Betsy Bird's Blog, page 101

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 American History Titles for Kids

“American History”. Whoo boy. Is any term as fraught as that one in 2021? Even as you read this, hoards of people (“hoards” is a good term for them) are challenging any work in our school libraries (and, sometimes, public libraries) that questions the concept that our American history has been a bucket full of roses. It hasn’t (spoiler alert) and some of the books on the list you’ll see today reflect that. Some are already being challenged. Some will be challenged in the future. All of them ...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 Informational Fiction

Over the years, I’ve called these books a lot of things. “Fictionalized Nonfiction” was one of my preferred titles for a while. Since then, it was Melissa Sweet that directed me to a new term entirely: Informational Fiction. The premise is simple. Today, I will list books that dare to mix nonfiction with fictional elements in a truly enjoyable way. I don’t know that I’d call any of these books strictly factual by themselves. Yet one of the true allures of writing is how fiction can elevate t...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 Fantasy for Kids

Fantasy was my own first love when I was a kid. I’d make time for science fiction and, on occasion, realistic or historical fiction, but I was a fantasy girl at my core. My preferred book of choice? Those Apple paperbacks you could get through the Scholastic Book Fair that were all ghost stories (usually by Willo Davis Roberts, Betty Ren Wright, etc.). These days I read all kinds of books for kids, but I’ve a soft spot for the fantasies even now. Here’s a list of some that I saw this year, w...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 Science Fiction Titles for Kids

Science Fiction gets its own list in the 31 Days, 31 Lists series separate from Fantasy? What’s up with that? Well, my friends, the reason is simple. For fun, why don’t you go through the Newbery Award winners sometime and compare the number of Fantasy and Magical Realism books vs. Science Fiction. I’m not saying that Science Fiction is completely absent. We owe a lot to When You Reach Me, The Giver, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, A Wrinkle in Time (sorta), and The Twenty-One Balloons (ar...

31 Days, 31 Books: 2021 Older Funny Books

In 2017 I published the anthology Funny Girl. The concept was clear. My attempt was to gather together the funniest women writing funny books for kids. Would I change things if I made it today? Absolutely. I didn’t, for example, include any funny trans women, and had I thought about it I would have included Dana Simpson in a red hot minute. In any case, over the years I’ve made sure to collect the funny books for kids that come out each year. As you know, I already tackled funny picture book...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 Easy Book and Early Chapter Titles

In the old days I used to separate out my Easy Book lists from my Early Chapter Book ones. The difference between the two? Easy Books are Beginner Books right up until they start doing simple chapters ala Frog & Toad. Early Chapter Books are the next phase, when you’re not ready for a full novel, but you’re above the Easy level. And now, looking at how many luscious lovely books made this year’s lists, I’m beginning to regret that I didn’t separate these out too! Ah well. Too late now. Enjoy...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 Poetry for Kids

Oh poetry, you funny little beast, you. You don’t get an ALA Award. You do get a Young People’s Poet Laureate but if you ask the average person on the street to name you some children’s poetry, do you know what they say? Shel Silverstein. Like, seriously, that’s the only person that they can come up with off the top of their heads. It would be disheartening if there weren’t also so many dang wonderful poetry books for kids out in 2021.

Here then are the titles that made my little poetry ...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 Poetry for kids

Oh poetry, you funny little beast, you. You don’t get an ALA Award. You do get a Young People’s Poet Laureate but if you ask the average person on the street to name you some children’s poetry, do you know what they say? Shel Silverstein. Like, seriously, that’s the only person that they can come up with off the top of their heads. It would be disheartening if there weren’t also so many dang wonderful poetry books for kids out in 2021.

Here then are the titles that made my little poetry ...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 Middle Grade Novels

This is a little unorthodox, but a nice librarian recently asked if I could move this list up in the roster this month because it would help her with her ordering. In retrospect, I suppose it would have made more sense to just email her today’s list directly, but what’s done is done. Consider it a holiday miracle!

Now comes the caveat. I simply haven’t read all the books on this list. But but BUT I have read most of them. The rest I’ve entrusted to the librarians at my workplace, who put...

31 Days, 31 Lists: 2021 Unconventional Children’s Books

We’re almost halfway through our 31 Days, 31 Lists series, and today things are getting weird! Or, put more politely, unconventional. In the old days I wasn’t sure what to name this list. Weirdo books? Odd books? It was Travis Jonker who came up with the term “unconventional” and so, as with all good things, I up and stole it from him. You are hereby encouraged to go to Travis’s blog and read his post on The Most Astonishingly Unconventional Children’s Books of 2021. Some of these books are ...