Kids Lit
Books and More for Children and Teens

Silly Suzy Goose by Petr Horacek.

Suzy is a goose just like all the others in her gaggle.  How she longs to be different!  So she imagines what it would be like to be different animals.  She could go underwater if she was a seal; she could jump if she was a kangaroo.  And if she was a lion, she could ROAR!  But Suzy's roar comes out more as a Roooaarrrhonk!  When she tries a second time, she awakens the nearby lion who comes chasing after her.  As she flees, she jumps like a kangaroo, runs like an ostrich, and acts like all of the animals she imagined herself being.  She finally returns to the safety of her gaggle, hidden among them.  The lion leaves and Suzy realizes that while it is good to fit in, she is fine with being different too. 

This is a great read-aloud, especially for a group of antsy children.  The book is fast paced, colorful and very child friendly.  Best of all, it has a lot of action words.  If I was reading this to a group of kids, I would save it for the very end of the storytime and encourage the kids to move along with the book.  Should make for a fun time for all.

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Moose Tracks! by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jack E. Davis.

I shared this very funny book with a storytime this morning and had an absolute blast.  Any adult reading the book will see the joke coming immediately.  There are moose tracks all over the house, in the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom.  Who could have put them there?  The speaker in the story is of course never pictured until the end where he is shown to be a moose himself.  The preschoolers I shared the book with never, never saw it coming.  So it was a joy to read it.  I just got bigger and bigger in my reading of the WHO?  WHO?  And the kids ate it up and started doing the chorus with me.  Then when the joke was revealed, there was even that split second of stunned silence and then they all broke into laughter.  A perfect book to share!  What fun!

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The Horn Book has a FAQ about Graphic Novels.  If you have questions about graphic novels and manga this is the place to go.  They even correct common misconceptions about graphic novels. 

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Nutmeg and Barley: a Budding Friendship by Janie Bynum. 

Nutmeg is a chatty, active squirrel who happens to live next to Barley, a shy and quiet mouse.  They make some little steps toward friendship, but many of them go awry.  It isn't until Barley gets very ill and Nutmeg worries that she hasn't seen him that the friendship is firmly started.  The illustrations of this story are wonderful.  They beautifully capture the world that these two animals live in.  The story is also the perfect length to share with children in a story time. 

Add this one to your list of great friendship books!

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The Valley of the Wolves by Laura Gallego Garcia is an intriguing fantasy novel.  When Dana was a young girl she met Kai, a boy, who soon became her best friend.  She found that others could not see him and wondered if he was a figment of her imagination.  But then the Maestro, a magician, took Dana as his pupil in a far away tower.  There is only one other student at the tower, a strange elf who is far more advanced than Dana in his studies.  Her life is solitary and filled with her studies, though she does befriend Maritta the dwarf who works in the kitchen.  Eventually Dana is forced because of her ability to see Kai, to face what has happened in the tower and what the strange wolves that surround the tower really mean.

Recommend this one to those who enjoy fantasy sprinkled with werewolves and mystery.  Readers are drawn into the strangeness of the story, carried by the simple prose, and will be rewarded by a satisfying ending. 

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HarperCollins and TokyoPop have made a deal that will have HarperCollins doing the North American distribution for TokyoPop and a new collection of  manga that will debut in 2007. 

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For You Are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane, illustrated by Ana Juan. 

This is one of those barrier-crashing books that make reading picture books to children so very, very rewarding.  It will take American children straight into Kenya directly from a child's perspective.  Through the poetic language and vivid illustrations, children get to really experience Africa.  The author includes colors, smells, food, animals, sounds, and language. 

Take this one to your storytimes filled with children who have never heard of Africa, and they will be experience it with you.  This will make a great start to conversations about different countries and regions of the world.  It also is just the perfect window to share with children.  Open this window for them, it is one that they will thoroughly enjoy!

