The details of the event have always sounded a bit like a college prank to me. A bunch of rebels, dressed up in disguise with faces painted, descend on a…
Family, History, Revolutionary War
Featured on December 16
17
December 17 was declared Wright Brothers Day in 1963 by Presidential Proclamation. Certainly these two Buckeyes, who lived their lives in Dayton, Ohio, have inspired numerous books for children. But the best remains Russell Freedman’s The Wright Brothers: How They…
Award Winning, Flight, History, Newbery, Planes, Technology, Transportation
Featured on December 17
Today 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…
Featured on December 17
18
On December 18, 1956, one of the most popular long-running television shows, To Tell the Truth, premiered. Truth, of course, is a slippery thing. What seems true to one person does not appear that way to another. One of our…
Award Winning, Newbery, Politics, School
Featured on December 18
19
When Charles Dickens set out to write A Christmas Carol in 1843, both his fortune and his reputation had hit an all-time low. “Boz [Dickens’s pen name] is going down,” the gossips declared, and Dickens financial problems were known all…
Featured on December 19
20
On December 20, 1606, three small ships—Godspeed, Susan Constant, and Discovery—departed London, England for Virginia. In May of the next year the men and boys on this ship founded the first permanent English settlement in America, Jamestown. Other colonists, including…
Archeology, Colonial America, History, Science
Featured on December 20
21
Today we celebrate the winter solstice. On the solstice, one of the most appealing characters in classic children’s fantasy celebrates his eleventh birthday. The seventh son of a seventh son, he will be in for some pretty big surprises this…
Adventure, Magic, Other Worlds
Featured on December 21
22
Today is the birthday of Jerry Pinkney, illustrator extraordinaire who has created more than two hundred books for children since he entered the field. Born in Philadelphia, Jerry studied at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and then moved to…
Award Winning, Caldecott, Folktale
Featured on December 22
December has been designated Read a New Book Month, and today I want to talk about my favorite new book of 2014, Ann M. Martin’s Rain Reign. For some time Ann Martin has qualified as one of the heroines of…
Animals, Autism, Dogs, Special Needs
Featured on December 22
23
When this time of year comes around, I always think of one of my favorite books first published in 1978, which truly captures the joy of playing in the snow. Although comic-book format picture books and graphic novels rule today,…
Adventure, Christmas, Holidays, Imagination, Magic, Seasons, Winter
Featured on December 23
For Read a New Book Month, today I recommend one of 2013’s real gems, Kevin Henkes’s The Year of Billy Miller. Henkes has always shifted between picture books that delight young readers, such as Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse and novels…
Featured on December 23
24
On December 24, 1818, a Christmas carol with a beautiful melody and words of peace—one created by an Austrian priest and a headmaster—was first performed in the Church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, Austria. Of all my own childhood memories,…
Christmas, History, Holidays, Music, Social Conscience, World War I
Featured on December 24
25
In 1985 a book appeared by Caldecott-winning artist Chris Van Allsburg that would immediately become a bestseller and over the years establish itself as a picture book ritually read and enjoyed by families during the Christmas season: The Polar Express.…
Adventure, Christmas, Holidays, Magic, Trains, Transportation
Featured on December 25
26
Today begins the celebration of Kwanzaa, extending through the first of January. Honoring African culture, Kwanzaa was created in 1966 to “give Blacks an alternative to the existing holidays.” Today, December 26, marks the day to strive for and maintain…
African American, Civil Rights, History, Holidays, Kawanzaa, Multicultural
Featured on December 26
27
As I sit writing, a storm rages outside my window. Some branches scrape against the house. This creepy setting mirrors the one found in our book of the day, M. T. Anderson’s The Suburb Beyond the Stars. In December we…
Featured on December 27
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 in the last couple of years, Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martínez’s Little White Duck. When…
20th Century, History, Women, World History
Featured on December 27
28
On December 28, 1732, the first issue of Poor Richard’s Almanack was advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette. Published from 1733–1758, this brainchild of Benjamin Franklin has been imitated and copied many times. Franklin, like so many of the Founding Fathers,…
Animals, History, Mice, Revolutionary War
Featured on December 28
29
Today marks the birthday of Richard Atwater, born in 1892. He graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, where he taught Greek. But for most of his career, Atwater worked as a journalist, book review editor, and columnist for…
Animals, Award Winning, Newbery, Penguins
Featured on December 29
30
You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!
December 30, 1935, marks the birthday of Sandy Koufax, left-handed pitcher for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. When inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, Koufax became the youngest player to receive that honor. But 1972 happened in the…
Baseball, Jewish, Multicultural, Sports
Featured on December 30
31
On December 31, 1999, the Prime Minister of England, Tony Blair, formally opened what was then the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, the London Eye. On the banks of the River Thames, this major landmark and tourist attraction has…
Autism, Family, London, Special Needs
Featured on December 31