The Children’s Choice Book Awards is the only national children’s book awards program where winning titles are selected by young readers of all ages. The good news here is that there is a very high probability that your child will like these books too! The children (and teens) have spoken! These are their favorite books for 2011!
Category: Best Books for Kids
Best picture books, chapter books, young adult books, graphic novels and non fiction for kids.
Top 10: Best Baseball Chapter Books (ages 7-16)
These books are from a Mom Blogger friend at CoffeeShopBloggers whose daughter is a sports fanatic and these were her favorite baseball books. These books are all appropriate for grades 3-5th. The “…and Me” novels, also known as, the Baseball Card Adventures are fun because the child in the story travels back in time to meet a baseball legend. I suspect that any little leaguer who might not love to read otherwise will enjoy these books!
Top 10: Secret Hidden Things in Picture Books
I appreciate that the author/illustrator realizes that the adult might be reading their book 2650 times so they’ve added a little twist to keep us going. And these twists are not advertised anywhere in the book; they are just there for those who need a little something because repetition is numbing their mind. I love their creativity and the fact that the hidden things are under the radar. It feels like a secret club. Here’s the secret handshake to join … tell me your favorite book like this. I am still struggling to find one more! Thanks!
Top 10: Starting School Books
A transition to a new grade or school, not matter how small, is difficult for children. It’s helpful to visit the new school as often as possible. Play with kids that will be at the same school if you can. And read, read, read to your child books about starting school. The familiarity of routines and activities of the new school will take a lot of the anxiety away. So, while my youngest has been visiting his elementary school for 5 years so far, we’ll take it one step at a time and read these books over and over to ensure a smooth landing in September. And a few playdates with new friends is also on the books!
Caught in the Act … of READING
Thank you to everyone who sent in a photo! There are such great photos this week!!! I always need more so please keep them coming to pragmaticmom.com(at)gmail(dot)com. Thank you!!! It is always fun for me to see what old friends are up to and meet new folks. This week, I have a old work colleague who left to pursue other endeavors. She took the gorgeous black and white photo and even her snapshots are amazing as she is a portrait photographer! I met another mom friend, author Melissa Wiley, at KidLitCon 2010 last fall and we both vowed to get All of a Kind Family books back in print. She was responsible for single handedly getting the Betsy-Tacy-Tib series back in print so I have recruited a heavy hitter to my cause! Thank you again to everyone and hope you all have a marvelous Monday!!!
3rd Grade Book Club with Science Activity
My favorite KidLit book in the whole world, Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, was a very successful and fun 3rd grade girls’ book club. The activity was to make lollipops which was a sneaky education in the science of cooking and to bake dog biscuits.
Best Boy Characters in Books (You’d Let Your Child Date)
This list can also be seen as a testament to authors who create characters so real, deep, and nuanced that we fall in love with them, if not for ourselves, then for our children. And I can safely say that no one else is consumed with creating this kind of list!