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The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks is a dark, violent story.   It is the story of Ruben, a teen boy who is half Traveler or gypsy.  He has special mental powers, so when his sister is murdered, he knows immediately.  His brother Cole decides to travel to the remote village where their sister was killed to help find the killer and get his sister's body returned to the family faster.  The two brothers travel from London out onto the moors together, discovering a village where there are secrets everywhere and people who are not afraid to kill to protect them. 

The book is very violent, filled with a grim quality from the beginning, the book ends awash in blood.  But the violence is written with a kind of poetic style that lends it a strange beauty as well.  So here we have a gorgeously written book that is impossible to put down, but it is amazingly dark.  I believe that many teen boys will enjoy this book.  It captures the fear and uncertainty of their age and combines it with the explosive anger that many teens carry. 

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Margaret Mahy wins world's top children's book prize is great news! The award is given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and honors an author who has made a "lasting contribution to international children's literature."

Mahy is a New Zealand author who writes two distinct types of books. She writes books for older children and teens that are dark, frightening and completely magical. She also writes zany picture books and chapter books for younger readers that have crazy pirates, silliness and pure fun.

She is one of my favorite authors for both types of books. What an achievement to be able to write such different books and to be so great at both! If you haven't read Mahy's work or haven't read one type or the other, she is definitely worth the time.

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ChildrensPictureBooks.info is a site that offers recommendations of picture books.  They also offer information on how to select picture books for your child and helping your child learn to read. They also have lists of picture books with an emphasis on math, science, social studies, art, holidays, religion, and fairy tales.  

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Ruth McNally Barshaw makes Sketches of Famous Authors when she attends session and booksignings of authors and illustrators of children's literature.  Best of all, she not only sketches the authors, but adds some of their comments on the side, so that you discover how they write as well.  This is definitely a site worth visiting!

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The CBC Books Section has Sharing the Love, an article on crossover titles from adult fiction to teens. The article covers how it happens, why and the fact that it is the teenage fans of certain adult novels who make the difference in marketing.

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'The Edge': Two British dads create fantasy worlds for young minds is a fascinating look at how an author and illustrator collaborate on The Edge series. Their friendship certainly shines through their work.

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BookPage has an article on new graphic novels where the perspectives are a-changing.  The article covers traditional comic heroes, comic books, manga, and informational books on the genre. 

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I just had to share the Jemima Puddle-Duck's e-Cards!  They use Beatrix Potter's illustrations as online greeting cards.  Lovely for sharing notes with other children's lit fans.  They even have a page with cards for upcoming holidays where the images have been combined with wording already.  Enjoy!

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The second issue of The Edge of the Forest is now available online.  It features an interview with Gail Gauthier as well as an interview with Jane Buchanan about judging for the SCBWI Golden Kite.

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YALSA has a list of ways that libraries can celebrate National Library Week with the teens in their community.  It is filled with great ideas that don't take money, just some time.  Wonderful!

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Sheila Ruth, from the blog Wands and Worlds (which is a great source for science fiction and fantasy for children) let me know that the Final Ballot for the new Andre Norton Award has been announced. 

The nominees are:

The Amethyst Road by Louise Spiegler
Siberia by Ann Halam
Stormwitch by Susan Vaught
Valiant: a Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black

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Boing Boing has news of interest to any fans of independent comics and graphic novels.  Marvel Comics and DC comics have jointly filed a trademark for the term "super-hero."  That way they can go after independent comic creators and publishers simply for using the term.  Sigh.  This is the sort of thing we will see more and more of now that public domain terms are available for trademark.  Very sad.

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John R. Gardiner, author of Stone Fox has died at age 61 from pancreatitis. 

I enjoyed this paragraph of the article:

"Few would have predicted Gardiner's literary success. He didn't enjoy
books when he was young he never read an entire novel until he was 19
and he ended up in what he called "dumbbell English" at the University
of California, Los Angeles."

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Learning to Fly by Sebastian Meschenmoser is a charming picture book about a man who finds a penguin who tells the man that he has been flying, but penguins don't fly.  The man takes in the penguin and starts to test whether he is aerodynamic enough to fly and different forms of propulsion.  The ending is about the power of believing in yourself.  The line drawings with their subtle touches of color enhance the story, often the humor is carried by the illustrations alone.  Read this to small groups or with a child in your lap.  The book is small and the illustrations will not project well to an audience. 

