Search Results for "Mary" |

Reading Mary Oliver with Kids

March 11, 2021 8 Comments

Sunday mornings find me on zoom with a gathering of kids ages 3 – 10. We call this time Songs & Stories. It is a highlight in my week. They come in their pajamas, often eating breakfast, and usually with some “stuffies” they want to introduce to the group. They are full of energy and good cheer.

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Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

November 17, 2016 No Comments

We recommend giving kids cookbooks for the holidays. Yumm. For kids who are inspired by relatives who cook, TV cooking shows, or their innate wish to make (and eat) good food, a cookbook will travel with them throughout life. (And it's a sneaky way to encourage reading and math!)

Mary Casanova: Cultivating Quiet

December 22, 2015 4 Comments

by Mary Casanova Eudora Welty wrote in One-Writer’s Beginnings: “Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories.” The more I write, the more I find that writing is about listening to stories that need to be told. Listening at a deeply intuitive level, however, demands shutting out a frenetic world in favor of a quieter life — one that supports and nurtures creativity — and writing.… more

Skinny Dip with Mary Casanova

August 5, 2015 3 Comments

What keeps you up at night? I have two kinds of sleepers in me: 1) the one who sleeps soundly from the moment my head hits the pillow until morning and 2) the restless non-sleeper (usually hormone induced) who keeps an ear open for the cat, Apollo, meowing at the door; who hears one of our three dogs—Kito, Sam, or Mattie—every time they get up to lap at the water bowl, which I imagine must be getting low and so I climb from under my covers to go check; the sleeper whose mind starts whipping through a "rolodex of worries" or possible story ideas (I have a one-word mantra I use to stop the whirring and it's SLEEP); and the sleeper with restless legs syndrome, which feels exactly like worms crawling in my legs until I move them around, or as I've discovered, get up and do ten minutes of stretching.… more

Skinny Dip with Maryann Weidt

June 10, 2015 1 Comment

What’s your favorite holiday tradition? I love getting together with my children—all grown-ups now—at Christmas. My daughter-in-law majored in ‘entertaining’ and she always has ‘Poppers’ and we always play games. One year she taped a question on the bottom of each plate. Questions like these: What is the best Christmas present you ever received—and we each had a chance to answer the question.… more

Mary Casanova: Three Questions

June 9, 2015 1 Comment

A year of school visits has just concluded, but I can’t unpack quite yet. I’ll soon head out on a book tour to support the release of my latest titles. The questions I get when I meet readers depend on the book — whether it’s a new release I’m promoting or an older book a class has read and discussed. Because I will be on tour supporting the release of my Grace books for American Girl, I can safely predict the three most commonly asked questions: How did you get started writing for American Girl?… more

Author Emeritus: Rosemary Sutcliffe

April 29, 2015 No Comments

Rosemary Sutcliff, author of children’s historical novels, was born on December 14, 1920, in Surrey, England. She wrote children’s books, novels, short stories, and scripts for radio, TV, and film. In childhood, Still’s disease kept her in a wheelchair and close to home. Her mother homeschooled her and first introduced her to Saxon and Celtic legends. She didn’t learn to read until the age of ten.… more

Banning Books

December 13, 2023 4 Comments

This month we had planned to write about several books we love that have been banned, but we realized that along with giving you a list of banned books we really wanted to write about the current tsunami of book banning in our country.

Toni Buzzeo

December 13, 2023 No Comments

I most fervently hope that my young readers will learn that the voices and opinions of children are important in any conversation — that children, especially tweens and teens, are important contributors to family decision-making and community change.

When the Babies Came to Stay Christine McDonnell

Library Love

September 13, 2023 No Comments

Libraries! We want to look at books about these magical places, portals to our world, our selves, and other worlds and selves we might become.

The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children's Books

Starting Over … Sort Of

August 3, 2023 1 Comment

This year—after more than 40 years as a fulltime writer of books for children—I feel the need to start over. What went wrong in my career? It’s a long list, I’m afraid

Bible Stories

July 15, 2023 No Comments

This month, we look at Bible stories which have been awarded recognition by the Caldecott committees, beginning in 1938.

