I’ve been plagued by a thought for a while, and here it is: I’m dissatisfied with the Jewish picture books I’m seeing. They aren’t good enough. Let me put it this way: I want a Jewish picture book that will win the Caldecott, not the Sydney Taylor Book Award. Let me be even more demanding: I do not want five books that are STBA level; I want one book that’s so good it can’t be passed over for the Caldecott, no matter what else has come out. Hear me out. I was shelving picture books and lamenting that Amy Schwartz, author and illustrator of 13 Stories about Harris and 13 Stories about Ayana, is ..read more

In the not too distant past, I’ve written or referred to book bannings and censorship, particularly in the USA, quite often. I stressed that it’s not about the quality of the books, but about access to books, hence the title “A Defense of Mediocre Books.” Despite the temptation to defend books by adding, “And it’s really good!” I think it’s essential to keep in mind that we defend access because censorship is wrong, not because the books are always good. That issue has not gone away. (Even poor William Shakespeare, a poet and playwright of some promise, is under attack. I’m positive all the ps ..read more

Robie Harris, a passionate advocate for approaching children with nothing less than the truth, has died. That’s a link to the PW obituary with many anecdotes and quotes from people who knew her well and have memories to share, and I encourage you to read it. My story is not that of a friend or colleague, but of a reader, a book-buyer, a parent. The first Robie Harris book we got was It’s So Amazing! back when the Changeling was three and started asking questions which, in hindsight, were quite precocious. (The Spriggan is very different and his questions are about where his friendly mosquitoe ..read more

Happy New Year! But… What does that mean, “happy,” really? Do we know? If you spend any time with small kids, you’ll have picked up on a truth we adults notice less among ourselves: emotional experiences can be contagious. When one toddler cries, the rest of the room can become concerned. When one toddler giggles, the others gravitate to the fun. When my Spriggan giggles, so do I, and he checks with me, “Are you happy?” Yes, I tell him, I’m happy because you make me happy. This new book from Michael Rosen, I Am Happy, is contagious happiness in a cheerful yellow cover. I wondered, at first si ..read more

Well, that time of year is here, the one where people buy books for other people and maybe themselves, right? And one thing you’ve all been waiting for is what I recommend. Brace yourselves: this post has a lot of books in it, and they’re all good. First of all, I want to tell you something: book choices are personal, and this goes for kids as well as grown-ups. If I tell you that a book is good, and, by the way, I know full well I’m correct– that book may still not be someone else’s taste. For kids who aren’t yet reading to themselves, one other thing is critical: the book must be a pleasure ..read more

Sometimes you just know a book is your heart’s friend, before it’s more than a work in progress. Then– then you have to wait. Wait until you can hold it in your hands. You may, possibly, end up sending messages to the illustrator every once in a while, exclaiming with joy and excitement over the beautiful samples of the art she’s posted and raving about the energetic lines and ceaseless energy on the page. Sorry, Barbara. I may have gotten a little carried away. When I did, actually, hold the review copy I was sent in my hands, I actually teared up from sheer happiness at having it, and with g ..read more

This is my third whack at writing this and by God I will post this today. I absolutely refuse to let war take more comfort and beauty from us, and, come hell and/or high water, I will post this review before the book is released, which is tomorrow. First things first, then: the book is The Little Books of the Little Brontës by Sara O’Leary and Briony May Smith, and you can just skip everything else here and take my word for it that you really, really want to go buy this book from your local indie, or from mine, and I ever so kindly supplied the link. Now, two paragraphs about the bitter crap ..read more

For crying out loud, I have two draft book reviews sitting while the world burns and I will get them out next week, but right now I have a thing to say. Apparently, from the ferocity with which everyone is posting everything right now, so does everyone else. While everyone else is suddenly an expert in geopolitics and religion and ethics– I’m sticking to what, to be quite clear, I arrogantly believe I’m an expert in: books for kids. For Jews right now, times are scarier than they’ve ever been in my lifetime, and let’s also be candid and acknowledge that for a wide variety of other people times ..read more

I still think, often, of the beautiful event for Big Tree I got to attend at the Brookline Booksmith. Ever since, sycamores have held a particularly special place in my heart. Which is why this bit of news from the UK really hurt: a 300-year-old sycamore tree near Hadrian’s Wall was cut down. Soon after reading of that, I saw the announcement of this excellent website to go along with Big Tree: Click here for stories and science and so much more. And I just want to encourage everyone, whether you’ve already read the book or not, to give thought to how long three hundred years really is, how sh ..read more

As we come up on Halloween– here I am posting about Christmas. Well, look, yes, I know. I know Halloween is my traditional obsession, and also I know that I’m not exactly Christian, that here I am a few days before Yom Kippur, an Orthodox Jewish woman, writing about a book for a holiday I don’t precisely, as it were, celebrate– and yet. Given an opportunity to talk to Alex Willan, author of Elves Are the Worst! about early readers, giving characters a distinct voice, and carrying on the interest and personality of a series, as he does both for his Jasper and Ollie and for his The Worst! series ..read more