Poetry Speaks to Children

I own an adult poetry anthology, with accompanying CDs of the poets reading their work, called Poetry Speaks. While I haven’t read it cover to cover, I have listened to some of the poets and flipped through the book. I have enjoyed it. When I saw Poetry Speaks to Children on the juvenile nonfiction shelf at the library, I picked it up. I am always looking for a chance to introduce my son to some of the great poets too. Continue reading »

Two Books by Seth Lerer (Inventing English and Children’s Literature)

When my son was a young infant in the middle of 2008, and I purchased Professor Seth Lerer’s Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History and spent months reading and rereading chapters, hoping to gain a better understanding of where children’s literature fits in the world history. Although I’ve since finished the book, I still plan on rereading portions and finding children’s literature that I can read to fit the eras Lerer discusses about what children read (see my project page; I haven’t done much with this project lately, but it is an ongoing project).

Then I saw Emily’s review of Professor Lerer’s Inventing English last year. Since I love language, I loved the idea of little episodes of the history of the language. I also read this slowly, simply because the subject of the early development of English is new to me. (Yes, despite the fact that I was an English major in college, I don’t recall much of the historical development of early, Old English.)

In the end, both books are ones I can recommend to fans of language and nonfiction.

Continue reading »

Author Spotlight: Margaret Wise Brown + Giveaway Winner

I’ve got a winner to my contest!

No one guessed the most popular book searched for on Rebecca Reads. The book that I get the most searches for is a children’s book. It is one that I think almost everybody has read at least once: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I wrote a post about it here last August, and it has always gotten the most hits on my site. In connection with the contest, I thought I’d take this chance to read some others of Margaret Wise Brown’s picture books.

As for a winner for my giveaway, I chose a winner, then, from all those who did make a guess. (It pays to make a random guess, sometimes!). I’ll send the winner a copy of any of the books I reviewed in the past year.

Out of the twenty people who made guesses, the winner is …… Continue reading »

A Caldecott Celebration by Leonard Marcus

In A Caldecott Celebration: Six Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal, Leonard Marcus illustrates the long road six Caldecott illustrators followed to produce to an award-winning book. This book is a combination of biography and art history as it looks at how six artists approached children’s book illustration over the last six decades.

I love the children’s books Marcus highlights, and it was truly fascinating to learn the stories behind them. The books he highlights are these (one for each decade).

• Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1942 Caldecott Medal winner)
• Cinderella by Marcia Brown (1955 winner)
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1964 winner)
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (1970 winner)
• Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (1982 winner)
• Tuesday by David Weisner (1992 winner) Continue reading »

Favorite Author: Sandra Boynton’s Picture Books

Sandra Boynton’s children’s books are new classics. I first discovered her delightful picture books via my sister-in-law, who had an entire shelf of Boynton’s books for my nephew. Now, with my own little boy, I’m really enjoying them. Her books all claim “serious silliness” on the back cover. I’d agree: we all enjoy the light-hearted silliness, but a child may still learn something. Continue reading »