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Books featured in July
1
For some reason, although it is summertime, things seem busier than ever during the month of July. I suppose I always secretly long for the summers I remember from my youth—with long periods of unstructured time. New Englanders tend to…
Featured on July 1
3
July 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…
African American, Award Winning, Family, History, Multicultural, Newbery
Featured on July 3
4
Today we celebrate Independence Day in the United States with fireworks and patriotic songs. The best-loved melody about America does not happen to be our national anthem, which even trained singers perform with difficulty. Most Americans prefer an easier and…
Featured on July 4
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…
Colonial America, Ghosts, History
Featured on July 4
5
Rex Zero and the End of the World
Around this time of year, for almost forty years, the annual Kimberly International Oldtime Accordion Championships took place in Kimberley, B.C., Canada. Family dances, jam sessions, and pancake breakfasts marked a festival that distinctly reminded me of my childhood. I…
Canada, Cold War, Family, Geography, History, Politics
Featured on July 5
6
On July 6, 1957, in Saint Peter’s Parish Church in Woolton, England, a young musician performed with his band, The Quarrymen. Another young guitarist attended the event. As Elizabeth Partridge writes in John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth,…
Featured on July 6
7
July 1 was Canada Day and in its honor I’m celebrating two Canadian authors and events this month. On July 5 the Almanac featured Tim Wynne-Jones. Today we’ll look at another Canadian writer, Kenneth Oppel. I first encountered his work in…
Family, Science, Social Conscience
Featured on July 7
8
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Today 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…
19th century, Award Winning, History, Newbery, Science
Featured on July 8
9
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,…
Featured on July 9
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…
Featured on July 9
11
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…
Animals, Family, Humor, Imagination, New York
Featured on July 11
12
On July 12, 1817, Henry David Thoreau, American author, poet, naturalist, historian, and philosopher, was born in Concord, Massachusetts. Neighbor to other radical thinkers of his day, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott—the father of Louisa May—and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thoreau believed…
Featured on July 12
13
Today 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…
20th Century, African American, Art, Award Winning, History, Multicultural
Featured on July 13
On 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…
Featured on July 13
Around this time of year Ohio celebrates Sheep Day! In Wayne County at the Sheep Research Unit, Ohio State University faculty, staff, and students convene to discuss how to successfully raise sheep. If I were anywhere near this event, I'd…
Featured on July 13
14
July has been designated Make a Difference to Children month. All involved with children’s books celebrate this cause year round. Nothing can make more of a difference than the right book for the right child at the right time. I’m…
Featured on July 14
One of my most cherished summer memories centers on reading. In it, I’m nine years old, and I have just returned from the Marietta, Ohio, public library with my grandmother and a pile of books. As I settle into a…
Family, Friendship, Seasons, Summer
Featured on July 14
15
On July 15, 1868, an author who had been known for worthy adult writing—a novel called Moods and a Civil War memoir Hospital Sketches—finished the first half of a book that would secure her literary immortality. This was not an…
Featured on July 15
16
July 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…
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, Humor, Imagination, Rabbits
Featured on July 16
July 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…
Featured on July 16
17
For National Rabbit Week, we’ll look at several books, starting with two bunny books ideal for preschoolers. We have a bumper crop of rabbits in my neighborhood this year, and my Bernese Mountain Dog Lancelot is obsessed with them. Possibly…
Animals, Family, Imagination, Rabbits
Featured on July 17
18
On July 18, 1936, General Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops in North Africa against the elected government of Spain. So began the Spanish Civil War, sometimes called “the first media war” because foreign correspondents and writers became…
Featured on July 18
19
Today 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…
Animals, Award Winning, Newbery, Rabbits
Featured on July 19
20
Over the last week we have been exploring superb books about our furry friend, the bunny rabbit. This year a book by Shaun Tan, Lost & Found, takes an entirely original look at this beloved creature. Containing three separate books…
History, Politics, Social Conscience, Trendsetting
Featured on July 20
21
From 2011-2015 the sesquicentennial of the Civil War will be celebrated. Although the war began 150 years ago, so many contemporary issues can be discussed with children using the Civil War as a starting place. So over the next year…
Featured on July 21
On July 21, 1899, Noble Prize–winning author Ernest Hemingway was born. Although raised in Oak Park, Illinois, during his later years Hemingway lived in Key West, Florida, and Cuba. This booze hound and bullfighting advocate seems an unlikely candidate for…
Award Winning, Family, History, Newbery
Featured on July 21
22
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
I 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…
20th Century, African American, Award Winning, History, Multicultural, Newbery, Printz, Religion/Spirituality
Featured on July 22
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
The first entry of our book of the day, Wendy Mass’s Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life occurs on July 22, and so today seemed an appropriate time to look at this beloved book by one of today’s most…
Featured on July 22
23
Today is National Hot Dog Day, and July is National Hot Dog Month. So it seems a good time to focus on hot dogs, one of America’s favorite and “most patriotic” foods according to promoters. Although the book of the…
Animals, Birds, Food, Humor, Imagination
Featured on July 23
24
July 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…
Imagination, Magic, Religion/Spirituality, Science
Featured on July 24
25
July has been designated National Black Family Month, a month for Black Americans “to invest in their families as well as themselves.” The organizers hope that participants will have family reunions, dinners, or network with each other. Today I want…
African American, Family, Food, Imagination, Multicultural, New York, Seasons, Summer, True Story
Featured on July 25
26
On Chincoteague Island, the annual pony penning contest is taking place at the end of July. Since 1925, around 50,000 people gather each year to watch 150 wild ponies herded off Assateague Island. They swim across the channel, are rounded…
Featured on July 26
29
July has been designated National Blueberry Month, to alert the public that this is the best time for fresh blueberries. I hope you can pick up some today—and while you are doing so, take a look at a classic children’s…
Featured on July 29
30
Seventy-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…
Award Winning, History, Jewish, Multicultural, Newbery, Politics, Social Conscience, World War II
Featured on July 30
The summer in New England has been unbearable a few days in 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,…
Featured on July 30
31
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Today 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…
Featured on July 31