It was a Friday afternoon. I got wind from Kellie at Walden Pond Publishing that something was going down in Dedham, Massachusetts at Blue Bunny Books. She warned me that similar suspicious activities had been happening there as it is owned by author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds of Ish and The Dot. Something involving Jarrett Krosoczka…
PickyKidPix just turned 11-years-old recently. Part of her birthday celebration was to meet one of her favorite authors who happens to live one town over. PickyKidPix became a fan of her mystery chapter books in 3rd grade but continues to read them — insisting on buying her own copy — even though the books are…
I think that when a book series is different and successful such that it creates its own mini genre that this is only a good thing. Just like Harry Potter which broke publishing notions that kids won’t read very, very thick books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series also got kids wildly excited to read. And though the lead character is a boy, girls were also reading this series in droves. I also think that the graphics helped to legitimize graphic novels from comic book status to it-counts-for-your-reading-log status. In any case, if your child needs more Diary of a Wimpy Kid but has read all the books, here are more options including some that skew younger and older.
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street brings up research on Dark Matter. Here’s more information on Dark Matter to draw out the scientist in your child.
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker is a hit with 2-4th graders. Clementine is a third grader with a big heart and and even bigger imagination.
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.
In the case of Nancy Yi Fan, it’s clear she was born with a special gift. My 10-year-old, nearly 11-year-old brought home this book for me to blog on. (At the same age, Nancy had banged out a draft of this book and was sending it in to publishers!).