Benny and Penny in the Library!
Curious City created madcap game for Geoffrey Hayes the creator of the early reader comic series, Benny and Penny . Young readers stepped, stopped, and spun to the comic book frames of the books, Benny and Penny in the Big No-No and Benny and Penny in the Toy Breaker to win a bucket of comic books from Toon Books. Hayes later signed his book at Casablanca Comics. The event was sponsored by The Portland Public Library, Casablanca Comics, and Curious City. See the Event Album. Share...
Read MoreJust Read
Every book that is handed to me by publishers and creators is a challenge. Each book challenges me to imagine the audience, the slice of story that will draw that audience to the book, the way to trumpet that slice, and how and when. This is work I adore, but it does take away a bit of the delicious abandon of the READ. I thank my mighty book group for the permission and abandon to devour a YA novel with no thought towards its marketing. This month, I have to also thank Tim Ditlow of Brilliance Audio who upon learning at ALA that I had yet read or listened to The Sky is Everywhere...
Read MoreBaby Cheeks & Turtle Spots
To say that my job is a privilege would be an understatement. Here I stand 2 years after a conversation I had with Cathryn Falwell about how hard it is to find a visual clear (but compelling) picture book or board book for children 15 months to 2 years. As the book consultant for Raising Readers, I review over 500 board and pictures books a year looking for books with clarity, curiosity, and humor that kids can grasp at the youngest of ages. So here I stand with the original art to Cathryn’s Pond Babies due out from Down East Books in April feeling privileged to say,...
Read MoreNest, Nook, & Cranny Trail
Nest, Nook, & Cranny is a book for all ages featuring tongue-in-cheek sonnets and lyrical free verse by poet, Susan Blackaby. The collection of poems explores the many kinds of homes animals make for themselves. Readers experience different habitats–desert, grasslands, shoreline, wetland, and woodland–and the animals that call them home. “As a writer, I’m often asked where I get my ideas, and I usually say that I poke my nose out the front door. I suggest you do the same,” says author Susan Blackaby, “If you stay on the lookout for quirky, curious, and...
Read MoreHappy Birthday, Raising Readers
With over 1.3 million books given to Maine children, Raising Readers celebrated their 10th Birthday at the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor, Maine. Almost 300 readers and readers-to-be turned out to tumble through the museum looking for the books, authors, and illustrators that make up the Raising Readers’ latest anthology for 5-year-olds in their program, Books from Maine: A Raising Readers Collection. Children’s Museums are wonderful places to hold book events if you respect the fact that they are places to explore, not places to sit and listen. We choose...
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