RSSBooks
Sarah Palin Book: Feminists Jealous of Sarah's Rise
Paul Bedard
Talk about timing. With former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin readying the release of her own 432-page campaign tell-all, Going Rogue: An American Life, now would be the perfect time to pop out another Palin book, and that's exactly what Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti has done with The Persecution of Sarah Palin
Dear Sarah: Keep Up the Great Writing
Carl Hiaasen
Thank you for turning in the manuscript so quickly. I thought only Stephen King could crank out 400 pages in four months! Seriously, there's some terrific material here, and all of us are thrilled to be publishing your life story. Before we move ahead, the fact-checking department has asked me to pass along a few notes and comments that may require some revisions on your part.
The Movie Star Deluxe - Elizabeth Taylor
Liz Smith
YOU SEE, she didn't care about being a star. She cared about living a certain way. It was what she was used to. And she lived that grand life with Burton and thought they'd have it forever. That's what was most important to her: to have a great companion in her great life ... it was all about being with him. That's all that really mattered.
Military Contractors and the Perils of Outsourcing War
Alex Kingsbury
Half the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Iraq is made up not of soldiers, marines, and airmen but of private contractors. And although contractors are not combat troops, almost 1,800 of them have been killed since 9/11. Allison Stanger says this is a dangerous and unprecedented outsourcing of foreign policy that bodes ill for the future of the nation. Her latest book, One Nation Under Contract
Bush's Bad Speeches and Karl Rove's Disappointing Genius: Matt Latimer discusses Speech-less
Robert Schlesinger
The growing frequency of presidential speeches has necessitated staffs of White House writers to help presidents craft their messages. For Matt Latimer, writing speeches for President George W. Bush during the last two years of his administration was an exercise in disillusionment, as he recounts in his book Speech-less: Tales of a White House Survivor
Obama One Year Later: The Audacity of Winning vs. The Timidity of Governing
Arianna Huffington
Plouffe's book arrives at a crossroads moment for the administration -- exactly one year after the election, and one year before the 2010 midterms. A lot has happened in that year, as the audacity of winning has given way to the timidity of governing.
A Simple Plan for Killing al Qaeda
Alex Kingsbury Interviews Howard Clark
Howard Clark's answer is to both amplify the nihilism of its message and promote moderate Islamic voices. Clark, a former marine who served two tours in Iraq, now works as a consultant on counter-terrorism problems for the Department of Defense. He is also president and founder of Seventh Pillar, a nonprofit that seeks to combat al Qaeda's ideology. He recently spoke about his three-part plan for strengthening moderates and defeating extremists
The Mutilated Book: The Cartoons That Shook the World
Paul Greenberg
The same forces that have held much of the Muslim East in thrall now are reaching out to dictate to the West, too. And they've found a willing accomplice in Yale University, which has decided to publish 'The Cartoons That Shook the World' by Prof. Jytte Klausen without including the principal reason for it -- the controversial cartoons that Danish newspapers published in 2005 and early 2006 that so enraged mobs throughout the Muslim world. Here, you would think, ...
New Career Books to Grow On
Joyce Lain Kennedy
Consider catching up on reading aimed to solve problems in your career. Here some 2009 titles that fill that bill
Need To Lose Weight? 10 Ways to Conquer Emotional Eating
January W. Payne
Do you blindly turn to food as a source of comfort when you're feeling upset? Since emotional overeating doesn't provide any lasting satisfaction and can lead to health problems, it's far better to find other ways to deal with the stresses of daily life. That's the premise of a book out this month ...
Dealing With Irrational, Possibly Nuclear, Enemies
Louis R. Beres, Thomas G. McInerney and Paul E. Vallely
To back up credible U.S. deterrence against a still-growing number of adversaries, Barack Obama will need to rebuild a declining military infrastructure and doctrine. Otherwise, it is likely that this country's state and sub-state enemies may increasingly dismiss American retaliatory and other threats as empty bluster and false bravado.
How the CIA Became Dangerously Dependent on Outside Contractors
Allison Stanger
Recent revelations of contractor involvement in CIA covert operations have been shocking. The CIA deploys contractors because it no longer has the in-house capacity to pursue new mission-critical tasks without an assist from the private sector. At first glance, this looks like free-market fundamentalism taken to its logical extreme ...
