Heavy Medal
September 8, 2023 by Betsy Bird
“You have a family, friends, a home. You go to school, and like all children, you like to play. One day, a threat appears and changes everything.”
August 3, 2021 by Betsy Bird
We dive deep into Canada's most beloved picture book. In other words, an extended allegory of the relationship and tensions that exist between francophones and anglophones. Fun!
October 3, 2018 by Betsy Bird
The Funeral By Matt James Groundwood Books (an imprint of House of Anansi Press) ISBN: 978-1-55498-908-9 $18.95 Ages 4-7 On shelves now They say you don’t truly fear death until you have children. I’ll tweak that slightly. I say, you don’t truly fear talking about death until you have children. At least if you’re an […]
August 25, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Who Broke the Teapot?! By Bill Slavin Tundra Books $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-77049-833-4 Ages 3-5 On shelves now In the average life of a child, whodunits are the stuff of life itself. Who took the last cookie? Who used up all the milk and then didn’t put it on the shopping list? Who removed ALL the […]
February 15, 2016 by Betsy Bird
Elliot By Julie Pearson Translated by Erin Woods Illustrated by Manon Gauthier Pajama Press $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-927485-85-9 Ages 4-7 On shelves April 4th The librarian and the bookseller face shelving challenges the like of which you wouldn’t believe. You think all picture books should simply be shelved in the picture book section by the author’s […]
February 9, 2016 by Betsy Bird
The Sandwich Thief By Andre Marois By Patrick Doyon Chronicle Books $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-4521-4659-1 Ages 7-9 On shelves March 1st Injustice, that sweet universal quality, makes for great children’s books. Whether it’s a picture book or a young adult novel, if you can tap into a reader’s sense of unfairness you have yourself some children’s […]
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March 12, 2015 by Betsy Bird
Sidewalk Flowers By JonArno Lawson Illustrated by Sydney Smith $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-55498-431-2 Ages 3-6 On shelves March 17th When you live in a city, nature’s successes can feel like impositions. We have too many pigeons. Too many squirrels. Too many sparrows, and roaches, and ants. Too many . . . flowers? Flowers we don’t seem […]
May 2, 2012 by Betsy Bird
The laptop of my infinite sadness continues to remain broken which wrecks a certain special kind of havoc with my gray cells. To distract myself, I plunge headlong into the silliest news of the week. Let’s see if there’s anything here to console a battered Bird brain (something tells me that didn’t come out sounding […]
December 10, 2011 by Betsy Bird
Big City Otto: Elephants Never Forget By Bill Slavin With Esperança Melo Kids Can Press ISBN: 978-1-55453-476-0 Ages 8-11 On shelves now Boy, The Man With the Yellow Hat just lost all credibility, didn’t he? Time was that Curious George snatcher could nab the jungle beast of his choice, slap his hands together, and call […]
November 16, 2011 by Betsy Bird
From Then to Now: A Short History of the World By Christopher Moore Illustrated by Andrej Krystoforski Tundra Books $25.95 ISBN: 978-0-88776-5407 Ages 9 and up On shelves now. I have nothing but respect for contemporary historians. A few of them, let us be honest, are rock stars. They have to take something as strange […]
Politics in Practice
by John Chrastka
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