The Secret Garden

April 26, 2023 6 Comments

Now that books are being banned and “revised” for language used before we “knew better,” I find myself thinking about this a lot.

Pamela S. Turner

March 21, 2023 2 Comments

I had several goals from the onset. The first was to make human evolution understandable. I have always been interested in the topic but found it very confusing

Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons

March 21, 2023 2 Comments

The Loon Project, based in Minnesota and Wisconsin, discovered a loon family caring for a mallard duckling. Finding Family relates that story ...

Let It Snow!

January 19, 2023 No Comments

In the far reaches of the northern hemisphere, snow graces the winter landscape and shapes the activities of the season. Picture books set in winter typically feature snowy backdrops. This column takes a look at five Caldecott Award-winning snow stories.

Winter!

November 25, 2022 4 Comments

Now that snow has fallen in many places throughout the land, it's time to celebrate the frozen crystals in picture books, nonfiction, and early chapter books.

Magazine Parade

November 11, 2022 4 Comments

In which Candice F. Ransom takes a look at American children's magazines from 1789 to today.

Dance Party

October 1, 2022 1 Comment

Dance has many personalities and appeals to a myriad of people. Here are some exceptional books for very young readers through teens (and adults, too).

Mushy Bottom Blueberry Crumble

September 29, 2022 2 Comments

A new recipe is always an adventure. I’ve recently experimented with low carbohydrate, low sugar recipes. Starting a new writing project is just as much an experiment. Each book requires a different look at research, and I build on what I’ve learned with other projects.

When I Was a Wild Pony

August 27, 2022 No Comments

The title of this essay comes from a dream I had last night, its memory and meaning caught between mysterious dreamtime and awakening in this harsh end-of-summer world. I was never a wild pony.

Celebrating Black Women in the U.S.

June 14, 2022 No Comments

We feel called this month to celebrate the many accomplishments of Black women in this country — some of whom are historical icons, too many of whom we have we have never heard of.

Transportation, Part I: Hitting the Road

January 20, 2022 No Comments

From an early age, children are captivated by “things that go,” from climbing on trucks in a Big Rig library event to racing bicycles along a park path. This article offers a line-up of Caldecott Award books that feature various modes of land transportation.

Listening for Stories

August 30, 2021 13 Comments

Each morning, when I can, I walk two and a half miles. I walk for exercise because I write most of the day. But mainly I walk to listen for stories.

Crafting a Home of the Heart

May 6, 2021 6 Comments

It had been years since I last visited the home of my heart, the only place where I can breathe freely. Conicville is in Shenandoah County in the Valley of Virginia, bordered by the Allegheny Mountains. It consists of a church, a cemetery, and a scattering of houses and farms. In 2012, I traveled to meet my 98-year-old cousin. His farm had recently been designated a Virginia Century Farm, land that has been in the same family for a hundred years.

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No Way, They Were Gay?

May 4, 2021 1 Comment

Why do I love this book so much? Because Wind does a phenomenal job of weaving together excerpts from a diverse array of primary source materials to reassess the sexual and gender identities of a dozen famous and lesser-known figures from the past.

Geography, Part 2

April 29, 2021 1 Comment

In Part 2 of Geography, we take a look at Caldecott winning and honored books with settings in Europe. Recognizable landmarks are among the illustrations in these books, giving a strong connection to location.

Nonfiction to the Rescue, Part 2

April 22, 2021 No Comments

By featuring both nonfiction and fiction during storytime, you provide children an opportunity to experience the contrast between what is real and what is imaginative. Both are important for a successful reading experience. Here are 18 of my favorite nonfiction books to use in storytime programs.

Perseverance

March 23, 2021 3 Comments

Patience and perseverance are among the hardest things for children to learn. How can we make pressing on in the face of discouragement interesting to kids? By reading them amazing stories of creativity and resilience!

