Reading Lists

April brings spring showers and hopefully spring flowers so do not despair on a rainy day but instead embrace it and enjoy these books for a rain themed story time.               Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain: A Nandi Tale By: Verna Aardema A cumulative rhyme relating how Ki-pat […]

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Spring break is over and the final stretch is upon classroom teachers.  Get to June with a little help from one of these great read-aloud titles.               The Great Gilly Hopkins By: Katherine Paterson When she arrives at her newest foster home, it is clear to Galadriel “Gilly” Hopkins […]

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The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award is given annually to the author of the book voted most outstanding by students in grades 4-8 in participating Illinois schools.  Named in honor of Rebecca Caudill who lived and wrote in Urbana, Illinois for nearly 50 years, the award is given in recognition for her literary talent and […]

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The Massachusetts Children’s Book Award is awarded annually to the children’s book with the most popular votes from students in grades 4 to 6.  The purpose of the award is to create and maintain interest in reading among children in the intermediate grades. Teachers, librarians, and interested publishers nominate books that are available in paperback […]

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I spent the Easter weekend at my brother’s house in Massachusetts.  My nephew, Finn, is wise beyond his years and I was excited to see him happy to go to bed with his latest read, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  As a 7 year old first grader, he is a remarkable reader and his […]

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Celebrate spring and the birthdays of these great authors and illustrators                                                     April 2 Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales By: H.C. Andersen A collection of Andersen’s tales including The Fir Tree, The Little Match Girl, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Thumbelina, The Tinderbox, and The Ugly Duckling.  Ages 6 and up April […]

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I am on a good weather high.  Yesterday was sunny and 60’s and todays forecast is close to 80.  As we were out walking yesterday I saw a lot of people clearing out their gardens to plant new seeds and noticed flowers coming up.  Though we are still a long way from our last frost […]

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I have a love hate relationship with libraries.  Of course, having worked in a public library, academic library, school library, and medical library, I love libraries! Still, having worked in a public library, academic library, school library, and medical library, I hate libraries.  Let me explain. I have often said I could write a book […]

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The E.B. White Read-Aloud Award is given annually by the American Booksellers Association.  Below are the Middle Reader finalists for 2017 which “reflect the playful, well-paced language, the engaging themes, and the universal appeal to a wide range of ages embodied by E.B. White’s collection of beloved books”.  Click here for the Picture Book finalists.  A winner […]

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The E.B. White Read-Aloud Award is given annually by the American Booksellers Association.  Below are the Picture Book finalists for 2017 which “reflect the playful, well-paced language, the engaging themes, and the universal appeal to a wide range of ages embodied by E.B. White’s collection of beloved books”.  Click here for the Middle Reader finalists.  A […]

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Spring is here finally, or at least for today.  The sun was shining and warm air surrounded us as we walked downtown.  Daddy took Gertrude to the park on the bike, I hung diapers to dry out in the driveway.  It feels great!  After a long winter it is hard to remember the beauty of […]

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The Schneider Family Book Award is awarded annually by the ALA to honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability for child and adolescent audiences.  Each year winners are honored in three separate categories, Teen, Middle School, and Young Children’s.  The 2017 winners are listed below.       […]

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According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 teens and young adults live with a mental health condition.  This is a scary number but even scarier is being a young person who is experiencing signs of a mental illness.  The following is a list of books that highlight mental illness in a […]

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Named for a Topeka Kansas School Librarian, the Michael L. Printz Award exemplifies literary excellence in Young Adult Literature and is presented by YALSA on a yearly basis. Below are this year’s winner and honor books as well as some past winners.  Please enjoy!             2017 Winner March: Book Three […]

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Trickster tales are stories that have stood against the test of time.  They often involve a mischievous animal character who loves to play tricks on his friends. Often times the tricksters will get what is coming to them but other times they get away with their pranks. Almost every culture has its own trickster tales […]

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Having been buried in nearly 2 ft of snow this past week I thought I would share with you a post and reading list I did back in November at the beginning of the season.  Now, similarly, more than 3 months later we have been pummelled with snow so that any hopes of an early Spring […]

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The Chocolate Lily Book Award was the brain child of teacher-librarian, Karen Ehrenholz who was looking to connect her own daughters as well as her students to writers and illustrators in their own community.  The award is a reader’s choice award which encourages grade school students to read and enjoy fiction written by authors and […]

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A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius  By: Stacey Matson Arthur Bean, soon-to-be a rich and famous author, has set two goals for himself: to win the school writing contest and to win the heart of his secret crush, Kennedy. But his life has had some major twists and turns lately, […]

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Full disclosure…this list comes straight from my desire to take a shower (I can’t stand taking a bath).  It has been a long and admittedly stinky week.  Thanks to Winter Storm Stella we can no longer see the green grass which made us think Spring was around the corner.  Silly Central NYers!  That green grass […]

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The Bookseller, is one of the UK’s longest-standing magazines, serving as the business magazine of the book industry since 1858.  In 2014 they launched the YA Book prize to award a YA title written by an author living in the UK or Ireland.  The award honors great books for young adults with the aim of getting more […]

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