Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
Gregory, the Terrible Eater
Elementary School, Picture Book October has been designated Vegetable Awareness Month and today also marks National Dessert Day. Certainly, I embrace both causes. The book of the day, Gregory, the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat, brings these two holidays together in a humorous and totally satisfying story. Like many children, Gregory was a fussy eater; he wants only fruits, […]
Food, HumorFeatured on October 14
Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
Elementary School, Graphic NovelThis 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
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
Eleanor Roosevelt
Biography, Elementary School, Middle SchoolToday marks the birthday of both Russell Freedman and Eleanor Roosevelt. Originally a West Coaster, Russell was born in San Francisco and studied at the University of California at Berkeley. Russell’s long-time editor Dorothy Briley once said that he made the most perfect dinner guest she had ever encountered. He could make intelligent conversation about […]
Great Depression, History, Social Conscience, World War I, World War IIFeatured on October 11
Morning Girl
Elementary School, Historical FictionToday we celebrate Columbus Day. Every now and then a book not only educates you but changes the way you view history. Once you have read it, you cannot see things quite the way you once did. That is how I think about the book of the day, Michael Dorris’s Morning Girl. Published in 1992, […]
History, Multicultural, Native AmericanFeatured on October 10
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
Elementary School, Middle School, Picture Book Just when I think I can’t be surprised about the existence of a holiday, one comes along that amazes me. Today we celebrate Moldy Cheese Day. Molds play an important part in the production of delicious—but often stinky—blue cheeses like Roquefort and Gorgonzola. Even the milder Brie and Camembert get created by the introduction of […]
Fairy Tale, HumorFeatured on October 9
Midnight Fox
Elementary School, FictionFor our last book for Great Books Week, I will look at a classic by Betsy Byars, published in 1968, The Midnight Fox. In her career, Betsy wrote picture books, easy readers, historical fiction, and fantasies; she won the Newbery Award for The Summer of the Swans. But The Midnight Fox, a book about a […]
Animals, Foxes, Seasons, SummerFeatured on October 8
Arthur’s Nose
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolToday for Great Books Week (October 6-12) , I’d like to look at a modest picture book that launched an empire: Marc Brown’s Arthur’s Nose. In 1976 a failed television weatherman, Marc Brown, published his first picture book under the astute guidance of Emilie McLeod of Atlantic Monthly Press. Emilie, one of those most respected […]
Animals, Friendship, HumorFeatured on October 7
Mirror Mirror
Elementary School, Picture Book, Poetry On October 3rd we celebrated National Poetry Day. Normally people set aside the month of April to celebrate poetry, but I actually think children’s poetry should be honored at least once a month. Even for children who think they don’t like to read, a poem can be a magical entry into the literary world. I […]
Fairy TaleFeatured on October 6
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Classic, Elementary School, Picture BookFor the upcoming Great Books Week, I want to look at the work of Paul Galdone. In his lifetime, Paul received very little critical praise for his books, although he did garner two Caldecott Honors for Eve Titus’s Anatole and Anatole and the Cat. Beginning in the fifties, he illustrated the work of others for […]
Animals, FolktaleFeatured on October 5
Encyclopedia Brown
Elementary School, Mystery/ThrillerBorn on October 4, 1924, in New York City, Donald Sobol served in the Army Corps of Engineers in World War II and then attended Oberlin College. There he became interested in writing and worked as a reporter for the New York Sun and the New York Daily News. In the late fifties Sobol began […]
HumorFeatured on October 4
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Elementary School, Picture BookOctober 6-12 has been designated Great Books Week to remind us to use our time well by picking up excellent books. By asking questions such as “if stranded on an deserted island, what five books would you want?” or “what books do you read over and over?” the organizers hope to get us all to […]
History, Machines, TechnologyFeatured on October 3
On the Farm
Elementary School, Poetry, Preschool Since the eighties the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi has been honored with World Farm Animals Day. If I were to pick a single book that celebrates living farm animals, it would have to be On the Farm, an inspired collaboration between poet David Elliott and illustrator Holly Meade. David once actually worked on a farm—although […]
AnimalsFeatured on October 2
The Sailor Dog
Elementary School, Picture Book On October 1, 1942, a brave new experiment in publishing was launched as collaboration between Simon & Schuster and Western Printing and Lithograph Company. The project was described as “a new series of 25 cent books for children,” with an initial print run of 600,000 copies each. Carried in independent bookstores, these volumes also made […]
Animals, Dogs, Sailing, SportsFeatured on October 1
The Rabbits’ Wedding
Elementary School, Picture BookSometimes, after a controversy has swarmed around a book, it is almost impossible to see it as the author intended. That is true of today’s book for Banned Books Week (September 22-28), Garth Williams’s The Rabbits’ Wedding—one of the next major picture books, after The Story of Ferdinand to create an incredible ruckus. At its […]
