This May has been unusually busy around the Children’s Bookroom given a lot of old things coming together, so I wanted to give a roundup of what I’ve done here and elsewhere! An older review of mine for Hilary McKay’s Time of Green Magic was featured among other reviews over at Twinkl’s Magical Books for Kids to Beat the Summer Reading Slide. While I’ve never really understood the whole summer slide thing, I think that list of recommended books looks absolutely fantastic and am keen to check out a few of them myself, so I recommend taking a look. I have already mentioned the review I got to wr ..read more

First thing, before I hop into the review for this page on this day– I have another review up somewhere else, and I’m more than a little pleased with it, so I’m linking here: a review for Two New Years by Richard Ho and Lynn Scurfield over at JArts, a book I reviewed separately here! My review at JArts is a happy reflection on how JAHM and AAPIHM share the same time. Now, over to Ferris! I wasn’t going to write about another Kate DiCamillo so soon after writing of my love for Orris and Timble, mostly because I didn’t want to seem like a total Kate DiCamillo fangirl. And then I thought… Well. T ..read more

This month is Jewish American Heritage Month in the USA. (It’s also Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so I think everyone has to be extra special celebratory about Richard Ho’s Two New Years, just saying.) Now, there’s a big whomping chunk of Jewish American Heritage that a huge number of Americans, and folks across the world, experience and continue to enjoy, but have no idea is Jewish, and while I rather enjoy that it’s so universally relevant and beloved, one thing bothers me. It doesn’t bother me that people read and love Where the Wild Things Are without knowing that Maurice ..read more

The first days of Passover were a severe trial for me. Oh– no, not the holiday itself. No, I mean that I was in Toronto for them. Well, that was ok, too, because I got to visit Mabel’s Fables, which the Spriggan calls Mabel’s Stables. Actually, he fell so deeply in love with Mabel’s Fables that we went twice because he asked every single hour of every day when we were going back until we did go back, and, believe me, I wasn’t the parent who needed to be persuaded. So that was ok. But what was less ok was how I kept getting delivery notifications from UPS that I was getting boxes from Candlewic ..read more

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