This is a lovely book.  Share it with children and show them that they should follow their dreams and believe in themselves. 

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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo has really divided that children's literature community into those who adore it and those who strongly dislike it.  When I read and heard that people disliked it, I had to get a copy of my own to read.  I don't mind sentimentality in books, enjoy doll books in general, and thought I would probably love it.

Me?  I really, really dislike the book.  Yes, the ending touched me.  But I still felt cheated and manipulated by the time I finished.  I didn't mind that Edward was a doll without a heart, without love, but I disliked the fact that even by the end I didn't feel like he really GOT it.   He still felt that love was something that was given to him and then he would return it.  And the ending did nothing to change his view at all.

This was one that I looked forward to.  But it is one that you must try for yourself.  Which side of the debate do you fall on?

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BBC News reports that EH Shepard, the illustrator of the Winnie the Pooh books, disliked that his illustrations for a children's book overshadowed the political cartoons he dedicated his life to.  I am not sure I agree with the title of the article, "The man who hated Pooh."  But I am sure Shepard was frustrated by the huge response to a side project and the fact that he and Milne did not get along.  Yet no one can deny that those line drawings are a large part of the success of "that silly old bear" and that they are as beloved or even more beloved than Milne's dancing words. 

Golly, I've got to dig out my copy of When We Were Very Young and read some poems.  This article has got me wanting to read those books once again. 

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Katherine Paterson has won the 2006 Astrid Lingren Memorial Award which is given for lifetime achievement in children's literature.  How wonderful!  She certainly deserves it for books like Bridge to Terabithia, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Lyddie, and Jacob Have I Loved, and those are only my personal favorites.  Her body of work is simply amazing. 

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The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has announced a brand new award for young adult science fiction and fantasy novels!  The award is named the Andre Norton Award and will be given for the first time later this year in conjunction with the Nebula Awards.  Any book published as a young adult science fiction or fantasy book is eligible, including graphic novels. 

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School Library Journal's cover story for this month offers information on Graphic Novels for (Really) Young Readers.  This is a great list of graphic novels for the younger set, including some of my favorites like the Owly series and Bone.

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Ready for this one? The Slate article, The Little Men Who Love Little House - Why boys like girls books. By Emily Bazelon contains in its look at boys' reading a full attack on librarians and their role in why boys don't like reading! I kid you not!

"The blame partly lies with librarians. They are mostly women, they tend to love stories, and they also have a thing for books that teach moral lessons."

"Librarians and teachers often look down on boy humor or nonfiction, and their disdain seeps through to the boys who crave those things."

I find this entirely offensive. I definitely do not look down on boy-friendly titles. I have Captain Underpants, a nonfiction section filled with dinosaurs, snakes, and biographies, adventure fiction, and a great love of Harris and Me, which I consider one of the funniest books ever written. And I am not the exception when it comes to children's librarians, I am the rule. There is no disdain here nor is there any need for a moral lesson in a book. Besides, shouldn't the author of the article have looked as some books published in the last decade? If she had, maybe she would have actually visited a library and discovered that we aren't all pinch-faced women with rulers all set to smack little boy hands.

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The New York Times has a wonderful article about the new type of books for teen girls: Young Adult Fiction: Wild Things. Naomi Wolf critiques (justly and decisively) the Gossip Girl, A-List and Clique series. This is a must-read article for librarians who have these books in their collections. I am not saying that we should pull the books from our shelves, I certainly am not. But we should know what we are offering children and why their parents may have objections beyond the sexual content. That said, teens are reading and if they weren't reading this type of trash then they would be reading adult trash novels. I definitely did as a teen.

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Yuck! Stuck in the Muck by Corinne Demas, illustrated by Laura Rader.

Released in May 2006.

