"Dust Devil" is the follow up picture book to the Caldecott winner "Swamp Angel."

In a post for The Children’s Book Review, Lori Calabrese addresses the diminishing role that picture books play in the lives of young children and lists a number of reasons why picture books are still important. In the past year sales of picture books have dropped, and while part of the dip can be blamed on the economy, a shift in parental behavior is also part of the cause. Today, many parents are pushing their young children to forgo the picture books for the more text-heavy chapter books in order to excellerate their reading skills and become academically competitive. But by doing this, parents are ignoring the key role picture books play in their child’s development. Among the main reasons why these charming and colorful books still matter, is the quality of their content. Chapter books may seem deceptively advanced, but “their vocabulary and sentence structure can be considered simplistic when compared with older level picture books. Many picture books are written at a higher reading level, use amazingly complex vocabularies and offer interesting plots.” Read more…

"Gross-out" books like "SweetFarts" and "Zombie Butts from Uranus" that pander to base humor, do not effectively encourage literacy.

In an article for the Wall Street Journal, Thomas Spence addresses the worrying literacy gender gap between American boys and girls and suggests some measures parents can take to help instill the value of reading in their young sons. Spence cites statistics from a recent Center on Education Policy report that shows “substantially more boys than girls score below the proficiency level on the annual National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test.” This discrepancy, which emerged in 1992, spans all ethnic and economic strata. Currently some states have recorded scores that show the reading proficiency of boys trails that of girls by more than ten percentage points. What are we to do about this problem? Well, the answer is not, according to Spence, sinking to the level of young boys and enticing them with “gross-out” stories and humor about bodily functions. Read more…

In recognition of Banned Books Week, the Los Angeles Times published a list of the top 10 most-challenged books of 2009 and the highly acclaimed children’s book And Tango Makes Three garnered a spot near the top of the list, yet again. Authors Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell tell the touching true story of two male penguins in New York City’s Central Park Zoo who nurture an adopted egg and hatch their little daughter Tango. This picture book, aimed at preschool–2nd grade age children has oft been maligned as promoting a gay agenda, which is the reason for the challenges. In an age where “family values” are constantly decried, it is disappointing that some would want to deprive children of an uplifting story about a loving family because of outdated prejudices. Read more…

Portrait of Roald Dahl, 1954. By Carl Van Vechten.

Yesterday, marked author Roald Dahl’s 94th birthday and was the kick off day for a month of activities in Britain planned in honor of this giant of children’s literature. Though Dahl died in 1990 from leukemia, his body of work, which includes James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, remains wildly popular among kids and adults. Roald Dahl Day was initially launched on September 13, 2006 to commemorate his 90th birthday, but the outpouring of public affection for the writer and his stories has turned the event into a month-long celebration. “We thought it was going to be a one-off celebration but, because the previous years have been so successful, we can’t stop,” Felicity Dahl, the author’s widow, explains to The Guardian. “Roald was a great believer in birthdays being filled with treats, so he would be so happy that this tradition seems to be becoming an annual event.” Read more…

First edition cover, 1941

In a column posted on the American Libraries Magazine website earlier this month, Jennifer Burek Pierce argues that children’s books, like the ever popular Curious George series, should garner more literary merit. “To represent the world for children involves skillful choices based on training, research, and lived experience.” Often times the simple words and captivating imagery of a 32-page picture book impart important life lessons or cultural themes. Such is the case with Curious George, the creation of husband and wife Margret and H. A. Rey. As German Jews, the couple was forced to flee France in 1940 as the Nazi army rolled toward Paris. They escaped on bicycles, and carried among their few belongings several manuscripts of children’s books, one of which featured a mischievous monkey named Fifi. Read more…

Laura Ingalls Wilder

A couple of years ago, author Wendy McClure made an impromptu revisit of a childhood favorite: the Little House series of books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In an interview with Knee-Jerk, McClure discusses her re-discovery of the classic childrens’ series and the work that they inspired. “…I was always kind of afraid to go back and reread them, because I feared that they wouldn’t be as good as I remembered,” she explains. “I think I wanted to re-immerse myself and see where it went…I was reading the books and loving them and started telling everyone I knew, ‘It’d be fun to see these places and write a book about it sometime’.” Supportive prodding from a friend in the publishing industry prompted McClure to write The Wilder Life (set to be released in early 2011), a travelogue of sorts, about the author’s experiences visiting historical sites related to the books. “I liked the idea of seeing all these places I felt I knew so well but had never actually been to.”
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Staff writers at The Guardian recently compiled a short list of the best books in children’s literature. The list is broken down into five different age groups (0-2 years, 2-4 years, 5-7 years, 8-12 years and 12+ years) and is “a combination of personal recommendations, enduring classics and currently popular borrowings from school and public libraries.” Included are some time-honored classics like the The Very Hungary Caterpillar by Eric Carle, some more recently acclaimed books such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, and a few lesser known titles like Stig of the Dump by Clive King, which was the first original work published by Puffin press in 1963. The staff intends this list to be a starting point, and hopes to encourage parents and children to explore the wonderful world of reading together.
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By Frank Cottrell Boyce
Walden Pond Press | 320pgs
Release Date: January 19, 2010

Twelve-year-old Liam is prematurely forced into the role of a grown up in Cosmic, bestselling author Frank Cottrell Boyce’s third children’s book. His huge summer growth spurt and facial hair make him look more like a dad than a kid, and Liam, along with friend Florida, take advantage of this fact when they enter a contest as father and daughter. The pair win a trip on the first rocket ship to carry civilian passengers into space, with Liam serving as the “adult chaperon” to four other children. When the spaceship soars out of control 239,000 miles away from earth, it is up to Liam, with his new found maturity and finely honed World of Warcraft skills to save the day. This humorous, science fiction adventure, is also a touching story that examines the true meaning of maturity and the responsibility of fatherhood.
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