Good Comics for Kids
December 31, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Henry and the Incredibly Incorrigible, Inconveniently Intelligent Smart Human By Lynn Messina Tater Tot Books $7.99 ISBN: 978-0984901845 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. Every year I swear to myself that I’ll review at least one self-published book written for kids. And every year I manage to do it, but only after sifting through countless manuscripts. […]
December 31, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School By Kim Baker Illustrated by Tim Probert Roaring Brook Press (a division of Macmillan) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-59643-765-4 Ages 9-12 On shelves now When I was in college I took a course in journalism to fulfill an English credit. I had no real desire to […]
December 31, 2012 by Betsy Bird
It’s a Tiger! By David LaRochelle Illustrated by Jeremy Tankard Chronicle Books $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8118-6925-6 Ages 4-8 On shelves now There is an art to reading a picture book but I’ve not encountered many schools that actually teach that skill. Librarians will learn it in their graduate courses, of course, but what about parents and […]
December 29, 2012 by Betsy Bird
The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom By Christopher Healy Walden Pond Press (an imprint of Harper Collins) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-06-211743-4 Ages 9-12 On shelves now. Since when did fairytales become the realm of the girly? I blame Disney. Back in the days of Grimm your average everyday fairytale might contain princesses and pretty gowns […]
December 29, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane’s Musical Journey By Gary Golio Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez Clarion Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-547-23994-1 Ages 6 and up On shelves now Is there any complicated hero with a past so full of darkness that their life cannot be recounted to children? This is the conundrum […]
December 13, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Splendors and Glooms By Laura Amy Schlitz Candlewick Press $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5380-4 Ages 10 and up On shelves now. Do you remember that moment in the film version of The Princess Bride where the grandfather is trying to convince his stubborn grandson that the book he’s about to read is fantastic? He lures the kid […]
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December 5, 2012 by Betsy Bird
The Chicken Problem By Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson Random House $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-86989-1 Ages 3-7 On shelves now. I was once in Prospect Park in Brooklyn when I passed a very small child wearing a porkpie hat running as fast as his chubby legs could carry him. Behind him his father yelled out (to […]
November 26, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad! By Nathan Hale Amulet (an imprint of Abrams) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-419700396-6 ISBN: 978-1-4197-0395-9 Ages 9-12 On shelves now If you should find that you share your name with a Revolutionary War Hero you have various ways of making use of that […]
November 20, 2012 by Betsy Bird
The Vengekeep Prophecies By Brian Farrey Illustrated by Brett Helquist Harper Collins $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-06-204928-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves now Let’s talk lazy fantasy writing. It exists. It’s out there. And when you find yourself reading some 30+ middle grade fantasies in a given year there are certain tropes and themes that appear so often […]
November 14, 2012 by Betsy Bird
Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover By Cece Bell Candlewick Press $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5475-7 Ages 5-8 On shelves now It would be simpler if kids read at exact levels at all times. Wouldn’t it be grand if you had a kid go strategically from easy books to early chapter books to older chapter books without so […]
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