The Yarn
July 23, 2020 by Betsy Bird
It’s a mystery. It’s a game. It’s filled with puzzles and riddles and clues. It’s funny, and it’s deadly serious. Parts are evocative and parts are heartfelt and parts are completely unforgettable. Having a rough day/week/month/year? Cuddle up to this. Challenging enough to intrigue you. Enticing enough to keep you.
March 13, 2020 by Betsy Bird
Behold a story that runs, caterwauls, spies, sneaks, rides, and generally has a wonderful time. This is a book I can’t show my colleagues at work because my 8-year-old won’t let it out of her sight. A fairly high bit of praise, if I do say so myself.
November 1, 2019 by Betsy Bird
It’s kind of gratifying to know that the story has been finding its audience. And what child wouldn’t find the notion of living on a school bus, tricked out like a long, yellow mobile home, enticing?
June 14, 2019 by Betsy Bird
oxes? How scary can that get? Answer: Hoo-boy. Hold onto your hats folks. Turns out, what terrifies a fox can terrify a child just as easily. For some readers the fact that everyone here sports red fur will make the horrors a little better. For others, much much worse.
February 27, 2019 by Betsy Bird
Gracefully switching between text and comics, comics and text, author Remy Lai feeds breadcrumbs (or, more accurately, cake crumbs) of humor and sequential art to kids, luring them towards a storyline with a deeper, darker meaning. For the kid that avoids serious stories like the plague, Pie in the Sky is the perfect gateway drug.
August 23, 2018 by Betsy Bird
The Story Collector By Kristin O’Donnell Tubb Illustrated by Iacopo Bruno Henry Holt & Co. (an imprint of Macmillan) $16.99 ISBN: 978-1-250-14380-8 Ages 9-12 On shelves August 28th From 2007 until about 2012 I had the distinct pleasure of working in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of New York Public Library. It’s one of those […]
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August 7, 2015 by Betsy Bird
Hypnotize a Tiger: Poems About Just About Everything By Calef Brown Christy Ottaviano Books, Henry Holt (an imprint of Macmillan) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-8050-9928-7 For ages 9-12 Why do I do this to myself? Let me tell you something about how I review. Board books? Pshaw. I can take one and write a nine-paragraph review parsing […]
May 5, 2014 by Betsy Bird
My Country, ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights By Claire Rudolf Murphy Illustrated by Bryan Collier Henry Holt and Company (an imprint of Macmillan) $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-8050-8226-5 Ages 7 and up On shelves June 3rd It doesn’t matter how long you’ve worked as a children’s librarian. It doesn’t matter […]
April 19, 2013 by Betsy Bird
Maria Had a Little Llama / Maria Tenia Una Llama Pequena By Angela Dominguez Henry Holt (an imprint of Macmillan) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8050-9333-9 Ages 4-8 On shelves August 20th Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you a humbled woman. A woman who “knew” certain facts but, until she saw them working in her own personal […]
September 12, 2011 by Betsy Bird
Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace By Anna Grossnickle Hines Henry Holt (Macmillan) $16.99 ISBN: 978-0-8050-899607 Ages 4-8 On shelves now. Folks will ask for it. Sure they will. You sit at a children’s reference desk in a library long enough and eventually somebody is going to ask you for a book on the […]
Teen Librarian Toolbox
by Amanda MacGregor
Politics in Practice
by John Chrastka
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