Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. This lively novel, in which Dickens plays a supporting role--but his influence is evident throughout--is a good way to get the party started. The Cheshire Cheese Cat is about a cat who loves cheese, a mouse who loves language, a crow who loves Queen and Country, and a novelist with no opening line. The story is set in Ye

Would you deny this bear his hat? Poor Bear. He's lost his hat. Then he finds his hat! The end. A simple enough story. But read between the lines, and you will discover a book which can be appreciated as a funny read-a-loud or a sly peak through the fourth wall. I Want My Hat Back, the first picture book to have been both written and illustrated by the supremely gifted Jon Klassen, is a

I've been obsessing about the amount of attention Ted Williams gets within the realm of children's literature. Must be all those pin-stripped covers I've been forced to stock over the years. I was well pleased to read Fred Bowen's No Easy Way , and I thoroughly enjoyed The Unforgettable Season by Phil Bildner, even if Williams did have to share the book with Joe Dimaggio. Now, I can look

A few week ago I reviewed, with much enthusiasm, the upcoming middle grade novel by Jack Gantos, Dead End in Norvelt. Well, the book is "upcoming" no more--today is release day! The kind folks at Macmillan Audio saw that review, and they sent me a copy of the audio book to give away on this blog. So, in celebration of the book's release, I invite you all to enter for a chance to win this 6 disc

As the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks approaches, I am forced to consider something I have thought about almost since that very day: how do I explain this to my daughter? She was eight months old at the time, oblivious to the knowledge that the world was changing. And now, ten years on, there is an entire generation just like her; children for whom September 11th is as much a

I suppose after my tirade about the BabyLit series of board books, I would be a hypocrite if I didn't have a dig at what can only be described as this fall's geekiest offering for "the youngest reader." Well, call me a hypocrite--and completely illogical--because I am nowhere near as offended by The Star Trek Book of Opposites as I am by "Little Miss Austen's" and "Little Master Shakespeare's"

My experience of Jack Gantos consists almost entirely of Rotten Ralph. I haven't read the Jack Henry books, and I have only gotten as far as borrowing Joey Pigza. It was returned unread, another victim of a hydra-esque TBR pile. I mention all this because Gantos' latest book, Dead End in Norvelt, features a character named, funnily enough, Jack Gantos. But this middle-grade story bears almost

This summer saw the release of Dodsworth in Rome, the fourth volume in the easy reader series about Dodsworth and his accidental companion, Duck. It's an amusing book in a series which consistently entertains and has the capacity to continue for many volumes yet as the pair bumbles their way across the globe. The journey actually started, sans Duck, in a junk yard, where the underachieving

We are BIG Traction Man fans in this house, so when I saw this listed as a great summer read over at The Guardian, I got pretty excited. And for the record--absolutely NO need to be under 5 to enjoy it. Traction Man is the thinking person's Action Man (also known as GI Joe in this country.) And with his faithful side-kick Scrubbing Brush, he will be prepared for anything. I could not find a US

I first visited Arlington National Cemetery on a family vacation back in the 80's. My father, a Navy man with a passion for military history, was particularly keen to take my brother and I there. He wanted to show us the grave of Audie Murphy. I was pretty impressed with the place, but what impressed me most was the behavior of my dad. A life-long smoker, he had such reverence for Arlington

It seems ages ago that I first heard talk of Martin Scorcesse adapting Brian Selznik's Caldecot winning book for the big screen. And now, come Thanksgiving, it seems that we will finally get to see it. My first question, after watching the trailer, is--what happened to the rest of the title? The invention has fallen by the wayside. It's seemingly arbitrary changes like this which always make me

There is no shortage of nostalgic baseball picture books available; just run a search for different versions of Take Me Out to the Ballgame to prove the point. This is the Game, written by Diane Shore and Jessica Alexander and illustrated by Owen Smith, is a nice addition to the genre. It reads like a cumulative tale, not so much about the history of baseball, but about the excitement which

