Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
Bea Wolf (First Second, March 2023) is hands-down one of the most creative books I’ve read this year. It’s a fictional graphic novel that takes the classic Beowulf and gives it a modern-day twist, making it a thrilling and hilarious read for the reader, including older tweens, young adults, and any interested adults. Written by
I studied American Sign Language when I was in high school with some friends, and I also studied sign language for a year when I got to the university. I love sign language! I love the beauty of the motion. I love the grammar! And I always talk with my hands as I’m speaking. Sign
Thirty Million Words by Dana Suskind is about the literacy project of the same name that focuses on improving children’s access to language from day one. In the first three years of life, children should hear 30 million words to improve their chances for learning and growth for their entire life! I enjoyed reading the research
Lost in Translation by Ella Frances Sanders (Ten Speed Press, September 2014) is a delightful dabbling in the untranslatable (into English) words of the world. I’ve always felt that foreign languages are important to learn simply because English cannot always express everything there is to say. Artist Ella Frances Sanders brings some of these words to
What is Poetry? by Trudi Strain Truit (Lerner Publishing, September 2014) is an attractive nonfiction book for young readers or middle grade readers. It teaches common types of figurative language and common formats of poetry (free verse, rhyming, and so forth). Even better, it provides sample poems to demonstrate the concepts. It has large text for
My Name is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada (originally published 1993) is a thought-provoking story about a shy Hispanic girl growing up in the USA who finds herself in a new school. When her teacher decides to call her “Mary” instead of Maria Isabel, she misses opportunities and gets in trouble for not paying attention. In this
Chitchat by Jude Isabella (Kids Can Press, September 2013) is a delightful exploration of language for a young adult reader. It explores so many aspects of language that I felt like I was a little bit in heaven since I appreciate and love languages and words so much. At 48 pages, it obviously only skimmed
Last summer, my son really enjoyed reading the Daisy books. Even with my limited blogging over the past year, we still managed to write about them both! To his complete delight, there is now another book in the series! In Daisy’s Big Night, Daisy is looking for something to contribute to her last day of school
Poetrees by Douglas Florian (Beach Lane Books, 2010) is a creative collection of poems about trees, seeds, and the growing cycle of plant life presented in a colorful and innovative way. The first thing to catch the reader’s attention is the layout of the book. While most picture books have a left-side binding, this one
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
When I joined the 2009 Science Book Challenge, I didn’t intend to focus on neuroscience, but it turns out that that branch of science is absolutely fascinating to me. These two books I read really have convinced me that science and art are inextricably related each other, for art is perceived and appreciated by the
My sister and I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows at the same time this summer. We both enjoyed it, although we both found some aspects of it a bit disappointing. We both answered the same questions for this review. It turns out we thought
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