ReaderKidZ welcomes Karen Jameson with today’s guest post: “Poems come out of wonder, not out of knowing.” This quote, by children’s author and poet Lucille Clifton, inspired the title of Kwame Alexander’s latest poetry offering, Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets (Candlewick, March 2017). Published just in time to welcome Poetry Month, this gorgeous picture… Read more »
New & Noteworthy
“Everybody, sing it!”
Pete Seeger was born with music in his bones. So begins this inspirational picture book biography about one of America’s most famous, beloved folk singers, Pete Seeger, Stand Up and Sing! Folk Music, and the Path to Justice, (Bloomsbury 2017), written by Susannah Reich and illustrated by Adam Gustavson. Seeger came of age during… Read more »
Princess Posey and the First Grade Play
The first graders in Posey’s class are reading about bees and plan a play to share what they’ve learned with the other first grade classes. Caitlyn certainly knows a lot about bees. Her mother’s even given her a small yellow eraser in the shape of a bee. “Who cares about an old eraser?” Posey says… Read more »
When the World Falls Silent…
I knew that BEFORE MORNING (HMH, 2016), another gorgeous collaboration of author Joyce Sidman, and illustrator Beth Krommes, would be stunning. I’ve been a fan of Joyce’s poetry for years and have used many of her Poetry Ideas with students. Similarly, I discovered Beth’s luminous scratchboard illustrations (years before her Caldecott winning picture book, The House in the Night by Susan Marie… Read more »
Gertie’s Leap to Greatness
Gertie Reese Foy has a plan to become the greatest fifth grader in the whole school. And if there’s anyone who can actually pull it off, it’s Gertie. Her plan starts easily enough. Phase One is supposed to be a breeze. She’ll write and deliver the best summer speech the teacher has ever heard, thereby earning the… Read more »
Pug Meets Pig by Sue Lowell Gallion
PUG Meets PIG (Beach Lane Books/S&S, 2016) by Sue Lowell Gallion, illustrated by Joyce Wan Life is good. Pug has a nice home, a bowl with his name on it, and a yard where he works. He even has a soft bed all his own. It’s everything he needs and a little bit more. Until… Read more »
Review: Learning How to Be The Best Man
Richard Peck’s latest middle-grade fiction, THE BEST MAN (Sept. 20, 2016, Dial) is full of his trademark humor and intelligence and tackles 21st-century life in lieu of his usual historical fiction. He mentions cell phones, computers, and a printer that spews out hall passes whenever a certain teacher walks by. But it’s not only technology… Read more »