Animals, RabbitsFeatured on September 30
It’s Perfectly Normal
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionI live in a highly literate, educated, and politically centrist town in Massachusetts. While others have been cutting school money, Westwood recently built a new library. The children’s staff here has to be one of the best I have ever seen in action, responsive to teachers and parents. For me personally, they have provided amazing […]
Award Winning, Boston Globe-Horn Book AwardFeatured on September 29
Bootleg
Elementary School, Middle School, NonfictionOn September 28, 1839, Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was born in Churchville, New York. She would become the first corresponding secretary of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union; later as its president she became one of the most effective crusaders for two Constitutional amendments: the 18th (Prohibition) and the 19th (Women’s Suffrage). Willard is only one […]
Great Depression, History, Politics, Prohibition, Women, World War IFeatured on September 28
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile
Elementary School, Picture BookToday is the birthday of one of the nicest human beings I ever had the chance to work with, Bernie Waber. A quiet, unassuming man, Bernie had a gentle sense of humor—one that he relied on for books like Ira Sleeps Over and Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. Born in Philadelphia, Bernie moved frequently during his childhood […]
Animals, HumorFeatured on September 27
The Agony of Alice
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolFrom September 22 through September 28, 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
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Elementary School, Picture Book, PreschoolSeptember 25 has been designated National Comic Book Day. From Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm’s Babymouse series to Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid offerings, comic books (sometimes called graphic novels) have been the hottest publishing phenomena of the past few years—including in books for children. Entire imprints, like First Second, have been established to explore what […]
Humor, ImaginationFeatured on September 25
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
Art Dog
Elementary School, Picture BookFor National Dog Week, which began yesterday, I’d like to look at a highly original and amusing protagonist, Thacher Hurd’s Art Dog. In terms of children’s book, Thacher Hurd has lived a charmed life. He was the son of not only one, but two, great children’s book creators—writer Edith Thacher Hurd and artist Clement Hurd, […]
Animals, Art, DogsFeatured on September 23
The World’s Greatest Elephant
Elementary School, Nonfiction, Picture Book Elephant Appreciation Day, which took place yesterday, has been set aside to celebrate the “earth’s largest, most interesting, and most noble endangered land animal.” Certainly elephants have always had enormous appeal to children. In fact, circus founder P. T. Barnum once said, “When entertaining the public, it is best to have an elephant.” In 2006 […]
20th Century, Animals, Elephants, HistoryFeatured on September 22
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
Go, Dog. Go!
Beginning Readers, Elementary SchoolThe heroes of our book of the day do not even have names. But the canines in P. D. Eastman’s Go, Dog. Go!, an offering for National Dog Week, which takes place the last week of September, are some of the fastest, and funniest, dogs to appear in a children’s book. After the success of […]
Animals, Dogs, HumorFeatured on September 20
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
Treasure Island
Classic, Elementary School, Middle SchoolToday we are merely preparing for tomorrow, one of the best days on the calendar—International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Because before you can talk like a pirate, you have to read about them. Pirates remain fascinating for children, and in Treasure Island R. L. Stevenson brings together pirates, maps, and one-legged seamen with parrots […]
Adventure, PiratesFeatured on September 18
Bad Kitty Gets a Bath
Elementary School, Graphic NovelSeptember has been designated Happy Cat Month. But the cat featured in our book of the day isn’t really happy. In fact, her owners have found a way to make her extremely miserable—by giving Bad Kitty a bath. I believe, however, that Nick Bruel, Bad Kitty’s creator, must certainly be laughing as he works on […]
Animals, Cats, HumorFeatured on September 17
Strega Nona
Elementary School, Picture BookOn September 15, 1934, in Meriden, Connecticut, a boy who would become one of the world’s best storytellers was born. Tomie dePaola always credited his Irish and Italian family for providing him with the material for many of his sagas. I don’t know if he came out of the womb spinning tales, but he claims […]
Award Winning, Caldecott, Food, Humor, MagicFeatured on September 15
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
Little Bear
Beginning Readers, Elementary School Born in Denmark on September 13, 1920, Else Holmelund Minarik came to the United States when she was four. At first she hated English, the new language that she had to learn, but she became devoted to it—and to teaching first graders how to read words that had once perplexed her. As she observed her […]
Animals, Bears, Family, HumorFeatured on September 13
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.