This is an beginning reader that has a nice sense of humor as well as a good plotline that is easy for early readers to follow.  It is the story of a dog that chases a duck into the swamp and gets caught in the mud.  One after another, animals and people try to save the dog, but each one ends up getting stuck too.  They are finally all saved by a helicopter that hoists them out.

I actually enjoyed the unexpected arrival of the helicopter.  It broke the rhyming pattern of the book, which is good for young readers, and it added some high tech interest.  The ending where the duck nests in the stuck truck is satisfying as well. 

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Superhero ABC by Bob McLeod is an alphabet book perfect for kids who watch cartoons filled with superheros or those kids who play superhero all day long, in other words, most kids.  Author McLeod is a comic book artist who has worked on Superman and Spiderman comics.  This gives the book the feel of a real graphic novel or comic, not just a book paying homage.  Each letter of the alphabet gets a superhero that starts with that letter and then the page contains other comments about the hero that feature that letter.  It is cleverly done with lots of humor and even some gross moments that are perfect for the audience.

This is not one to share with a crowd, because kids will want to savor the heroes, discuss their powers and evaluate them.  So have this on your library shelves just waiting for the kid who doesn't want a saccharine ABC book.  This one fits a perfect niche in every collection. 

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OK, what librarian could pass up a bibliography like this?  Papertigers has a bibliography of children's books about libraries and librarians.  Just scrolling down through the titles will show you many favorites and a wide range of librarians and libraries.  Enjoy!

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Essence: You gotta have faith: a children's book author delves into her girlhood in a masterful memoir is a nearly poetic article on Faith Ringgold. This is an article that demonstrates the impact one children's book author can have.

Here is my favorite line:

"Ringgold says that although she seeks to explain some of the disturbing elements of slavery and prejudice through some of her children's books--a dozen in all--these stories have always been more about the importance of instilling in our youth the belief that they can change the world."

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The CILIP Carnegie Medal has released its long list of nominees. This will later be amended to a short list, but it is always fun to see what British books are catching the eye of award panels. This set of books are for the 2005 award which is awarded in 2006. Some of the titles will be familiar to American readers, but others are complete surprises.

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“It's Perfectly Normal” tops ALA's 2005 list of most challenged books

Here are the top challenged books this last year:

“It's Perfectly Normal” for homosexuality, nudity, sex education, religious viewpoint, abortion and being unsuited to age group;
“Forever” by Judy Blume for sexual content and offensive language;
“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
“The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
“Whale Talk” by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language;
“Detour for Emmy” by Marilyn Reynolds for sexual content;
“What My Mother Doesn't Know” by Sonya Sones for sexual content and being unsuited to age group;
Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;
“Crazy Lady!” by Jane Leslie Conly for offensive language; and
“It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families” by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.

Boy, these folks need to read some new books! Some of these titles have been under attack for years and years. Let's give them a break and find some new books to question.

Seriously, the good news is that some of the old guard have fallen off the list like Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men, and the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

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The Wildest Brother by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer.

Due out in May 2006.

Ben is a boy who sometimes wakes up as a knight, or a wolf, or a monster.  When he is a monster, he paints scars on his body with his older sister's makeup.  Though you expect her to be furious, she gets revenge by tickling him.  He sometimes has to protect her from a man-eating monster.  She has to hide in the wardrobe without giggling, so that he can save her.  Ben fights all sorts of fearsome creatures throughout the day, protecting his sister.  But guess who is his protector when he is scared at night! 

This is a charming story of a brother and sister relationship.  Best of all is the twist at the end where the sister is the strong and brave one.  The illustrations are cartoon-like and add to the fun, showing Ben's vivid imagination at work.  Funke's text is just the right length for the audience of preschoolers and kindergarteners who have vivid imaginations of their own.  Put this one on your list for both sibling storytimes and ones on imaginations. 

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Where's My Sock? by Joyce Dunbar, illustrated by Sanja Rescek.

