Happy 100th Birthday, Jean Fritz!
Prolific author Jean Fritz turns 100 today! During her long life, she has written numerous books–mostly biographies–for children. Before picture book biographies were so prevalent, elementary school children had few solid sources for biographies…except for Fritz’s works. Even with the advent of such young reader-friendly series as the “Who Was…?” series by Scholastic, Fritz’s works…
Read MoreThe Uses of Terror
Yesterday I made a distinction between “terror” stories and “horror” stories—the latter based squarely on our elemental fear of death, often with buckets of blood thrown in. (Suspense is a sub-category of the horror genre, built on the same fear factor but not so brutal). The horror genre lumps together all stories that could be…
Read MoreI Don’t Know How the Story Ends: an Interview with Janie Cheaney
Janie’s newest novel for young folks, I Don’t Know How the Story Ends, hit store shelves this month, and she’s been busy signing copies and enjoying early reviews. Book babies are a bit like eggs in a nest: patiently, the author sits on the drafts of the book, keeping them warm until they hatch. Publication…
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Four Ways to Enjoy Fall Reading
While summer is a nice time to read —fall is here. A season of chilly nights and hot cups of tea, fall brings the perfect weather for curling up with a good book. On the other hand, time can be limited, so here are four ways to enjoy and maximize your fall reading. 1. Read…
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Laid-Back Homeschooling: a Word of Encouragement for the Year Ahead
I’m not quite ready to retire to a rocking chair in front of the general store, bending the ear of hapless passers-by: Yessir, it was rough back in them early homeschoolin’ days . . . But still, it’s fun to off-handedly mention that when we decided to take our third-grader and first-grader out of public…
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Top 25 Ancient History Resources
Top 25 Ancient History Resources “Ancient History” is primarily concerned with the world during biblical times and the early church. When the children of Israel were slaving away for Pharaoh, what might Egypt have looked like then? When Paul was traveling on his missionary journeys across the Roman Empire, what was the Roman Empire like?…
Read MoreThe 2015 PBOTY Committee Reflects….
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the closed doors of a book award committee’s deliberations? How a group of people can, with confidence, pronounce a particular book the “best” of the year? An earnest committee, regardless of their makeup, will go through a similar process in their deliberations. The PBOTY Committee… Our Picture…
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Story Tea: Picture Books of the Year (+printable)
World magazine has just announced their Children’s Books of the Year! Both the Children’s Book of the Year and the Picture Book of the Year lists are outstanding collections. While the five of us on the Picture Book of the Year committee–and any other grown-ups we could round up–scrutinized the nominated books in minute details,…
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