Keep Calm & Read On: WWII KidLit Novels
Operation Pied Piper relocated more than 3.5 million people from London and the coast on England during WWII. The evacuation has inspired many a novel for children. Children sent away to places unknown while leaving their parents in peril is, of course, the perfect set-up for adventure. C. S. Lewis’s 1950 classic novel, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe opens with the Pevensie children’s evacuation from London. First stop, English country estate. Second stop, Narnia. Few remember that the warring children in William...
read moreAn Unhappy Birthday for the President
President’s Day falls this year, as always, in the midst of Black History Month. With educators, parents and citizens across race striving to make African American history and culture much, much more than a 28 Day celebration, what role does black history have in the study of our founding fathers? A recent controversy in the children’s literature world shows that George Washington, a slaveholder, can no longer escape our scrutiny. In January, Scholastic Press canceled the publication of A Birthday Cake for George...
read moreAnd the Winner Is…
Curious City explores the two big picture book winners at the mighty 2015 American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards in a podcast chatter with Green Mountain Morning! Explore all the children’s literature award winners here! Last Stop on Market Street By Matt de la Pena Illustrated by Christian Robinson Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Age Range: 4 – Adult Find at Your Local Bookstore 2016 Newbery Medal Winner 2016 Caldecott Medal Honor Book 2016 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honor...
read moreKitLit to Restore Hope, Restore Connection
As the world plays out its worst and best, these picture books stay close at hand. You could put these books into the hands of any child or adult over the holiday to restore hope and connection. Fox’s Garden by Princesse Camcam Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books Age Range: 4 – 8 Years One snowy night, a fox loses its way, entering a village. Chased away by the grown ups, Fox takes shelter in a greenhouse. A little boy sees this from his window. Without hesitating, he brings a basket of food to the greenhouse, where he...
read moreCurious City Besties ’15
What book will be a child’s “bestie”? What 2015 book will be your child’s favorite companion? Best Children’s Books of 2015 Everyone in the book review press is lining up to declare the best of 2015. They are, indeed, astounding reads all. See the latest lists at the bottom of this post. Buying Books for Children? If you are buying books for children, though, the best route is to approach a bookseller or librarian and describe your young reader by personality and (if you know) by their favorite books....
read moreUkeLit: Rockabilly Goats Gruff
One never knows what will happen in a kidlit-way when you find yourself at The Writing Barn in Austin, Texas. Curious City recently found ourselves sitting across from a ukulele-playing troll. That troll was the uber-talented Jeff Crosby in toothy disguise. Jeff is the creator of many picture books including the rockin’ Rockabilly Goats Gruff (Holiday House). Jeff illustrated a ukulele with his band, Rockabilly Goat’s Gruff for the UkeLit project. UkeLit’s mission is to 1) introduce music literacy to school and library...
read moreAnnouncing UkeLit
The Ukulele Lending Library (Got Uke?) has become UkeLit! MISSION To introduce music literacy to school and library settings by providing a ukulele, the user-friendly, starter instrument, for circulation and to represent the benefits of creating music through the inclusion of a children’s book featuring musical characters and plotlines within the ukulele case. See the creation of the UkeLit: Rockabilly Goats Gruff! BACKGROUND Piloted at the Portland Public Library in Maine in Spring ’13, the four ukulele’s have maintained a 96% circulation...
read moreKidLit Left Out in the Elements
It was dark and stormy night… —A Wrinkle in Time Preschoolers must learn their seasons, but as they grow they will find storms and changes in the weather an ever increasing metaphor for change in their lives and the outside world. From Madeleine L’Engle’s famous and cliché opening to A Wrinkle in Time, we remember the great storm of adolescence. If you are a fan of said metaphors, here is handy list of weather metaphors! Listen to the podcast chatter about atmospheric kidlit on Green Mountain Morning! The Carnival...
read morePrincess Smack-Down in Vegas
A bookish discussion in the middle of the bombast of Las Vegas? Could that happen? Why, yes. Through the magic of the The Vegas Valley Book Festival (and the grand leadership of Brian Kendall), twelve Curious City and Erin Murphy Literary Agency clients met with 30 classrooms of readers and participated in 8 panels discussions about story and KidLit. Curious City moderated a panel with children’s authors Ammi-Joan Paquette, Susan Lynn Meyer and Jennifer Ziegler. Together we discussed “Princesses in Another Guise” or the...
read moreFractured Fairy Tales, Shattered Slippers
Children’s literature has been feverishly fracturing fairy tales since Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith released the The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales in 1992. Do the princess fairy tales featuring girls only made powerful by their beauty (and sometimes kindness) need to be especially fractured? Do we need to smash the glass slippers for girls and women to smash the glass ceiling? Is it time to encourage your child to leave behind the Disney Princess Halloween costume? Look to A Mighty Girl for a “Girl Empowerment...
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