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365 Penguins
Today marks Penguin Awareness Day. Who doesn’t love penguins? They look so wonderful in their tuxedos, so well turned out and charming. But, then, I must admit that I have never lived with any. If I...
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The Bear’s Song
From January 19–25, we celebrate Hunt for Happiness Week. A perfect book for this week has been sitting on my shelf for months: Benjamin Chaud’s The Bear’s Song. A large picture book at 14 ½ inches...
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How to Talk to Your Cat
Today has been designated Ask Your Cat Questions Day. Most pet owners admit that they talk to their animals all the time.“How are you feeling today, Lancelot?” I just said to my puppy before sitting...
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Angelina Ballerina
Today we celebrate Measure Your Feet Day. But why? Well, one reason youngsters might measure their feet would be for special shoes, say ballet shoes. Since this also happens to be the birthday of...
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A New Year’s Reunion
Today begins the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon. Certainly over the years many American publishers have offered titles appropriate for this holiday. But a few months ago, a book that first...
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The Daring Nellie Bly
On January 25, 1890, stunt newspaper reporter Nellie Bly arrived in New Jersey, after managing to travel around the world in 72 days. She had set out to beat the record of Jules Verne’s imaginary hero,...
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Action Jackson
Today marks the birthday of Jackson Pollock, the American painter born in 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. Killed in an automobile accident in 1956, Pollock struggled with alcoholism and depression and has been...
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Bill Peet
In the next two days, I’m going to celebrate the birthdays of two of the twentieth century’s great creators—one an illustrator, one an author. For several decades January 29 has been a birthday dear to...
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The Wall
Today marks the anniversary of the Tet Offensive in 1968. After calling a cease-fire during the Tet holiday celebration, North Vietnam launched a major offensive throughout South Vietnam. A milestone...
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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Today Judith Viorst, author, poet, and journalist, celebrates her birthday. She became known as a writer through her Redbook columns, full of witty and stylish prose, often about family life. They...
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Harry the Dirty Dog
Today for children’s authors and artists week, I’d like to honor a nonagenarian who published her first children’s book sixty years ago, Margaret Bloy Graham. Born in Canada, Margaret moved to New York...
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Snowflake Bentley
On February 9, 1865, close to the end of the Civil War, Wilson Bentley was born in Jericho, Vermont. As a young boy he loved snow and began to keep a record of the weather. Studying snow crystals under...
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Henry’s Freedom Box
Since 1976 Black History Month has been celebrated in the United States during February. We’ll look at a couple of superb titles this month, beginning with one of the best picture information books of...
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Simms Taback
Today marks the birthday of one of our most innovative illustrators and Caldecott winners, Simms Taback. When Simms won the award in 2000 for Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, so many members of the...
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Wheels on the Bus
Today marks the birthday of one of the most versatile and accomplished illustrators working today, Paul O. Zelinsky. My major problem in writing about Paul was deciding which of his many superb books...
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Baseball Saved Us
Executive order 9066: On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt sent 110,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of them U.S. Citizens, to concentration camps in remote desert areas. Not allowed to...
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The Shrinking of Treehorn
Born in Chicago on February 22, 1925, Edward St. John Gorey briefly attended the Art Institute of Chicago but actually received a B.A. from Harvard in French. He began his career as a book jacket...
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The Story of Babar
Next week, from February 24-28 has been designated as Read Me Week by Reading Is Fundamental to celebrate the importance and fun of reading. All week long, local businesses and organizations who have...
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And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
On March 2, 1904, Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Seuss won a Pulitzer Prize for lifetime contribution, one of the few children’s book creators ever so honored, and his...
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Independent Dames
March has been designated Women’s History month. Fortunately, in the last two decades we have been given scores of books that promote the role of women in history. For some great suggestions you can...
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