Author Leda Schubert talks about her new picture book THE PRINCESS OF BORSCHT, illustrated by Bonnie Christensen. (Roaring Brook 2011) The idea for “The Princess of Borscht” came almost ten years ago. As I recall it now, my husband said something like this: “Someone should write a book about borscht.” Sounded like a good idea to… Read more »
Book Room
ReaderKidZ Holiday Countdown – Day 4
Want a chance to win a copy of this wonderfully crafted book featuring one of the most tenacious, charming, and mystifying birds on the planet? Not only is Hummingbirds: Facts and Folklore from the Americas packed with fascinating hummingbird facts and folklore, the illustrations are sensational! Not your everyday, run-of-the-mill illustrations, mind you. No way. They’re… Read more »
ReaderKidZ Holiday Countdown – Day 3
PRINCESS POSEY AND THE NEXT-DOOR DOG by Stephanie Greene, illustrated by Stephanie Roth Sisson I’m excited to share Princess Posey as today’s ReaderKidZ Holiday Countdown selection. It’s a wonderful new early chapter series that I and the other primary teachers at my school have loved reading with our students. The situations Posey finds herself in… Read more »
December Holiday Countdown – Day 2
WE ARE ALL BORN FREE: THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN PICTURES is a magical book that effectively introduces to children the concept that everyone on this planet, wherever we live, whoever we are, everyone has rights that should never be taken away. Illustrations are by artists from many different countries who have co-operated… Read more »
Welcome to ReaderKidZ December 2011 Holiday Countdown!
I recently met a 93-year-old woman who’d been a chemist all her life. I asked her why she’d done that work in her life and she said, “My father bought me a chemistry set when I was eleven and I was hooked.” Books do that, too. They hook children with their magic and ideas and… Read more »
Family Meetings
CLEMENTINE AND THE FAMILY MEETING by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee (Hyperion 2011) The FAMILY MEETING sign is up on the refrigerator and Clementine is worried. Family meetings usually mean trouble. The kind of trouble that involves Clementine having done something she shouldn’t have or, at the very least, something that her parents think… Read more »
What You Know First
WHAT YOU KNOW FIRST by Patricia MacLachlan, engravings by Barry Moser (Joanna Cotler Books 1995) This book has been a favorite of mine for years. Its lyrical, poetic voice is soothing and hopeful, yet the pain of moving away from all that the young narrator has known is palpable. The story begins, “I could/If I… Read more »
