Children's Books discussion
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Welcome Marsha!Andrea
Hi Marsha,Nice to "meet" you. I'm a children's book publicist at Raincoast Books in Canada. I look forward to hearing your opinions on kid lit!
Best,
Crystal
Thanks for the welcome, Andrea!What is the children's book you've enjoyed most recently?
Hi Crystal,Thanks for the welcome! These must be busy days for you, with all of the Harry Potter hoopla. I finished the Deathly Hallows last Wednesday and loved it. I studiously avoided any news items about it til I was finished in fear of spoilers.
I would have to say that I've been a bit spellbound by "The Edmund Fitzgerald: Song of the Bell" by Kathy-Jo Wargin and Gijsbert Van Frankenhuyzen of late(http://www.justonemorebook.com/2007/0...)Despite the fact that I grew up with knowledge of this event, this book brings the tragedy to life so effectively it seems like it happened yesterday.
Andrea
Hey Marsha..I've heard that Finding Elmo, but couldn't remember when.^_^
Sounds interesting, Andrea. I love history!
Hi Jane,Finding Elmo is a good, quick read. I really enjoyed her other new novel, Scarred, too.
Hi! I'm new here too and thought it would be more efficient to jump into this discussion than start a whole new post. My name is Heidi Estrin, and I'm a librarian (formerly in public libraries in Broward Cty., FL and in Pittsburgh, PA; currently at a synagogue library in Boca Raton, FL). I am especially excited to tell you that I also host a podcast about Jewish books, music, film and web for kids and adults. It's called The Book of Life and you can hear it at www.jewishbooks.blogspot.com. Lastly, I want to thank Andrea of Just One More Book for turning me on to GoodReads. I have a LibraryThing catalog for the books that have been featured on my podcast, but GoodReads seems to be a bit more social.
Hi Heidi,Welcome to the fun!
Are you familiar with Lynne Kositsky's novels? Her YA novel, _The Thought of High Windows_ is one of the best novels I've ever read.
Lesley Simpson has a couple of very good Jewish picture books. One is Purim Surprise and the other is The Shabbat Box.
Hi everyone,i'm new here..la.
I love to read children story books to my two boys everyday! Good to be here!
Welcome Heidi!You're very welcome for the invitation -- I'm glad you accepted.
I look forward to lots of inspiring news, reviews and conversations.
Andrea
Hi Beky,How old are your boys?
Guess I'll jump in too and say hi, and also say thanks to Andrea for the invite! Heidi - I ran a booksale at my synagogue for years, so I'm looking forward to learning about your favorites. Everyone else's too, of course!
Welcome Deborah! Got to say one of my favourite of Mary Ann Hoberman's is "And to think that we thought that we'd never be friends". What a feel good book.
Hi Marsha,My boys,one just turned 7 this July, and one is 5 years old!Two devil kids!!Recently they love to listening to the Barbapapa story books. They likes to see the whole family turn into any shapes they want.
http://www.barbapapa.org
Hi Beky,That's wonderful that you've found books that they both enjoy listening to. Reading together as a family is such a good thing to do.
Hi Marsha,Thanks for the welcome!
Sorry to say that I didn't like The Thought of High Windows: I felt like the enticing idea of a girl who is drawn to jumping out of windows wasn't really made use of and it turned out to be anticlimactic. It was a couple years ago I read it, and I know there were other elements that bothered me too, but can't remember them right now.
I love Lesley Simpson's Shabbat Box, but wasn't so impressed by Purim Surprise (partly because of the illustrations - not her fault).
I'm really picky, so please don't be offended. I've been involved with the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee for years and also write reviews, so I've become very critical when I feel like a book isn't living up to its potential.
Also, hi Deborah, thanks for your greeting too!
I see you wrote the Scribble book that I heard about on Just One More Book! Haven't seen it yet but it sounded delightful. Just checked out your profile and see you're a fan of Mary Ann Hoberman. I love her stuff as well.
In terms of favorites, one of my very best is The Stray Dog by Marc Simont. It chokes me up (as many dog stories do).
Hi Heidi,Both Lynne and Lesley are personal friends, so perhaps I read their books through a different filter. I was blown away by Thought of High Windows. Loved the complex characters.
It's definitely different when you're friends with the author! The more authors I meet, the more careful I have to be as a reviewer!
I used to review books all the time before I began writing them, but it's pretty tricky to do now. I'll do them every once in awhile for my local paper, but those are soft reviews.
Hi, I recently joined goodreads and this group. I added one of my favorite storytime books to the group book list, I ain't gonna paint no more! It's a really fun read-aloud book with creative sing/song text and awesome illustrations.
Since this seems the place to say hello, I'll jump in and introduce myself. I'm a Physical Anthropologist turned writer (poetry and short fiction) with two daughters, ages 4 and 7.I'm particularly interested in children's books because my 7 year old began reading at the age of 3. We had her tested at the age of 4 and at that time she was reading at a junior high level. I am constantly trying to come up with great things for her to read that are challenging enough without being way beyond her emotional level. She loves both classics and contemporary works, as well as both fiction and nonfiction. I'm hoping to get some good ideas here.
I just joined goodreads and am enjoying it. I am a children's author and am also an avid reader of children's books. Before I became a writer, I was a librarian. I tend to read Canadian children's books. Here are a few that I've recently enjoyed:
Finding Elmo
Scarred
both by Monique Polak
and
Spider's Song
by Anita Daher
all the best
Marsha Skrypuch
www.calla.com