Curious City Besties 2016: Board and Picture Books
CURIOUS CITY BESTIES 2016: Board & Picture Books Curious City declares their 2016 “Besties” — the 2016 children’s book releases that have been their constant companions this fine KidLit year! What picture book or board book will be a child’s “bestie”? What 2016 book will be your favorite companion? Illustration from THE NIAN MONSTER © Alina Chau ……………………………………………………… BOOKS FOR ALL AGES (That’s You Too, Adults)...
Read More900 Children’s Books
For the 10th March in the Curious City Decade, I will stand before a circle of doctors, nurses, home health professionals, early childhood educators, librarians, Kindergarten teachers, parents, and grandparents while they read, review, revel in, and (sometimes) reject close to 100 children’s book titles for ages Birth to Five. As the Book Consultant for Raising Readers, I have the year long pleasure of prescreening every baby, toddler, and PreK book published to arrive at the 80-100 that the committee will further vet at this annual meeting. After long deliberation, 12 of those titles...
Read MoreReading for Empathy, Reading for Distance
Looking back on 2013, what were the news stories that you could not get enough of? What stories did you need to avert your eyes from? Sometimes the veil of story allows us – as adult and child readers – to more deeply understand and bear the news of the day. In fact, in a study released by the journal Science, it was found that reading literary fiction makes us more empathetic, socially perceptive, and emotionally intelligent than reading non-fiction or the news. Read more in the New York Times article, “For Better Social Skills, Scientists Recommend a Little...
Read MoreBooks Under the Covers
In the way of grand Children’s Lit conversations, Chris Lenois and I from WKVT Live & Local went from talking – great picture books to get under the covers with (or to put under the tree) – to detective boys fiction – to outstanding non-fiction – to audiobook opportunities. Zig Zag Zoom. Whatever part of that conversation struck your fancy, here is a list of the books we discussed and here is the Podcast of us sweetly nattering on… ___________________________________________________________________________________ Cub’s Big World By Sarah L....
Read MoreSmidgen of Vermont Children’s Lit
Thinking of my hometown this morning as it prepares for the Brattleboro Literary Festival. Curious City spoke with Chris Lenois on WKVT’s Live & Local about A Smidgen of Vermont Children’s Literature. Listen here! There are SO many great children’s book creators in the Green Mountains, but we have SO little time on the show. What did I miss? What Vermont Kids Lit do you love? ___________________________________________________________________________________ Llama Llama Time to Share By Anna Dewdney Published by Penguin Group USA Ages 1-4 Locate a copy at Local...
Read MoreSeparation in Children’s Lit
Separated by miles and miles, but connected through the power of radio, Curious City spoke with Chris Lenois on WKVT’s Live & Local about Separation in Children’s Literature. Listen here! With the school buses again rolling across our cities and towns and first-day-of-school pictures flooding Facebook, it seemed a good time to talk about how children grow with and grow apart from their parents through reading. Below are some of the books we mentioned and some swell resources! What are your favorite back-to-school books? Books on separation? Books where the parents are...
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