I make it a general policy not to purposely offend readers. I even try to avoid implying that my opinion is correct and anyone who thinks otherwise is an out and out moron. But I have to confess that I am about to let loose with a full blown rant, and if you happen to disagree with me.......sorry, but I'm right. Yesterday I read this article in Publisher's Weekly about a new series of board

Last Friday I was privileged to be included in a luncheon hosted by Scholastic Books and the New England Booksellers Association for YA writing sensations and all around awesome-women Libba Bray, Meg Cabot, and Maggie Stiefvater. The ladies were in town to visit the Wellesley Booksmith and to promote This is Teen, Scholastic's integrated teen community initiative, which works to unite teen

Now that the Bruins have made a series of the final, I thought this was a good time to draw attention to Mike Leonetti's Number Four, Bobby Orr! It took ages for Ted Williams to get his own picture book, but this Boston sports legend got his in 2003 (any news on a Larry Bird picture book? How about Yaz--the last winner of baseball's Triple Crown? Someone get writing!) Illustrator Shayne Letain

Last night, as Doctor Who spoilers and Bruins lamentations fought for control of my Twitterfeed, I started noticing a recurring hasthtag: #YAsaves. Someone--specifically, blogger and Youth Services Consultant Elizabeth Burns--was retweeting a vast amount of responses to an article which had appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The article was entitled "Darkness too Visible" and was followed by

So. This week's publishing sensation is the as yet unpublished Go the F**k to Sleep, (actually, I started this post last week. And people are still talking about the book. Yup--it's a sensation.) The book started as a personal lament from author Adam Mansbach and has resulted in film rights. And the book hasn't even been published yet! Score one for internet piracy, which is credited with

It's been a big day for news pertaining to popular book franchises that are making the jump from the page to the screen. First, the official movie trailer for The Adventures of Tintin was released. Then, Entertainment Weekly released this week's cover, featuring the first look at actress Jennifer Lawrence all kitted up for The Hunger Games. I love days like this!

Okay, maybe 23 December 2011 isn't technically almost, but it's pretty darn close! However, it is still far enough away that repeated assertions about how Tintin is unknown in the United States will be numerous enough to make me throw myself over the side of the Unicorn! We can't keep Tintin on the shelves at this library, or any other where I have worked. The cub reporter and his little dog,

Now--I know what you're thinking. Two days in a row. Lunch with an author. Is this woman a librarian or a professional nosher? Well, I am a librarian, and this week I have been an especially fortunate one. After dining yesterday with Jacqueline Davies, today I was invited to eat with Caldecott-winning illustrator Jerry Pinkney. He was on a school visit to my daughter's school (those lucky kids!)

This afternoon I had the pleasure and privilege of participating in a lunch given in honor of author Jacqueline Davies and her new novel, The Lemonade Crime. This sequel to The Lemonade War is already picking up stars and praise a plenty--so no real change from the first book! I have to confess that I only recently read The Lemonade War--like, as soon as I received the invitation (no time like

......Jacqueline Davies and Jerry Pinkney as I prepare for not one, but two, author lunches this week. Ohhh....I could get used to this!

After weeks of guessing, and then watching favorites fall, the School Library Journal Battle of the Kids Books has its finalists. Kathi Appelt's Keeper, which has enjoyed a charmed journey through the rounds (it was blessed with judges which were just the right fit) goes against the heavily favored Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud. Megan Whalen Turner's Conspiracy of Kings, back for a second

The School Library Journal Battle of the Kids' Books is headed down the finish line. The four semifinalists are now in place and ready to start duking it out towards the Big Kahuna Round on Monday. If you haven't been following at home, here is how the semis will play out: Louis Sachar's The Cardturner vs Kathi Appelt's Keeper Jonathan Stroud's Ring of Solomon vs Andy Mulligan's Trash I'm kind

I don't read many "grown-up" books, partially through choice and partially through career necessity. But when I do pick up a book for an audience older than 12, I have been lucky in reading some real winners. One such book was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, which is definitely one of my favorite books of the last five years--for any age. Today I saw in a publisher's catalog that a