Search Results for "about us" |

Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr

March 22, 2023 1 Comment

Ramadan begins this year on March 22nd, and culminates with Eid al-Fitr on either April 20th or 21st. Here are books you can read with your children if you are observing Ramadan or if you are honoring Ramadan with your friends and family.

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 ...

Welcoming Spring with Froggy Books and Wild Experiences

March 21, 2023 No Comments

This much-anticipated froggy season and this week's World Frog Day mark a time of increased appreciation for our amphibian neighbors. It's the perfect time to study frogs

All about Green in the Middle of Winter: Trees

March 21, 2023 No Comments

In the cold, white of winter, we find ourselves occasionally thinking of green woods, tall trees, and the busy sounds of birds and squirrels.

This is the Planet Where I Live

February 27, 2023 2 Comments

Illustrating a book written by K.L. Going, This is the Planet Where I Live, Debra Frasier works with collage that exuberantly celebrates our connections to everything on this earth.

Two Books about Grief

February 17, 2023 2 Comments

Take these books to heart: two books that will help adults and children find paths into discussions about this part of life, Sitting Shiva and Walking Grandma Home.

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.

Gandalf Lives!

January 18, 2023 2 Comments

I’m not certain, but I suspect stories have played significant roles in the lives of most librarians. We are story people, after all — their sacred keepers, and we delight in helping others discover their wonders.

Library Girl

January 9, 2023 6 Comments

I eagerly waited for this book. I wasn’t prepared to fall in love, which I most definitely have.

Banned Books as Speaking Truth to Power

January 9, 2023 No Comments

There is a difference between keeping peace and making peace. It is not about avoiding discomfort and trying to keep everybody happy, but bravely joining in the work of justice.

A Literary Advent Calendar

December 17, 2022 6 Comments

This year, I decided to do a special advent calendar for them. Each day of advent there was a Christmasy quote from literature, heavy on our Christmas picture books. And chocolates.

Art Will Out

December 17, 2022 No Comments

This month we have been thinking about the mysteries of the visual arts—how some artists must create, no matter the circumstances.

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance

December 17, 2022 No Comments

This book has everything going for it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wind up caring about the characters, and you'll want to eat at the Golden Palace in Last Chance, Minnesota.

Death and Grief

December 1, 2022 12 Comments

For those who are mourning the loss of a relative, a pet, a friend, a teacher, these books for young and old are recommended by our subscribers.

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.

One Winter Up North

November 17, 2022 2 Comments

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, stretching for 150 miles along the Canadian border, is the setting for John Owens’ newest wordless picture book.

Magazine Parade

November 11, 2022 4 Comments

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

Creating Kind Communities

October 26, 2022 4 Comments

We explore community building through Higher Ground, with special emphasis on the power of kindness. Together, how can adults and children create genuine community in our schools and beyond?

Abecedaria, Part 2

October 19, 2022 No Comments

Not all alphabet books are for the purpose of early literacy, nor do they meet the criteria for traditional alphabet books ... Still others are thematically connected, as are the following Caldecott Honor ABC books.

The Voice of My Heart

October 19, 2022 No Comments

It works well to read poems here and there from The Voice of My Heart ... but I often find myself caught up in the expressions of love and longing, moving from one poem to the next, contemplating, learning, feeling.

If You Come to Earth by Sophie Blackwell

October 15, 2022 1 Comment

I love reading wordless picture books and picture books that are very busy (think Richard Scarry’s books) with small groups of kids. My latest favorite of this “genre” is Sophie Blackall’s If You Come to Earth.

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).

Garvey in the Dark

October 1, 2022 No Comments

With her usual positive and hopeful storytelling, Nikki Grimes reminds us that lives changed during the Covid pandemic, affecting many people in many different ways. Garvey's story will resonate deeply with readers of all ages.

Sharing Wonder: April Pulley Sayre

September 15, 2022 1 Comment

We have been thinking about wonder—about the fascination we have for the beauty, the intricacy, the mystery of the workings of the natural world.

Superheroes and Lost Things

September 15, 2022 No Comments

The titles of J.S. Puller's first two books intrigued me so much that I immediately checked them out of the library. Once I finished them, I asked her for an interview.

We Belong

August 27, 2022 4 Comments

I've seen many questions on social media, asking which books teachers will read aloud to their classroom during the first week of school. I don't teach in a classroom but I've thought about this question anyway.

Hero for the Hungry

August 27, 2022 No Comments

So many young readers are activists already. How can they help becoming Hunger activists after reading this book?

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.