This bright-colored and vibrant book captures the frantic search for a lost piece of clothing, in this case a yellow sock with clocks on it.  Pippin can't find his sock, so his friend Tog helps him look.  They try all sorts of drawers, baskets, pockets, shoes, and find a huge pile of socks, but when they are sorted into pairs, there is no yellow sock with clocks on it.  When Pippin finally decides to wear mismatched socks, they discover the yellow sock in the one place they didn't look.   The pictures in this book are done in bright tutti-fruity colors that add to the fun, fresh feeling of the text.  A large part of the book are the wild color combinations and patterns of the many socks that are found.  This is a perfect book for preschool storytimes with the right kind of humor, a familiar situation taken to the extreme, and exactly the right amount of text on each page.  Add this one to your clothing storytime or shoes and socks storytime. 

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YALSA is once again gathering nominees for the Best Books for Young Adults list.  Enjoy the short list that is currently there and anticipate many more great titles to come. 

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Dinosaur Dinosaur by Kevin Lewis, illustrated by Dan Kirk. 

This is the great author, illustrator team that created My Truck Is Stuck!  Here the reader meets a little boy dinosaur who is filled with spunk and action.  From the minute he gets up he is roaring and stomping.  The book follows him through his day from breakfast to bedtime.  Kids will see their own lives reflected right back at them but with dinosaur characters that they will love.  Lewis' rhymes add fun to the reading and Kirk's illustrations are as bright and bold as ever.  This one is a winner to share with young dinosaur lovers. 

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The Night Pirates by Peter Harris, illustrated by Deborah Allwright.

The night pirates is a refreshing take on pirate stories where a little boy is in bed and seeing strange shadows.  The shadows are actually "tough little girl pirates" who take the little boy on their sailing house to an island where the rough adult pirates guard their treasure chest.  The approaching house and the yelling children scare the pirates away and the children sail off in a golden house filled with treasure.  The little twist at the end is lovely as is the slow change from an adventure story to a bedtime story.  Share this one with pirate girls and boys. 

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Ah, another wonderful Minerva Louise book!  Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs by Jane Morgan Stoeke, continues in the same tradition as the early books.  The simple text combined with clear pictures that project well to a group, make these books perfect for sharing with a group.  This book is an Easter story where Minerva Louise, a perpetually confused but friendly chicken, finds colored eggs scattered around the farm.  She rounds up the other hens and tells them about the eggs outside "some of them are so cold they're turning blue."  But when the hens go out to look, all of the eggs are gone.  Then they see the farmers (people) gathering the eggs and know that it is fine, they are used to farmers gathering eggs.  The story ends with Minerva Louise happily sitting atop a basket of Easter eggs. 

Share this one for Easter or spring storytimes.  The humor, text, and pacing are all perfect for sharing with toddlers and preschoolers.  Even kindergarteners will enjoy the humor. 

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Corydon & the Island of Monsters by Tobias Druitt (a mother and son writing team) is one of my favorite books of the year so far.  Corydon is a boy who was born with one goat's leg, complete with hair and hoof.  Because of this, he is considered a monster and driven from his village, tied to a stake where he is left to be a sacrifice.  He is saved from dying by two Gorgons who realize that he has a larger destiny in the world.  Corydon lives in the hills outside of the village with a flock of sheep and goats that he has stolen from the village, playing songs on his pipe.  But then he is kidnapped by a gang of pirates who have a zoo of monsters.  There he meets the Minotaur, Medusa, and the Sphinx among other monsters.  After a time, he is able to escape and free the other monsters with the help of the same Gorgons that saved him.  The monsters go off into the island to live separately, except for Corydon and Medusa who move into the Gorgons' cave.  But while life is blissful for awhile, there is trouble brewing when the sole surviving pirate reports to the king what happened.  The king's son, Perseus, is a vain and stupid man who decides that taking revenge on the monsters is a great way to become the hero he has always thought he was.  Of course, Perseus is not really the king's son, but rather the son of Zeus, so he asks his real father for help.  Given gifts and finally able to round up a huge but ragtag army, Perseus heads off to kill the monsters on the island.