Finding a Better Way to Prosecute Terrorists
Queenie Wong
At the center of the controversy surrounding the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention center is what to do with the suspected terrorists once the prison camp shuts in January. Trying detainees before military commissions or in federal courts isn't the solution, argues Capt. Glenn Sulmasy ...
Book Review: Charles Higham's 'In and Out of Hollywood'
Liz Smith
Mr. Higham is a well-known chronicler of the famous and infamous. Although he is a noted poet and has written a number of reasonably received plays, his biographies are the meat of his career. His new book -- 'In and Out of Hollywood' -- tells many dishy tales.
Review-a-Day for Fri, Nov 20: The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes, a review from Harper's Magazine by Benjamin Moser.
Daily Dose for Fri, Nov 20: Smoke and Spice:Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue (Revised Edition)
Smoke and Spice:Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue (Revised Edition) by Cheryl and Bill Jamison
Reviewed by Richard from Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Review-a-Day for Thu, Nov 19: Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict
Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict by Irene Vilar, a review from The Oregonian by Cheryl Strayed.
Daily Dose for Thu, Nov 19: Secret Lives of Great Authors: What Your Teachers Never Told You about Famous Novelists, Poets, and Playwrights
Secret Lives of Great Authors: What Your Teachers Never Told You about Famous Novelists, Poets, and Playwrights by Robert Schnakenberg
Reviewed by Kelly from Toms River, New Jersey.
Review-a-Day for Wed, Nov 18: The Ninth (Writings from an Unbound Europe)
The Ninth (Writings from an Unbound Europe) by Ferenc Barnas, a review from The Quarterly Conversation by Josh Maday.
Daily Dose for Wed, Nov 18: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
Reviewed by Bev from Portland, Oregon.
Review-a-Day for Tue, Nov 17: Terror and Joy: The Films of Dusan Makavejev
Terror and Joy: The Films of Dusan Makavejev by Lorraine Mortimer, a review from The Nation by Richard Byrne.
Daily Dose for Tue, Nov 17: Water Steps
Water Steps by A Lafaye
Reviewed by Cynthia from Portland, Oregon.
Review-a-Day for Mon, Nov 16: Dark Places
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, a review from Rain Taxi by Spencer Dew.
Daily Dose for Mon, Nov 16: Pnin
Pnin by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov
Reviewed by Mary from New York, New York.
Review-a-Day for Sun, Nov 15: Feminism, Inc.: Coming of Age in Girl Power Media Culture
Feminism, Inc.: Coming of Age in Girl Power Media Culture by Emilie Zaslow, a review from Ms. Magazine by Jennifer Cognard-Black.
Daily Dose for Sun, Nov 15: The Blood of the Lamb
The Blood of the Lamb by Peter De Vries
Reviewed by Marcia from Boston, Massachusetts.
Review-a-Day for Sat, Nov 14: Chronic City
Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem, a review from Identity Theory by Darby M. Dixon III .
Daily Dose for Sat, Nov 14: The Story Goes on
The Story Goes on by Aileen Lucia Fisher
Reviewed by Erika from Davenport, Iowa.
Review-a-Day for Fri, Nov 13: Bite the Hand That Feeds You: Essays and Provocations
Bite the Hand That Feeds You: Essays and Provocations by Henry Fairlie, a review from Harper's Magazine by Geoffrey Wheatcroft.
Powell's Books: Overview
The latest book-related content from Powells.com
A child in communist Hungary: Little girls, big story
Kati Marton uses secret police files to uncover a half-forgotten childhood in communist Hungary Enemies of the People: My Family’s Journey to America. By Kati Marton. Simon & Schuster; 288 pages; $26. Buy from Amazon.com COMMUNIST bullies had a nasty trick when dealing with opponents who had children: they took them away, sometimes to be adopted by childless party stalwarts, in nastier cases to be sent to orphanages and treated as the children of criminals, or even to be consigned to an asylum. In retrospect it seems astonishing that Endre and Ilona Marton, a married couple working for American news agencies in Hungary at the height of the Stalinist era, exposed their two small daughters to such risks, their greatest fear. But they did. Decades later the younger, Kati (pictured with Bill Clinton), has pieced together her family’s missing history, a series of torments that epitomises the human cost of the communist seizure of central Europe. ...
