Give me a good mystery
Summertime is synonymous with reading for me. My grandmother kept a light blue blanket by the back door so I could spread it out under the elm tree and dissolve into stories. Sometimes a lemonade, sometimes a piece of watermelon … but always a book. Sometimes a friend would sit next to me absorbed in […]
“I’m not ready for school!”
I minored in theatre in college, where I crossed the street from Augsburg to attend Arthur Ballet’s legendary history of theatre class at the University of Minnesota. Lessons learned in that class came rushing back as I savored Mike Wohnoutka’s Dad’s First Day because it struck me how well this book would play as theatre […]
Epic felt
Three small board books … encompassing the first three Star Wars movies and a year-long craft project. As I read each book, all 12 words, one word and one photo on each two-page spread, it slowly dawned on me just how ingenious they are. In those 12 carefully chosen words and scenes from the movie, […]
Outer Space Ambassador
by Vicki Palmquist Every once in a while I come across a book that wakes up that breathless, eager, sense-of-wonder-at-everything-new feeling I had about reading as a child. I admit it, after 3,000 or so books the plots and characters and resolutions can feel similar to something I’ve read before. Well, I joyfully read a […]
When a Prince Needs a Mechanic
by Vicki Palmquist With a deft story and otherworldly art, Deborah Underwood and Meg Hunt bring us Interstellar Cinderella, a fresh and welcome take on the familiar fairy tale with a bit of Androcles and the Lion and The Jetsons thrown into the mix. In this version, Cinderella loves fixing anything mechanical. She has her […]
We Didn’t Always Know the Way
by Vicki Palmquist A step-by-step, slightly tongue-in-cheek but mostly sincere, guide to reading a book, How to Read a Story by Kate Messner, illustrated by Mark Siegel (Chronicle Books), will have you and your young readers feeling all warm and cozy and smart. With advice in Step 2 to Find a Reading Buddy, we are […]
That’s Some Egg
by Vicki Palmquist In Under the Egg, Theodora Tenpenny begins her story when her beloved grandfather, Jack, is hit by a taxi … and dies. Outside their 200-year-old Manhattan townhome, Jack whispers to Theo to “look under the egg.” Dealing with her grief, but desperate because she and her head-in-the-clouds mother have no income, Theo […]
Hands-on History for Spatial Learners
When I was in elementary school, I was never more excited than when the teacher told us we could make a diorama or a miniature scene of a pioneer settlement. The concept, planning, and building were thrilling for me. Even though my finished work seldom approached the dazzling display I could see in my head, I […]
Reading Ahead: Levitate Your Brother!
by Vicki Palmquist We recently hosted a Harry Potter party for adults for which everyone was asked to perform a magic trick. Some people fiercely addressed the challenge. Some people panicked. Some people bought a trick off the internet. I turned to Joshua Jay’s Big Magic for Little Hands (Workman Publishing Co). Citing all the […]