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Written in 1958 and winner of the Newbery Honor, The Family Under the Bridge is the story of how an old hobo named Armand, who wants nothing of homes, responsibility and regular work, ends up with all of these as well as a family of children. Set in Paris, France in a time when hobos were more like wandering gypsies than the people living on the streets these days, the story follows Armand

Winterfrost  by Michelle Houts features a mythical creature that captured my imagination as a child - gnomes, also known as "nisse." Gnomes was one of the first books I remember purchasing with my own, hard earned money, and I think it also is the first encyclopedic book about a fictional creature. Winterfrost  is a superb story that combines holiday and cultural traditions with a story of

The Greenglass House by Kate Milford, with superb cover art and spot art by Jamie Zollars is THE perfect book for spending time with over winter break, especially if you live in colder climes. The Greenglass House practically demands that you cozy up in a corner, ideally on a high-backed love seat like the one main character Milo often finds himself tucked into, reading The Raconteur's

I love Jill McElmurry's illustrations, especially her work with Alice Schertle's Little Blue Truck books, that I almost don't even need the words. That said, Schertle is definitely one of the better picture book authors writing in rhyming verse these days. Little Blue Truck's Christmas does not disappoint, McElmurry's illustrations calling to mind a childhood favorite, The Animals' Merry

The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick, besides being a fantastic book, also happens to be one of the first books to be published by the brand new imprint Algonquin Young Readers. I want to take a paragraph here to tell you about Algonquin Young Readers, the recently created arm of Algonquin Books, publisher of acclaimed best selling books for adults such as Like Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Written in 1958 and winner of the Newbery Honor, The Family Under the Bridge is the story of how an old hobo named Armand, who wants nothing of homes, responsibility and regular work, ends up with all of these as well as a family of children. Set in Paris, France in a time when hobos were more like wandering gypsies than the people living on the streets these days, the story follows Armand

I'm reposting this review from my Doll Week in June.  At the time, I forgot to add a label for Winter Holiday Stories because I almost forgot that the last half of the story took place on Christmas Eve.  So, if you need a last minute gift for a little girl who likes dolls or just need a good doll story, don't miss Big Susan! You may recognize the

Although it doesn't snow where I live, one of the things that I look forward to most as the nights get longer and the days colder is spending the evenings around the fireplace with my family. It doesn't always go as planned - someone might bring a laptop instead of a book, we might not be able to agree upon a game (Blokus? Sorry? Uno? Ticket to Ride?) or someone might get up for a cup of tea

Last year Jane Ray gave us the gift of The Dollhouse Fairy and this year another treat! Her sumptuously illustrated, wonderfully imagined version of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Everyone knows most of the song, but there are very few, nicely illustrated editions of this book on the shelves which makes Ray's version stand out even more.  The setting for this traditional carol seems to be

As with my post on Halloween Picture Books, I decided to remind you of old favorites while adding on a handful of interesting new books that came out this year.  Hope you find something new and magical to share with your little listeners! When my kids were little my mother would buy them each a new Christmas picture book every year. After seven or so years of this not only were our shelves

I am always looking for interesting images that incorporate books and one day while trolling the web I came across a site chocked full of them. Most happily, Wildly Read (Wildly, if not widely, read) by Broche E.B. Fabian is a wonderful blog written by a voracious book lover. Ms. Fabian has worked for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and currently works for Beacon Press. Ms Fabian is great for

Although it doesn't snow where I live, one of the things that I look forward to most as the nights get longer and the days colder is spending the evenings around the fireplace with my family. It doesn't always go as planned - someone might bring a laptop instead of a book, we might not be able to agree upon a game (Blokus? Sorry? Uno? Ticket to Ride?) or someone might get up for a cup of tea

Last year Jane Ray gave us the gift of The Dollhouse Fairy and this year another treat! Her sumptuously illustrated, wonderfully imagined version of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Everyone knows most of the song, but there are very few, nicely illustrated editions of this book on the shelves which makes Ray's version stand out even more. The setting for this traditional carol seems to be the 1920s

When my kids were little my mother would buy them each a new Christmas picture book every year. After seven or so years of this not only were our shelves saturated, but pickings were slim when it came to new books to add to our collection. Because of this, many of my favorites are older. However, story time at the bookstore has kept me up to date with the new and worthwhile holiday books that