Abecedaria, Part 1

July 19, 2022 No Comments

Traditionally, alphabet books, or abecedaria, serve as beginning literacy instruction for babies and young children to promote letter, sound, and word development. But, greater potential than instruction exists in this form of picture books.

Finding Peace through Reflection, Art, Story, and Higher Ground for Ourselves and Our Children

July 19, 2022 2 Comments

In this article, we explore finding peace within. How can we shift our hearts and minds towards peace? How can we help the children in our classrooms do the same? What books, both for children and adults, can support our efforts?

A Literary Bathroom

June 14, 2022 1 Comment

And then came the time to choose a theme for the bathroom. We got the family together so everyone could have their say. And people…I’m so proud! Our offspring suggested a literary-themed bathroom!

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.

Samira Surfs

June 12, 2022 No Comments

I don't think I've ever read a novel about surfing before Samira Surfs. I was fascinated by the setting, the sport, and the culture, different than my own.

Borrowed Sparkle

May 16, 2022 No Comments

I sat on a rusted swing hung from an I beam in our basement with a heavy book on my lap. I was ten and lonely because my only sister had left home a year earlier.

Transportation, Part II: Riding the Rails

May 6, 2022 No Comments

In the second part of our Transportation series, we look at Caldecott Award books that consider trains from different vantage points, from the outside or inside, from a real or fantastical world. Climb aboard!

Finding Higher Ground through Peacebuilding

May 6, 2022 No Comments

We explore the meaning of peacebuilding and what the infrastructure for peace can look like in one classroom and throughout a school. We also suggest a picture book and a book for the “adult on the rug,” both of which explore the deep concept of peacebuilding,

Finding Junie Kim

May 6, 2022 No Comments

The author unfolds the story in a way that young readers will find mesmerizing, imagining her characters in real life, turning the page again and again to learn what will happen next, both in mid-century Korea and in the United States today.

Good Luck Gold & more

April 22, 2022 No Comments

This book will make you feel, many different feelings. It is filled with poetry and a short essay about the poem on the facing page. There are two or three questions at the bottom of each essay that encourage digging deeper ... into your own experience.

Girls Solve Everything

April 10, 2022 1 Comment

Reading this book, I jumped up and down with excitement. I kept turning the pages until I had read every one of the true stories. My brain revved into high speed as I learned about girls and women, problem solving and innovating.

Loyalty

March 24, 2022 2 Comments

Leave it to Avi to find a way to help me look at the Revolutionary War from a new perspective. Make that two. Young Noah is the son of a Loyalist and minister, pledged to the King. When local revolutionaries tar and feather his father, the family flees to Boston. Needing work, Noah finds a job as a British spy and a server in a tavern, where he can easily overhear plans and report on them.

… more

Zoom Storytime

March 23, 2022 No Comments

Never did I ever think I would do storytime on a screen. I want to see those sweet faces, get the high-fives and hugs, watch their delight in a story’s twists and turns. However…needs must!

Refugees

March 22, 2022 2 Comments

Heard on the news: “No one wants to be a refugee.” Here's a look at four picture books that share the refugee experience with young readers.

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.

Finding Higher Ground

January 19, 2022 No Comments

In this article and the next three articles to come, we will explore paths to peace and peacebuilding in classrooms and schools through the lens of Higher Ground and the power of story and art.

Peace Books

January 18, 2022 No Comments

We're publishing a list of some of the more recent books about peace and conflict resolution, as annotated by Carol Spiegel, a long-time K-8 educator.

My Journey with Margaret Wise Brown

November 11, 2021 1 Comment

How long does it take to write and have a nonfiction picture book published? A few years? Five? How about nineteen?

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.

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson: Voices from History

May 27, 2021 8 Comments

Books have been a part of Vaunda Micheaux Nelson’s life since the day she was born. “My mother found my name in a novel she was reading,” Nelson says. Books and family and history form a thread through many of Nelson’s award-winning picture books.

Odd Bods

May 25, 2021 1 Comment

One of my favorite nonfiction picture books so far this year is Odd Bods: the World’s Unusual Animals by Julie Murphy. Here’s a brief description: Long snouts, bright-red lips, pointy heads … the animal kingdom is full of critters with unique features. Learn about the incredible adaptations that help these animals – and their odd bods – survive and thrive all around the globe!

… more

Features

COLUMNS

Resources

Advertise

Follow Us

Many of the books on this website can be purchased from Bookshop.org, an online bookseller that supports local, independent bookstores. Bookology and local booksellers receive a small commission for each book sold. Thank you for your support.