Nonfiction to the Rescue, Part 1

March 18, 2021 1 Comment

As a children’s librarian, a primary goal for me is to help children embrace imagination through books, from imagining we are superheroes to going on a hunt to find a bear, flying in the sky, exploring a new land, to diving deep in the ocean. For some time however, including nonfiction titles in my programs has been a top request from parents and educators.

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Library Love:
Children’s Author Shares Her Passion for Research

March 11, 2021 3 Comments

Author Tracy Nelson Maurer shares, "My heart leapt when I learned that I was old enough for my first library card—the key to that vast kingdom of words. I’ve treasured each library card since then."

Tiny Steps Toward Peace

March 10, 2021 2 Comments

When I say the word Peacemaker, who is the first person that comes to mind? It is so important to teach children about famous peacemakers but if we only teach about folks who have become larger than life, children may put peacemaking on a pedestal that seems unattainable for themselves.

Bookstorm™: Virginia was a Spy

February 23, 2021 No Comments

World War II spy Virginia Hall was born and raised on a farm in Maryland. Her parents took her abroad when she was three, awakening a life-long fascination with travel and adventure. She was in France when Hitler was recognized as the threat he was. When Germany overtook France, she became a part of the French Resistance. She used the skills she learned on her family farm to disguise herself as a humble milkmaid who couldn’t possibly be a spy.… more

Visual Artists, Part 1

January 28, 2021 No Comments

With declining funding for arts education in schools^1,2 and limited opportunities for school-sponsored class visits to art museums, Caldecott Award-winning picture books invite children to explore various media and styles of art deemed “distinguished.”³ Indeed, as professor of English and children’s literature specialist Philip Nel observes, “Good picture books are portable art galleries.”⁴ A number of Caldecott award books extend the art enrichment experience by introducing children to the lives and works of visual artists.

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Heartdrum

January 27, 2021 1 Comment

We are so pleased to have this opportunity to interview the two women behind HarperCollins’ new Native-focused imprint, Heartdrum: Rosemary Brosnan, vice president and editorial director at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and Cynthia Leitich Smith, children’s and YA author, writing instructor, and blogger. Let’s learn more …

Rosemary and Cynthia, you have worked together for more than 20 years, correct?

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Constance Van Hoven and Her Reading Team
December 2020

December 23, 2020 4 Comments

As we bring this year-like-no-other to a close, Raising Star Readers contributor Constance Van Hoven shares a reflection on the power that books hold to connect us in so many ways: across time, across space, and across generations. Here is Connie’s moving reminder that “’tis the season for Reading Team angels”: Here’s my reading team ready to head outdoors.

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Books about the Night

December 1, 2020 2 Comments

Nighttime is a magical time for kids. It’s a time for exploring the night skies. It’s a time for dreaming cozy dreams. It’s a time of mischief when it comes with the thrill of being allowed to stay up late. Nighttime picture books have always had an allure for me because of the topics they explore and the amazing and varied art by illustrators challenged with the task of drawing the dark.

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Candice Ransom

November 10, 2020 6 Comments

One green thing I wish everyone would do: Give up plastic bags. It’s hard, I know, to remember to carry a bag into a store. I wish we could give up other forms of plastic, like the blister packs encasing everything from Barbie dolls to Bic pens. Back in the days of five and ten stores, it was so nice to simply pick an item out of a bin or off a shelf, pay for it, and not wrestle with tin snips to get it open.

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Yasmin

October 20, 2020 No Comments

Once I finished reading Yasmin the Zookeeper, I was charmed. I wanted to find out more about this young Pakistani American girl who is curious about everything.

