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Books featured in June
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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…
Adventure, Cars, Games, Humor, Imagination, Transportation
Featured on June 2
Today I’d like to wish a very happy birthday to Helen Oxenbury, one of our most accomplished children’s book illustrators. Helen turned to illustration as a second career when her own child was born. An accomplished set designer for theater,…
Animals, Ducks, Politics, Social Conscience
Featured on June 2
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Today I am thanking all my cat-loving readers, who have had to suffer through endless dog books and dog stories. It isn’t fair, I know! However, June has been designated Adopt a Shelter Cat Month—with the motto “Make Pet Adoption…
Featured on June 3
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June 4 has been designated Drawing Day or Pencil Day. Today we are encouraged to create art and to remember the joy we had when we first picked up a pencil and drew. If I ask myself what is the…
Animals, Award Winning, Caldecott, Family, Games, Imagination
Featured on June 4
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This month marks the beginning of the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico hurricane season. June also marks Caribbean-American Heritage Month. Both events are celebrated in the book of the day, Margarita Engle’s Hurricane Dancers. In a powerful, 145-page poetic…
16th Century, History, Hurricanes, Latino, Multicultural, Weather
Featured on June 5
At the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam on June 5, they acknowledge Dead Duck Day and discuss ways to prevent these winged city dwellers from colliding into windows. I, however, don’t like to use Almanac pages to feature dead ducks…
Featured on June 5
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Today Koreans celebrate Memorial Day -- to pay tribute to those who died in war. Although very few books for children are set in Korea, Linda Sue Park’s extraordinary novel When My Name Was Keoko, published in 2002, explores World War II as…
Asian American, Family, History, Multicultural, Politics, World War I
Featured on June 6
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“I scream, you scream, we all scream, for ice cream,” goes the old ditty, and today marks National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. What a wonderful idea—two of the world’s most popular foods, chocolate and ice cream, celebrated together. For me,…
Award Winning, Caldecott, Geography, Nature, Seasons, Summer
Featured on June 7
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The Rise and Fall of Senator Joe McCarthy
On June 9, 1954, a lawyer from Boston, Joseph Welch, confronted the most feared man in the United States with the cry “Have you left no sense of decency?” These words marked the beginning of the end of Senator Joe…
Featured on June 9
The Case of the Missing Marquess
Around this time of year many school children find themselves on summer vacation, often with an assignment to read a number of books over the summer. I myself was never so happy as a child as when I had unlimited…
Featured on June 9
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Today marks the birthday of someone who might best be described as the father of the American picture book—or, probably today, its grandfather. When Maurice Sendak published his masterpiece, Where the Wild Things Are, in 1963, he changed the scope…
Adventure, Award Winning, Caldecott, Family, Imagination
Featured on June 10
June has been designated Audio Appreciation Month. Today I am going to talk about an audio series that was recommended to me by my two favorite audio experts: Ellen Myrick, who created the audio section of 500 Great Books for…
Colonial America, History, Women
Featured on June 10
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Seventy years ago in 1941, three days before Hitler’s army marched into Paris, two German Jews who had come to the city on a honeymoon and stayed for a couple of years, found themselves trapped in Paris. Although Hans and…
Animals, History, Humor, Imagination, Monkeys, World War II
Featured on June 11
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Anne Frank: Her Life in Words and Pictures
On June 12, 1929, a young German girl was born. Had history played out differently, she might well have been celebrating her 82nd birthday today. Anne Frank lived in extraordinary times—and in recording those times, she ultimately became the world’s…
Award Winning, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, History, Jewish, Multicultural, Social Conscience, World War II
Featured on June 12
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This week, on June 10, in Australia, Belieze, Cayman Islands, and Fiji they celebrated the “Queen’s Official Birthday.” Queen Elizabeth II actually was born on April 21. Celebrating the Queen’s Official Birthday on a day when she wasn’t born would be…
Featured on June 13
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On 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…
Civil Rights, History, School, Social Conscience
Featured on June 15
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Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Today marks National Fudge Day—and I intend to celebrate. For children’s books aficionados, fudge not only conjures up food but also one of Judy Blume’s most original characters, Fudge, the younger brother of Peter, hero of Tales of a Fourth…
Animals, Family, Humor, Turtles
Featured on June 16
June has been designated Rebuild Your Life Month. In Ron Koertge’s extraordinary book Coaltown Jesus, the protagonist, fourteen-year-old Walker, who lives in Coaltown, Illinois, does indeed need to rebuild his life. Two months ago his brother Noah died at age…
Featured on June 16
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On June 17, 1969, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, ten months after the Soviet Union invaded the city with tanks, the Beach Boys gave a concert in Lucerna Hall. Although police with dogs waited nearby, in this dark time the American band…
Autobiography, Award Winning, Caldecott, Cold War, History, Sibert
Featured on June 17
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For many years, 2 Park Street in Boston served as the headquarters for Houghton Mifflin Publishers. In this Beacon Hill landmark, overlooking the Old Granary Burial Ground, a rickety brass elevator cage took employees up and down to their appointed…
Animals, Cats, Humor, Imagination
Featured on June 18
The Secret of the Yellow Death
On 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…
20th Century, History, Science
Featured on June 18
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In June of 1970, one of the best children’s books about friendship was published, Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad Are Friends, a Caldecott Honor book. Lobel, who studied at Pratt to become an illustrator, made the most important connection of his…
Featured on June 20
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June has been designated Audio Book Appreciation Month. It’s the time of year when many families hit the road—and turn to an audio book in the car. The right audio can save countless repetitions of that familiar question: Are we…
Featured on June 24
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June has been designated the Great Outdoors Month, to celebrate our nation’s natural beauty and renew our commitment to protecting the environment. In June many people and families head to the great outdoors, often to camp out. Many children go…
Featured on June 27
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Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
In the 1930s, an author who called himself “Old Possum” sent his godchildren (Tom Faber, Alison Tandy, Susan Wolcott, and Susanne Morley) a series of poems about cats. Playful, irreverent, and brilliantly written, these fourteen poems (a fifteenth “Cat Morgan…
Animals, Cats, Humor, Imagination
Featured on June 28
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Today is June 29 and even saying that phrase makes me think of our most awarded children’s book illustrator, three-time winner of the Caldecott Medal, David Wiesner. David began his work at Rhode Island School of Design, a student of…
Featured on June 29
The Pilot and the Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupery was born in Lyon, France, on June 29, 1900. Called the Sun King by his family because of his golden hair, the young boy truly had his eyes on the sky. At the age of twelve he…
History, Planes, True Story, World War I, World War II
Featured on June 29
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June 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…
Award Winning, Caldecott, Humor, School
Featured on June 30