English literature: No plain Jane
The enduring appeal of Jane Austen A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen. Edited by Susannah Carson. Random House; 320 pages; $25. Buy from Amazon.com “SOME literary works are mortal; Jane Austen’s are immortal,” writes Harold Bloom in his foreword to this delightful volume. In it, 33 writers—from Virginia Woolf to Jay McInerney, from Somerset Maugham to Fay Weldon, from Martin Amis to A.S. Byatt—explain the whys and wherefores of our love affair with this provincial spinster, whose six novels have embedded themselves so powerfully in the minds and lives of countless readers over the past two centuries. ...
Henry V, English hero: Ad majorem Dei gloriam
A year in the life of a workaholic king 1415: Henry V’s Year of Glory. By Ian Mortimer. Bodley Head; 640 pages; GBP20. Buy from Amazon.co.uk WHAT Shakespeare does for a monarch, it is very hard to undo. Richard III, though softened and cleaned up by assiduous researchers, still limps murderously through the public imagination. And Henry V, even soberly revisited, never quite loses that stirring flap of standards, or the thwack of the Dauphin’s tennis balls deep into the hazard. ...
Orhan Pamuk: Turkish delight
Making Istanbul the heart of the world The Museum of Innocence. By Orhan Pamuk. Translated by Maureen Freely. Knopf; 542 pages; $28.95. To be published in Britain by Faber and Faber in January 2010. Buy from Amazon.com ...
A diarist dissected: The man in the Panama hat
The observations of an English socialite James Lees-Milne: The Life. By Michael Bloch. John Murray; 400 pages; GBP25. Buy from Amazon.co.uk JAMES LEES-MILNE (1908-97) notched up two big achievements. First, he was a seminal figure in England’s National Trust, which earned him the bouquet of “the man who saved England” by protecting scores of fine houses (and sometimes their inhabitants) that might otherwise have been annihilated by debt and the wrecking ball. Second, his 12 volumes of diaries covering the years 1942-49 and 1971-97 are among the most amusingly jaundiced, wittily bitchy and eye-poppingly revealing chronicles of upper-class life in Britain during the second half of the past century. ...
New cinema: Lee Daniels's “Precious”: Escaping from hell
A shoe-in for the Academy Awards, already “PRECIOUS”, which was released across America on November 20th, and opens in Europe early next year, should in any rational world be the most depressing 109 minutes anyone could spend in the cinema. Yet it isn’t. Claireece “Precious” Jones is an obese, illiterate teenage mother from Harlem who is trapped in a horrific cycle of incest and abuse. Her mother has allowed the girl’s father to rape her regularly since childhood, fathering one Down’s syndrome daughter and another child that is on the way. She hates Precious for “stealing” her boyfriend, and avenges herself with verbal and physical abuse that is designed to keep the victim from ever leaving the nest, where mother and daughter live alone with the shades pulled down and the television always tuned to game shows. ...
Czechoslovakia: A chequered history
Czechoslovakia was born out of trickery and died in failure. Only up to a point Czechoslovakia: The State That Failed. By Mary Heimann. Yale University Press; 406 pages; $45 and GBP25. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk OUTSIDERS tend to have a soft spot for Czechoslovakia. Poignant music by Leos Janacek, Antonin Dvorak and Bedrich Smetana recalls the struggle for nationhood that culminated in the creation in 1918 of a commendably decent country. Western perfidy at Munich brought its dismemberment at Nazi hands. Stories of courage and anguish leap out from the pages of novels by Milan Kundera (“The Unbearable Lightness of Being”), Josef Skvorecky (“The Engineer of Human Souls”) and Ivan Klima (“Judge on Trial”). Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright turned philosopher-president, exemplifies the magical triumph of the Velvet Revolution, 20 years ago this week. ...
Google: Facing the frenemy
The dangers of misplaying its hand Googled: The End of the World as We Know It. By Ken Auletta. Penguin Press; 384 pages; $27.95. Buy from Amazon.com SOMETIMES it seems as if Google has never come across an industry it doesn’t want to disrupt. Best known for its hugely popular search engine, the internet giant has spread its tentacles into an ever-growing array of businesses, including advertising, telecoms and, most recently, digital-navigation software. The company’s habit of selling services cheaply or giving them away for free has endeared it to consumers. But its tactics have enraged competitors, who complain their new rival is out to destroy the economics of entire industries. ...
Correction: Ingar Sletten Kolloen
In our recent review of “Knut Hamsun: Dreamer and Dissenter” (November 7th) we referred to Ingar Sletten Kolloen as Ms Kolloen. He is, of course, Mr Kolloen. Our apologies. This has been corrected online. ...