How the Heather Looks: a Joyous Journey
to the British Sources of Children’s Books

September 29, 2020 No Comments

If any good has come from the quarantine of 2020, it’s made me a heavy library user — my personal library, that is, since the public libraries are closed. I found this book in a dresser drawer. (When I redid my office, I didn’t want the clutter of bookcases, instead opting for vintage dressers and armoires — lovely to look at but I forget what’s in them).… more

Alphabet Forest 2020

September 12, 2020 No Comments

Alphabet Forest 2020

Author, illustrator, and educator Debra Frasier introduces the Alphabet Forest 2020, in which your favorite authors, illustrators, and volunteers share videos, activities, and ideas for a literacy experience at home or in a classroom. Play the vocabulary game! Get your paper, glue, and favorite crayons or markers ready!

Debra Frasier demonstrates how to make a Game Card so we can collect our words, just as hundreds of people do each year at the Minnesota State Fair.

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Cynthia Grady

April 7, 2020 4 Comments

In the beginning, before I found myself within the pages of a book identifying with this character or that one, I listened to my grandmother read aloud from My Book House while surrounded by my eight siblings. The giant, multi-volume anthology contains poetry from Mother Goose to Shakespeare, selections from the Song of Solomon to Christina Rossetti to Robert Louis Stevenson, folk and fairy tales from around the world, Aesop’s fables, as well as some not-as-old previously published stories like The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.… more

Just Spring

March 26, 2020 No Comments

Phyllis: e.e. cummings said it best when he described the world as mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. Snow melts and runs babbling away, days lengthen, green sprouts of skunk cabbage and rhubarb poke out. This month we are looking at muddy, squishy, rainy, wet stories in honor of spring. Mud by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Lauren Stringer, begins, “One night it happens.…… more

Elizabeth Verdick

February 5, 2020 6 Comments

When I picture myself as a kid, I think of my bedroom in our split-level West Virginia house, a room I loved but had to leave behind at age eleven when my family moved to Maryland. For years, that room was my own little world, my book nook, my place to cuddle my cat Rag, collect china-cat figurines, and, yes, read books about cats.… more

A Blizzard of Snow Books

January 23, 2020 No Comments

We’re snowed under right now, what with teaching and writing and, well, snow, so we thought we’d offer up a blizzard of books about the white stuff that falls from our skies. Curl up with a child, a cup of warmth, and enjoy winter in the pages of a book. The Snow Party by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers and Bernice Myers A lonely woman who lives with her husband on a Dakota farm wishes for a party. … more

Caroline B. Cooney

January 7, 2020 No Comments

To begin our year of Skinny Dippin' for 2020, and in the coldest month of the year (brrrrr), we interviewed Caroline B. Cooney, the author of so many beloved books.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

December 12, 2019 10 Comments

“Hey! Unto you a child is born!” I think of this line each and every Christmas Eve when the Christmas story according to Luke’s Gospel is read. If I’m the one doing the reading, and you were to pay close attention, you’d probably notice that I have to take a nano-second pause so as to drop the “Hey!” and read it “straight.”… more

An Autumn Salad from Karen Cushman

November 14, 2019 1 Comment

Print Recipe

Warm Salad with Roasted Squash, with Cranberry Vinaigrette, Hazelnuts, and Chèvre

I must admit I’m more of a free-form cook. I don’t really follow recipes but adapt them to what I have on hand or what my creative juices are calling for. Usually. The following recipe I love so much that I make it as suggested except for the squash.

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Lucy’s Easy Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding

October 30, 2019 No Comments

Reading Ahead recommends McDuff Moves In, a picture book about a rescue dog's search for a new family, written by Rosemary Wells and illustrated by Susan Jeffers (The Gryphon Press, 2019). This recipe is included in the book and featured here with the permission of the publisher.

McDuff Moves In

October 30, 2019 No Comments

When I was young, my mother and I lived in a succession of apartments, none of which allowed pets. I had a fervent hope for a dog or a cat, an animal friend to love. Every year for Christmas, I received a new stuffed animal, usually a dog because my mother didn’t care for cats. I still have those stuffed animals, but I’ve never had a pet. Even when we finally moved into a house 20 years ago, we were traveling so much that we wouldn’t have made a good home for an animal.… more

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