What's new in children's books

Pat Keogh

Pat shared some information about The Foundation for the Children's Books

Reading is alive and well!
Example of Rick Riordan author visit to Wellesley Middle school 650+ children came!

Books that adults might enjoy:

Show and Tell: Exploring the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration by Dilys Evans - explains the ins and outs of illustration in children's picture books


Minders of Make believe by Leonard Marcus - shaping of children's literature

Fiction

Penderwicks on Gardem Street- by Jeanne Birdsall sequel to The Penderwicks, Dad starts dating;

Bad Kitty gets a bath- by Nick Bruel- follow up to bad kitty, graphics are lively, great for beginers to chapter books

Knights of the Lunch Table - by Frank Cammuso - good guys vs. the bad guys, entertaining

Waiting for Normal -Leslie Connor- a girl has one of the worse kinds of mothers, the mother is too concerned with chasing boyfriends than raising a child, the girls creates her own type of family (5th or 6th grade)

Love that Cat- by Sharon Creech -written in verse, same characters from Love that Dog, great for poetry

The London Eye Mystery- Siobhan Dowd- boy and his mom are moving to New York and stop to ride the famous ride and he dissappears (4th or 5th)

Did Fleming rescue Churchill- James Cross Giblin and Erik Brooks- story about false information found on the internet

Swimming with sharks -by Betty Hicks and Adam McCauley- series about sports, good when students are too young for Lupica

Toy Dance Party - by Emily Jenkins and Paul Zelinsky - read aloud for young children, fun to read

The year of the rat -by Grace Lin - story about a girl who has her best friend moves far away

Alvin Ho: allergic to girls -by Lenore Look and Leuyen Pham- a boy with many fears

The Runaway Dolls - by Ann Martin- when the family goes on vacation the dolls decide to have an adventure of their own

42 Miles - by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer - About a girl turning thirteen who lives in the city with her mom and country with her day

I love my new toy - Mo Willems- Easy readers for beginning readers, few words but great story

Green and Environmental books

One Hen - about micro-economics in Africa

Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter

Planting the trees in Kenya by Claire A. Nivola

Both books tell same story through

Apple pip princess by Jane Ray - father challenges 3 daughters to change their environment

Silent music -by James Rumford - boy who loves soccer and calligraphy - about a boy in Bagdad and how he survives the war

Non-fiction

Independent Dames -Laurie Halse Anderson- colonial women in the American revolution, balloons and boxes of information, facts and myths about famous women

Raucous Royals by Carlyn Beccia - book about royal rumors, very graphic, the table of contents has pictures of royals instead of text

Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America
by Thomas Fleming picture book true story of a duel vice president and secretary of treasury

Winter Trees -by Carole Gerber and Leslie Evans - factual information with skeletal forms of tree

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond -by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan Story of the transient art in New York City

America at War -by Lee Bennett Hopkins and Stephen Alcorn- poems about war, various poets and our history of war

African Critters by Robert Haas - good read aloud beautiful pictures

Our White House by Lee Bennett Hopkins and Stephen Alcornlooking in looking out - various authors

We are the Ship by Nelson Kadir - about the negroe leagues in baseball

Pizza, pigs and poetry by Jack Prelutsky- how to write a poem, author shows how an incident in his life helped him write a poem

Lady Liberty by Doreen Rappaport and Matt Tavares- biography of the statue of liberty, told through the voices of people involved in the project, beautiful pictures

Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka - funniest book of the year, about a boy growing up with four brothers, every chapter is one page, author is interesting in literacy for boys, 106 page book

United Tweets of America by Hudson Talbott - picture book ABC by state

I, Matthew Hensen: Polar Explorer by Carole Boston Weatherford and Eric Velasquez- picture book, told in the first person,

Colonial Voices: here them speak by Kay Winters and Larry Day - a boy tells about the times right before the Boston Tea Party

Picture books

A visitor for bear by Bonny Becker and Kady Macdonald Denton- mouse tries to befriend a ornery bear

Knitty Kitty by David Elliott and Christopher Denise

On the Farm - by David Elliot - poetry

A taste of colored water by Matt Faulkner- about the segregation in the south

A couple of boys have the best week ever by Marla Frazee- 2 boys go to nature camp for a week, great pictures, wile nature camp is a bust...the visit with their grand[arents makes the trip worthwhile

The story teller's candle - how a librarians plans a play in NYC to get community onvolved

How to heal a broken wing by Bob Graham- use of color, only the little boy notices a small baby bird who falls out of the nest

That book woman by Heather Henson and David Small- a woman who traveled through Appalachia to bring books to children

Abe Lincoln crosses a creek a tall thin tale by Deborah Hopkinson and John Hendrix- story about a man who may or may not have saved Lincoln as a boy

Hounsdly and Catina by James Howe and Marie-Louise Gay- series, great language, easy reader,

One Boy by Laura Vaccaro Seeger - few words, black and red, author of Dog and Bear