Monica Edinger's Blog, page 63

My NYT review of Shirley Hughes’s Hero on a Bicycle

Historical fiction has an interesting place in the world of children’s literature. Regularly celebrated by adults with awards like the Newbery, these books nonetheless raise the question of whether the intended audience feels the same enthusiasm. What I’ve observed as a classroom teacher is that while not in the multitudes that flock to the goofy fun of Wimpy Kid or the wild fantasies of Percy Jackson, there are still plenty of young readers who can’t get enough of the past.

Those among them w...

Books as Solace

I highly recommend “Books in the Home: The Penderwicks on Hayward Street,” Rachel Stein‘s essay on how Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwick series comforted her daughter during a challenging time in her young life. I tend to be skittish about offering specific books as therapy as everyone processes tragedy so differently, but have often seen how individual children hone in on a particular title, as Rachel’s daughter did, and found it comforting. A lovely exploration of books as solace.

Rita Williams-Garcia’s P.S. Be Eleven

A huge fan of Rita Willliams-Garcia’s One Crazy Summer, I was incredibly happy when it got a great deal of award-love and recognition. I mean, who could not be taken with those three sisters going off to spend the summer in California with the Black Panther mother they never knew? And who could not want to know what happened to them when they went home to Brooklyn?

Happily, we find out in the sequel, P.S. Be Eleven. Taking off immediately after the girls return from California, their life in l...

2013 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts

This wonderful list of thirty titles is selected by a committee of NCTE’s Children’s Literature Assembly. Congratulations to all the honored book creators and to the members of this year’s committee for their fine work:Tracy Smiles, Chair; Donalyn Miller, Patricia Bandre, Yoo Kyung Sung, Barbara Ward, Shanetia Clark, and Jean Schroeder.

43CemeteryRoad: the Phantom of the Post Office,by Kate Klise, illustrated by Sarah Klise, published by Houghton Mifflin.

A Leaf Can Be,by Laura Purdie Salas, il...

The YA/MG Turf Wars

Some may recall my rant “Stop Calling Books for Kids ‘Young Adult‘” and the place I created to document the most egregious errors,”It’s a Children’s Book (Not Young Adult!).” Some time after that the New York Times recognized the difference by creating distinctive children’s middle grade and young adult best seller lists. And now we’ve got Penderwick authorJeanne Birdsall taking up the gauntlet in”Middle Grade Saved My Life” (with a quote from me, no less). Perhaps we can start a mini-Occupy...

Congratulations to the Edgar Winners and Nominees

Last night, the Mystery Writers of America announced this year’s Edgar Award winners. Congratulations to all!

Best Juvenile Winner:The Quick Fixby Jack D. Ferraiolo (Abrams – Amulet Books)

Other Nominees:

Fake Mustache: Or, How Jodie O’Rodeo and Her Wonder Horse (and Some Nerdy Kid) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election from a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermindby Tom Angleberger (Abrams – Amulet Books)

13 Hangmenby Art Corriveau (Abrams – Amulet Books)

Spy Schoolby Stuart Gibbs (Simon & Schuster Books...

Coming Soon: Neil Gaiman’s Fortunately, the Milk

After receivingan advanced reader’s copy of Neil Gaiman’sFortunately, the Milk,I asked my class if they’d like me to read it aloud. Now keep in mind that whileNeil Gaiman may have a huge adult fan base, he isn’t particularly well-known among young kids. Actually, I’d say he isn’t known at all. My 4th grade students were way too young when The Graveyard Book won the Newbery. As for Coraline which is even older, a couple said they’d found the movie scary and none knew the book. And so they were...

Jane Adams Children’s Book Awards

I was thrilled to see that two of my favorite books from 2012 have won the 2013 Jane Adams Children’s Book Awards: Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson with illustrations by E. B. Lewis and We’ve Got a Job by Cynthia Levinson. Great honor books too. Congratulations to all!

Old Cult Movies

I’m fascinated by how and which films and filmmakers become underground hits. That is, not mainstream movies generally, but indies and such that become embraced and then recommended and screened in off-beat places. For example, decades back when I was at Columbia, there was an organization that showed weekly art movies (the organization had a name that had something to do with a zoopraxiscope, but I can’t remember exactly what it was). I recall Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali’s bizzareUn Chien...

The Brilliant E. L. Konigsburg

Claudia, so completely prepared, and Jamie, so careful with the budget. They are still and will always be two shrewd suburban kids who run away to a timeless Metropolitan Museum of Art to bathe in its elegant pool and sleep in its famous historical bed while investigating the mystery of the angel in the remarkable children’s book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. ThisAmerican classic was penned by thewonderful writer E. L. Konigsburg who passed away this past week.

While sh...