2023 Gift Guide: The Picture Books
November 14, 2023 § 1 Comment
Welcome to the second installment of this year’s Gift Guide, a collection of the giftiest picture books of the year! (If you missed the first installment on Browsable Non-Fiction & Novelty Books, you can catch up here. And stay tuned for lots more posts, including graphic novels and older kid favorites, coming soon!)
It has been another banner year for picture books, and I didn’t have to work hard to find a wide array of memorable stories, unique executions, and beautiful art. The challenge was how to narrow them down! (And then on Instagram y’all pleaded with me not to leave any out…which is why this list includes a few additional titles beyond what I’ve curated for Old Town Books.) I don’t envy you your decisions!
Most of these books are newly published, though there are a handful that came out earlier in the year, without my giving them proper due on the blog. Suggested age ranges are included in every headline, and for those hankering for more photos of interior spreads, my Instagram feed is always good for that.
If you’re near Alexandria, Virginia, I’d love to see you at Old Town Books, where I’ve got all of these picks stocked. And if you have a wonderful indie near you, I’d love for you to support them, too.
Happy reading, happy gifting, happy golden age of picture books! (OUR CHILDREN ARE SO LUCKY.)
« Read the rest of this entry »Back to School: One for Laughs, One for Tears
August 3, 2023 Comments Off on Back to School: One for Laughs, One for Tears
Whether you’re (maniacally) laughing or (despondently) crying at the prospect of sending your kids back to school depends entirely on their ages—at least, in my experience. As my kids have gotten older and (a bit?) better at handling unstructured days—actually in need of unstructured time after nine months of homework—I’ve cherished our summers together more and more. There was a time when I couldn’t wait to drop off my kids for their first day of school and run home to an empty house. These days, I find myself poignantly aware that our years of summering together are running out, and my heart feels more heavy than light when September rolls around. (Full disclosure: my kids are currently at sleepaway camp for two weeks, so ask me later this month, after we’ve road-tripped home from Maine with three stops to visit with family, because I might be kicking them to the schoolyard.)
Whether back-to-school season feels like friend or foe, I can at least promise you some good prep reading. I’m focusing today on two especially unique releases, though I could easily have sung the praises of a variety of new titles (some of which I’ll feature on The Gram over the next few weeks and all of which are currently on display at Old Town Books), including Kaz Windness’s Bitsy Bat, School Star (for anyone who has ever felt boxed in by the “right” and “wrong” ways to do school, starring the cutest neurodivergent bat); Lucy Morris’ May’s Brave Day (a charming presentation of mustering courage on the first day of school and whose illustrations elicit classic feels); Becky Scharnhorst’s How to Get Your Octopus to School (if we’re going to fight about lunches and coats then we should at least get to laugh about it); Supriya Keller’s My Name (the newest in a line of important picture books about honoring classmates’ names); Liz Garton Scanlon’s The World’s Best Class Plant (guaranteed to help ease the disappoint when your kid learns that their classroom has neither pet rat nor pet rabbit); and, finally, Stephen Krensky’s I am Ready for School (the latest in a favorite board book series for wee ones starting preschool).
With today’s post, I’m choosing to focus on two completely different approaches to the back-to-school conversation. One is laugh-out-loud funny, because nothing cuts through the stress of change like humor, while the other is a somber, exquisite, and ultimately hopeful meditation on weathering the bittersweet loss of summer.
« Read the rest of this entry »Back to School With Monsters (of the Misunderstood Variety)
September 1, 2014 § 3 Comments
One of my favorite books as a kid was James Marhsall’s Miss Nelson is Missing, a picture book about a smiley, mild-tempered teacher, who, fed up with the rude and rambunctious behavior of her students, dons a pointy nose, a wig, and a black dress to become the witchy, ultra-strict substitute named Viola Swamp; within a few weeks, the children have reformed their ways and are begging for Miss Nelson’s return. The story is a playful reminder that we’re not always grateful for what we have until it’s gone.
As a kid, though, my obsession with the book stemmed from the fact that Viola Swamp’s true identity eludes, not only her students, but us readers as well—that is, until the final page, when we get a glimpse of the familiar black dress hanging in Miss Nelson’s bedroom closet. Once we’re in on the secret, we can’t help but want to read the book again and again, picking up on clues that we missed the first time around, stunned that the truth was right in front of our eyes the whole time. If only we (alongside Miss Nelson’s students) hadn’t been so quick to settle for first impressions, we would have seen that Miss Nelson wasn’t just a sweet face, oblivious to the spitballs flying at her. Nor was Viola Swamp the monstrous outsider we assumed her to be.
Now, forty years after James Marshall published his book, Peter Brown again turns the conventional teacher-student relationship on its head in his infectiously-titled new picture book, My Teacher is a Monster! (No, I am Not.) (Ages 5-9). “Bobby had a big problem at school. Her name was Ms. Kirby.” « Read the rest of this entry »
What to Read to Your Kids 