Have you heard of the APALA children’s book awards? Of course not. I blogged for three years on children’s books seeking out the best Asian American KidLit and I didn’t know about it. That’s a shame because Asian American children’s books are slowly coming into their own, well on the heels perhaps of the Asian…
My son and his third grade buddies have been taking tennis lessons since school started. Now that it’s too cold to play outdoors, they decided to switch to fencing. There is something about little boys and swordplay — my son has been wielding a stick as a sword since he was old enough to toddle….
It’s my turn to choose the Picture Book of the Day and I picked the 2014 Seibert Winner, Parrots Over Puerto Rico. I thought we’d explore parrots today with a non-fiction picture book, a singalong parrot picture book and an easy reader with a naughty parrot. Next, I clear up confusion that I have about…
There seems to be a new sub-genre in children’s books that targets boys to get them reading. It’s for boys like my own who graduated from potty and underwear humor (ok, maybe they never do!) and still want funny but with a science twist. This is not to say that these books are science fiction;…
There were so many great graphic novels on the short list for the Cybils, particularly in the Young Adult category! The Cybils do not include honorable mentions so my take is just my own opinion and not that of the Graphic Novel judging committee. I wanted to spotlight a few standouts that are worth hunting down….
It was a long winter break and I didn’t plan anything special to entertain the kids. After a week of being mostly housebound, out of sheer laziness I took my kids to check out the crafts store, hoping that a few key purchases would keep them entertained and off screens. My son only wanted two…
I was so happy to see multicultural children’s books win ALA awards (that were not specific diversity awards such as the Pura Belpré, the Coretta Scott King, or the Schneider Family Book Award. Many are on my to-be-found-and-read-pile so I thought I’d share a few of them today. 2014 Printz Award Honor Books: Eleanor & Park by…