Book-A-Day Almanac
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics and the new books on their way to becoming classics.
The Dark Is Rising
Fantasy, Middle School, SeriesToday 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 holiday season. He learns that he is the last of the Old Ones, the Sign […]
Adventure, Magic, Other WorldsFeatured on December 21
Nothing But the Truth
Fiction, Middle SchoolOn 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 best novels for ten- to fourteen-year-olds, published in 1991 and already a classic, explores the […]
Award Winning, Newbery, Politics, SchoolFeatured on December 18
The Wright Brothers
Biography, Elementary School, Middle SchoolDecember 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 Invented the Airplane, a Newbery Honor book published two decades ago. Few in the history […]
Award Winning, Flight, History, Newbery, Planes, Technology, TransportationFeatured on December 17
The Wind in the Willows
Classic, Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle School 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 art for Alice in Wonderland. Fortunately, our birthday celebrant, Ernest H. Shepard, born 132 years […]
Adventure, AnimalsFeatured on December 10
The Giver
Elementary School, Middle School, Science Fiction“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 ’90s Lowry found herself a frequent visitor at a nursing home. There her mother, going […]
Adventure, Award Winning, Dystopia, NewberyFeatured on December 3
The Green Glass Sea
High School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolOn 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 would later say, “We knew the world would not be the same. A few people […]
Cold War, HistoryFeatured on December 2
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Biography, Middle SchoolToday 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 Modern Civil Rights Movement. But today, because of the research of author Phillip Hoose, we […]
Award Winning, Civil Rights, History, National Book Award, Newbery, SibertFeatured on December 1
Savvy
Elementary School, Fantasy, Middle SchoolWe all have at least one talent. November 24, Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day, allows all of us to acknowledge our own individual abilities. Whatever you do best, take some time today to recognize that talent. What if you knew that on a certain birthday, your thirteenth, you would be given a special talent or […]
Adventure, Award Winning, Family, Magic, NewberyFeatured on November 24
Leviathan
High School, Middle School, Science Fiction The genre of science fiction has always provided endless opportunities for writers—as well as endless memories for the young people who read their work. Today marks the first interracial kiss on TV, between Captain James Kirk and Lt. Uhura of Star Trek. Tomorrow in 1963 the BBC broadcast the first episode of Doctor Who, the […]
Adventure, TechnologyFeatured on November 22
Elizabeth George Speare
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolOn November 21, 1908, Elizabeth George Speare was born in Melrose, Massachusetts. After finishing degrees from Boston University, she taught in the Massachusetts schools, then married and moved to Connecticut. When her children entered junior high school, she began writing articles and eventually books for children. One thing that distinguishes Speare from other writers is […]
Adventure, Award Winning, History, Newbery, Pioneer, SurvivalFeatured on November 21
The (Mostly) True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
Elementary School, Historical Fiction, Middle SchoolOn the third Saturday in November, the town of Gettysburg celebrates Remembrance Day with a parade of Civil War groups and organizations. One of the most dramatic events of the battle at Gettysburg occurred on the second day when Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Bowdoin College professor who commanded the 20th Maine, was sent to defend Little […]
Adventure, Award Winning, Civil War, History, NewberyFeatured on November 20
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
Middle School, NonfictionNext for National Aviation Month, I’ve chosen a book honoring women who loved flying. When Lieutenant Colonel Eileen M. Collins became the first woman to command a spacecraft that orbited the earth, a group of women pilots had been invited by her to sit at the coveted VIP spots at Cape Canaveral. This group included […]
Award Winning, History, Sibert, Space, WomenFeatured on November 18
Crossing Stones
High School, Historical Fiction, Middle School, Poetic NovelOn this day in history, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, World War I ended in 1918. America’s involvement came late in the conflict, and, in fact, most of the books written about World War I for young readers have originated in England. But Crossing Stones by Helen Frost, written entirely […]
Family, History, Women, Women's Suffrage, World War IFeatured on November 11
Hachiko Waits
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolOn November 10, 1923, the eighth puppy in a litter of Akita Inu dogs was born on a farm near Odate, Japan. He would become one of the most famous dogs in the world. Although Akitas are naturally smart and loyal, Hachi, which means eight, would come to exemplify just how devoted a member of […]
Animals, Dogs, True StoryFeatured on November 10
Hachet
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolThe second week of November we celebrate National Young Readers Week, an event created in 1989 by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress to help schools recognize the joys and benefits of reading. To go along with the activities this year, I recommend two books, one a classic and the other […]
Adventure, Award Winning, Nature, Newbery, SurvivalFeatured on November 8
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolTo celebrate World Origami Days (October 24–November 11) I would recommend one of my favorite books of the last five years. The ancient Japanese art of Origami does not seem an obvious premise for a trendy, very funny, and contemporary novel, but then great children’s writers always find new slants on old topics. In The […]
Origami, SchoolFeatured on November 5
Pyramid
Elementary School, Middle School, Nonfiction, Picture BookIn Luxor, Egypt, on November 4, 1922, the English archaeologist Howard Carter, funded by the wealthy Lord Carnarvon, discovered a pharaoh’s tomb that had not yet been plundered by grave robbers. This tomb contained more than five thousand artifacts of Tutankhamun from Ancient Egypt. For children, King Tut, as he became known, is naturally interesting, […]
Ancient, HistoryFeatured on November 4
Katherine Paterson
Elementary School, Fiction, Middle SchoolUnless you are living under a rock, you know today is Halloween. Either for nutritional or theological reasons, Halloween has not been as appreciated in recent years as when I was a child. But I think there is a better holiday to celebrate on October 31. In fact, I am sorry that it is not […]
Award Winning, NewberyFeatured on October 31
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.