I will leave it there because this is an incredible book whose twists and turns are amazing and gripping.  I wouldn't want to spoil the fun of the journey for anyone.  Let me just say that the fact that the monsters are the heroes in the book and that the heroes are the villains is lovely.  I also enjoyed the fact that Zeus is rather distant and forgetful, while other gods vary in their level of understanding and involvement.  You never really know what a god is going to do, which lends a level of complexity to the story.

Give this one to any kid who enjoys mythology, but be prepared to discuss it with them later because this book will turn everything they have ever read on its head.  Even while doing that, it makes Greek myths more alive than any novel I have ever read. 

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BookLetters lets you sign up for free book-related newsletters.  They have ones for adult books and bestsellers, and they also have newsletters for picture books, chapter books, teens and children's authors.  The newsletters are very short and filled with new titles that may be of interest.  This is a quick and easy way to find out about more new books.

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Tell Me What You See by Zoran Drvenkar is a strange book, in a good way.  In the middle of a Christmas snowstorm, Alissa and her best friend, Evelin make the pilgrimage to her father's grave.  Alissa falls down a hole into a crypt where she finds a child's casket with a strange plant growing out of it.  When she opens the casket, she finds that the plant is coming straight from the child's heart.  She pulls out the plant and against her will, eats it.  Evelin runs to get her father and they recue Alissa from the crypt.  But Alissa starts to act strangely after eating the plant.  She can see people who no one else can see, her abusive boyfriend has become even more obsessive after kissing her, and she breathes life into a tiny kitten. 

Written by a German author and set in modern-day Berlin, this is a modern gothic teen novel.  The book is a puzzle, a strange ride of a novel that is impossible to put down until the puzzle is solved.  And unlike some puzzling books, the ending is very satisfying. 

Share this with teens who like dark books filled with mystery and don't mind a lot of strange things going on in their books. 

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Read*Write*Now! is the site for the American Initiative on Reading and Writing. The site offers information for parents and teachers on how to create fun reading activities for children. The website is filled with reading readiness activities and ideas.

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Kirkus Reviews has a handy Spring & Summer Preview that includes both adult titles and ones for children and teens. This is an easy way to get a glimpse of some of the hotter children's titles coming out this year.

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The CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center) has announced the 2006 Charlotte Zolotow Award that is given each year to the most outstanding writing in a picture book published in the USA in the previous year.

This year's winner is My Best Friend by Mary Ann Rodman. 

The Honor Books are:

Patricia McKissack and Onawumi Jean Moss for Precious and the Boo Hag.
Jon J. Muth for Zen Shorts.

Highly Commended Books are:

Leslie Patricelli for Binky.
Sandy Turner for Cool Cat, Hot Dog.
Norton Juster for The Hello, Goodbye Window.
Mo WIllems for Leonardo the Terrible Monster.
Stephen Michael King for Mutt Dog!
Elivia Savadier for No Haircut Today!
Bob Graham for Oscar's Half Birthday.
Mara Berman for Snip, Snap!  What's That?
William Bee for Whatever.

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VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) has a great list of the Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers from 2005.  The list is in pdf format, so make sure you have Adobe loaded. 

A lot of my favorite teen novels of the year are included, like Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney, Invisible by Pete Hautman, and Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.  Many of the others are on my lengthy to-be-read list and others will be added there.  Enjoy!

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The Golden Kite Awards have been announced.  They are given by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) for the most outstanding fiction, nonfiction, picturebook text and picturebook illustrations.  This year's winners are:

FICTION: 

Award:  Mary E. Pearson for A Room on Lorelei Street
Honor:  Deborah Wiles for Each Little Bird That Sings

NONFICTION:

Award:  Russell Freedman for Children of the Great Depression
Honor:  Suzanne Jurmain for The Forbidden Schoolhouse

PICTURE BOOK TEXT:

Award:  Pat Mora for Dona Flor
Honor:  Becky Birtha for Grandmama's Pride

PICTURE BOOK ILLUSTRATION:

Award:  Melissa Sweet for Baby Bear's Cha