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Every time I hear a siren, I think about all the brave men and women whose jobs it is to keep us safe and the courage it takes to rush into danger as people are fleeing the scene. Keep reading… Fire Engines is part of the Little Golden Book series and is illustrated by Tibor [...]

Happy birthday to a very special boy! Keep reading… First published in 1964 The Giving Tree has been translated into more than 30 different languages. Written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein, this story is about a relationship between a boy and a tree. The tree loved the little boy very much and the little boy [...]

With temperatures soaring, I had my first ice cream cone of the season, a scoop of butter pecan on a sugar cone from Ed’s Real Scoop. Voted the best homemade ice cream in the city, Ed’s was worth the trip across the city. With ice cream in hand, I made my way to the water. [...]

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This one is for my dad who has been poked and prodded by doctors and nurses the last couple of weeks. Keep reading…  

Hi Folks, A family emergency came up so posting for B is for Books will be spotty for the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile I’ll be posting scans from my library of Richard Scarry collections. Thank you for your patience! Thao Keep reading…

One event that I look forward to every year is The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, a week-long celebration of comics, graphic novels and their creators. It’s impossible to not get inspired as I wander through the festival. There is simply so much talent. With very little self-control, I always end up with a loot bag [...]

The Toronto Librarians are on strike. There is no need to panic… Ahhhhhhhh! Failing to reach a labour agreement over the weekend 2,400 librarians went on strike. All 98 library branches across Toronto are close as of Monday. The library is asking borrowers to hold on to all checked out books and materials. No overdue [...]

I grew up using chopsticks, so whenever I am asked to set the table at a friend’s house, there is a moment of panic and stark reminder of how different I am even though I have called Canada home since I was three. (By the way, setting the table in an Asian family is easy [...]

Lots of things go bump in the night. When I was a kid, any sound coming out of the dark would send my imagination running wild (to be honest it still does). For years I would sleep under the covers, thinking it would hide me from any monster, goblins or ghosts. My philosophy: if I [...]

Something weird and wonderful. Keep reading… Having seen Marc Craste’s commercial work, Helen Ward set out to write the story of Varmints with him, “I like to think in pictures, so it is very important to me that I know and love the work of the illustrators for whom I write.” Helen tells a story [...]

As seniors in high school we got to go camping for a couple of days as a class field trip. It was an attempt to recreate the trips taken by the Group of Seven, a group of Canadian landscape painters who spent days in the wilderness drawing and searching for inspiration. Since I had never [...]

One of the biggest mysteries in children’s book publishing is ‘Who is Harris Burdick?’ His name is well known among authors and illustrators but his existence is a mystery. Harris Burdick simply vanished one day leaving behind no record except fourteen drawings to prove his existence. Keep reading… Chris Van Allsburg first came across Harris [...]

There was a time-honored tradition in our family whenever my sister and I had a loose tooth. My dad would tie one end of the string around the loose tooth and the other end to a doorknob. Standing a good couple of paces from the open door, anxiety would build while I wait for the [...]

My family and I emigrated from Vietnam to Canada in 1981. We settled down in the diverse and growing community of Parkdale. During the early 80’s, Parkdale was home to many immigrants. We were all different, each with our own story of how we came to Canada. Together in school we learned English and the [...]

You know that feeling you get when you are riding a roller coaster? Fear and excitement rolled together! Screaming for your life in terror, and so excited you want to hurl! That pretty much sums up how I feel about my upcoming camping trip. I agreed to spend three days in the woods before finding [...]

Last summer we drove miles and miles and refilled the gas tank so we could drive miles and miles more (and this was after traveling by train and Greyhound bus) to go see The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. This museum has been on my list of things to do for years, and [...]

“Once upon a time three pigs built three houses, out of straw, sticks, and bricks. Along came a wolf, who huffed and puffed…” Read more after the jump. Author and illustrator David Wiesner explores the nature of storytelling in his book, The Three Pigs. In a new spin on this classic tale, Wiesner gives the three [...]

Like a moth to flame, one cover drew me to it when I spotted it on the shelf on my last trip to the library. It was a burst of yellow sunshine among dozens of books – literally, the book jacket was painted in vibrant yellow, my favorite colour. Read more after the jump. I am [...]

“Brown paper packages tied up with strings / These are a few of my favorite things” I have been receiving a steady stream of book deliveries over the last couple of weeks, can’t wait to share them! Read more after the jump. Based on a Ukrainian story, The Mitten was written and illustrated by Jan Brett. Nicki [...]

Scary stuff and not appropriate for sensitive readers. Read more after the jump. There once was a white rabbit who went to the library and signed out a book on wolves. Like Alice in Through the Looking-Glass, the rabbit unknowingly becomes part of the book he is reading. Oblivious to the looming danger of a wolf, [...]

——————– Follow the Line—————————————————————————– Read more after the jump. Follow the line as it loops, curves and makes its way through the big city, across the ocean, up high in the sky, through the forest and into the little village. Written and illustrated by Laura Ljungkvist, Follow the Line is an interactive book that encourages readers to [...]

This past summer my friend Kevin took an epic trip to Asia, 45 days traveling through China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea. He had plenty of stories to share when he came back about the culture, food, and all the pretty girls (Kevin is single). I actually found his stories about the pretty girls fascinating, because [...]

Happy Halloween! Read more after the jump. I’ve got something deliciously wicked in mind for Halloween. How to Cook Children: A Grisly Recipe Book, written by Martin Howard and illustrated Colin Stimpson, is guaranteed to make you pee in your pants laughing (otherwise known as “lizzing” by 30 Rock fans). Children are the main ingredient in this [...]