Betsy Bird's Blog, page 204

31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Twenty-Three – 2017 American History Books for Kids

Of all the lists on this blog this one may seem an odd little inclusion, but I have my reasons. A couple years ago I helped serve on the first committee selecting The New-York Historical Society Children’s History Book Prize. The requirements of the prize are simple: You and a group of schoolchildren must find the best work of middle grade fiction that’s about a moment in American history. The books you choose between can often prove to be fascinating too. I enjoyed the process so much that...

31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Twenty-Two – 2017 Fictionalized Nonfiction for Kids

Okay. Fun with defining terms.

So what exactly do I mean when I say that something is a work of “fictionalized nonfiction”? Well, let’s look at what makes a book a work of fiction or nonfiction. When writing for children, I personally believe that it is possible to write something fun and fabulous without relying on false situations, fake dialogue, or any other shortcuts. But is that always the best way to tell a story? Not necessarily. Some books with factual subjects benefit greatly from a...

31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Twenty-One – 2017 Funny Books for Older Readers

Considering the degree to which I beat the drum in honor of funny books for kids, you’re going to find today’s list a bit on the paltry side. As such, I’d like to assure you that it should not be considered complete in any way for the year of 2017. I liked a whole slew of these books, and found them very funny, but there are many others that I have missed. Consider this a starting point for your funny reading of 2017 then. And if you see some repetition with other lists, so much the better....

31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Twenty – 2017 Comics for Kids

I’d be lying to you if I said that I wasn’t desperately reading graphic novels until lunchtime yesterday, in an effort to make darn certain that no comic has gone unconsidered for today’s list. Comics are my love and delight. Did you know that there’s a new comic award out there, by the way? The Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards celebrate the great titles that get published each year.  With four primary categories for fiction and nonfiction titles (Children, Middle Grade, Young Adult,...

31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Nineteen – Early Chapter Books of 2017

I almost feel as though early chapter books are the Part Two to yesterday’s easy books. If one gently guides kids on the path towards self-sufficient reading, the other certainly drills home how capable child readers have become. And, like easy books, there’s a wide range of reading levels at play here. Some of these books are better suited to bedtime reading. Some are just a hair above easy books. Still others are very close to full-on novels. Variety! Is the spice of life, no? Oh, and I ho...

Press Release Fun: SCBWI Teams With Local Nonprofits To Give Books To Kids

Sometimes I’m on top of cool news items and sometimes I get a bit sidetracked until after the fact. I heard about this cool SCBWI Literacy Initiative. The pictures are in. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see them:

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SCBWI’s First-Ever Literacy Initiative Gives Books and Builds Dreams with Donations of Books to Readers In Need

Children’s Book Creators Join Forces to Provide High Quality Books to Two Worthy Or...

31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Eighteen – Easy Books of 2017

It’s haiku. It’s poetry. It’s harder than original Twitter. Creating a quality easy book, whatever the reading level, is an art. Today, I’m throwing them all into a pile. The easy books that use only the simplest of words. The ones ones that veer closer to early chapter books (a category we’ll explore further tomorrow). However you like to define them, these are the books that I seriously believe are the most difficult to write. Give them your full respect, even as you hand them to your 5-ye...

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel, ill. Trina Schart Hyman

So Kate asked me to pull out a classic children’s book that was also a Hanukkah book this week. A tricky proposition but by no means an impossible one. Today’s selection is a Caldecott Honor title that has been performed by and read to children for years. You might debate the degree to which this book is part of the cultural zeitgeist, but that shiny silver sticker on the cover means that it is certainly one of the only (THE only?) Hanukkah books to win a Caldecott anything. Christmas books w...

31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Seventeen – 2017 Poetry Books for Kids

P-p-p-poetry! Motto: It’s not just for April anymore.

In a given year I tend to run out of poetry books for kids to review. I’ll find five or six spectacular ones, and then a handful of hundrum okay-but-not-great titles to fill in the gaps. 2017 changed the rules on me. Suddenly I found myself with a plethora of pleasing poetry. Too much! I wasn’t able to review half the titles I encountered. Here then are some of the stars of the hour. The poetry books you’d be amiss to miss, if you will.

2...

31 Days, 31 Lists: Day Sixteen – 2017 Oddest Books of the Year

Keep Children’s Literature Weird. There. There’s your rallying cry for the day. Now Travis Jonker has been nice and consistent on this front, producing his lists of The Most Astonishingly Unconventional Children’s Books every year since 2012. You’re bound to see some overlap with this list, but I’ve a couple of my own particular favorites to add in as well. These are the books that make it clear that brains are remarkable things, capable of thinking up some truly kooky stuff.

Right off the b...