Small Reads for Brighters Days
Rise of the Balloon Goonsby Troy CummingsScholastic, 2013 5 things I love about this early chapter book: It’s neatly plotted–the mystery is all tied up with no loose ends. I love the pages out of the monster notebook–the forkupine is my favorite! I’m not a big reader of graphic novels,?but this novel has just a […]
Joe and Sparky Go to Schoolby Jamie Michalak, illus by Frank RemkiewiczCandlewick, 2013 5 things I love about this easy reader: It’s one of the freshest easy readers I’ve read lately. The animals’ point of view is so much fun! “The noisy short people got on the bus.” That, of course, is a school bus. […]
Love Is in the Airby Jonathan FenskePenguin Young Readers, 2012 5 Reasons You Will Love This Easy Reader A friendship story with a kite and a balloon,?and the setting for much of the story is the sky? Bizarre–in a great way! And their whirlwind (hehe) friendship rings true. Balloon is a great character. The birthday […]
The Meanest Birthday Girlby Josh SchneiderClarion, 2013? 5 Reasons You Need This Easy Reader It’s not your average “friendship stories” book. Dana, the main character, is not very nice. Usually, I hate books with unlikable main characters. But this one moves so fast, and is so engaging, that I like it a lot! Plus, Dana […]
Today I’m sending a huge happy book birthday to my writer friend and business partner Lisa Bullard, whose first novel comes out today! I just read Turn Left at the Cow in its official version–the last time I read it, it was being submitted to various publishers. It’s even better the second time around! Lisa’s […]
What Can a Crane Pick Up? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich ill by Mike Lowery Knopf, 2012 Rebecca Kai Dotlich is one of my favorite children’s poets! When Riddles Come Rumbling, Sweet Dreams of the Wild, and In the Spin of Things are a few of my favorites of hers. And recently, Bella and Bean, a […]
At the end of last year, I went to a wonderful literary party at Debra Frasier‘s house (of On the Day You Were Born and other fabulous books). The guests of honor were Mem Fox, Lauren Stringer, and Allyn Johnston, the author, illustrator, and editor, respectively, of?the beautiful picture book, Tell Me About Your Day […]
A IS FOR MUSK OX, by Erin Cabatingan, illustrated by Matthew Myers (Roaring Brook Press, 2012). This book?is so funny (and I even learned a lot about musk oxen)! “F is for musk ox — Because musk oxen have fur. And lots of it. Does this fur make me look fat?” I love the way […]
Thank you to everyone who took a guess at what animal will be featured on the cover of Water Can Be… when it publishes next year. There were so many good guesses–I especially love the idea of an elephant shower–is it too late for me to put that in the book? But the correct answer […]
I like dark picture books. A little quirky. A little subversive. When I was researching markets for an as yet unsold manuscript, I went purposely looking for these kinds of books to see which publishers were publishing them. Someone asked recently what I came up with, so I thought I’d share my “Quirky-dark picture books” […]