Philip Roth's new novel: The crabbiness is all
Contempt for the reader The Humbling. By Philip Roth. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 140 pages; $22. Jonathan Cape; GBP12.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN, in his late period, produced some of the most sublime chamber music ever written. Woody Allen abandoned Russian heaviness and zeitgeist-tapping frizziness to revel in the delight of form and structure. His recent films, “Match Point” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”, may be slight, but the plots are well-oiled and the acting perfect. ...
The roots of the financial crisis: Market idol
A very good history of economic thought How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities. By John Cassidy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 416 pages; $28. Allen Lane; GBP25. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk JOHN CASSIDY’S new book is a sequel of sorts. In his previous work, “Dot.Con”, which came out in 2002, he chronicled the follies of the stockmarket bubble of the late 1990s. In “How Markets Fail”, Mr Cassidy, a British writer for the New Yorker, recounts the story of America’s housing boom and its devastating bust. It is more than just an account of the failures of regulators and the self-deception of bankers and homebuyers, although these are well covered. For Mr Cassidy, the deeper roots of the crisis lie in the enduring appeal of an idea: that society is always best served when individuals are left to pursue their self-interest in free markets. He calls this “Utopian economics”. ...
The history of the Arabic-speaking peoples: A political lesson
With skill and imagination, Eugene Rogan sets the Arab story in a modern context The Arabs: A History. By Eugene Rogan. Basic Books; 553 pages; $35. Allen Lane; GBP25. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk IT IS no small feat to compact any people’s history into a single volume. The task is even more difficult with the Arabs, an ancient nation linked by language, culture and faith, but divided by a vast geography that has exposed each part of the whole to radically different circumstances over a span of 15 centuries. ...
Hollywood : The crown prince of Culver City
The man with the magic touch Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince. By Mark A. Vieira. University of California Press; 465 pages; $34.95 and GBP25.95. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk KNOWN as “The Boy Wonder”, Irving Thalberg was an American film producer who held the reins at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a Hollywood studio, during its formative years. Thalberg’s name had become a household word by the time he died of pneumonia in 1936 at the age of 37. This was less because he sought publicity and more because his peers were in awe of him and talked a lot about the Thalberg touch. Although he never put his name on any film he produced, it is on the Academy Award given to producers for a lifetime of achievement. ...
Bauhaus : The coast of Utopia
Germany’s idealistic designers have much to teach the modern world ART movements that are launched with manifestos often seem both brazen and naive. “Let us collectively desire, conceive and create the new building of the future,” wrote Walter Gropius in his Bauhaus call to arms in 1919. Heralding a new school of art, architecture and design in Weimar, Germany, he declared that this new building “will one day rise towards heaven as the crystalline symbol of a new and coming faith”. Inaugurated in the wake of the first world war, the Bauhaus school spent 14 years grappling with what it meant to live in an age of machines, mass consumption and post-war dread. Gropius, the school’s founding director from 1919 to 1927, wanted a new educational model, even a new understanding of art. Instead of the traditional art academy, where students imitated historical paintings and recreated tired archetypes of beauty, he conceived of a place where painters, sculptors, architects and designers worked together in experimental laboratories. His aim was to revive the lost tradition of Handwerk, or manual craft, and end what he regarded as the “arrogant class division between artisans and artists”. ...
The fall of Communism: Wall stories
How communism in eastern Europe collapsed, and what came next. Scholars and journalists give their account Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment. By Stephen Kotkin. Modern Library; 197 pages; $24. Buy from Amazon.com 1989: The Berlin Wall: My Part in its Downfall. By Peter Millar. Arcadia; 220 pages; GBP11.99. To be published in America by Arcadia in April 2010; $16.95. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk ...
France and England in the 16th century: The tale of two families
The rise of the Guises and the Cecils Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe. By Stuart Carroll. Oxford University Press; 368 pages; $34.95 and GBP18.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk The Cecils: Privilege and Power Behind the Throne. By David Loades. The National Archives; 256 pages; $34.95 and GBP9.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk ...
Bridget Riley: Livid lines
A British painter colours her palette Bridget Riley's exhibition at the Timothy Taylor Gallery in London shows the 77-year-old painter in a new experimental phase. She has replaced the familiar black-and-white stripes with vivid curves of colour shaped into layers, each one different, and yet all so full of energy and movement they hustle and strain to escape. Prices: up to GBP400,000. ...
Knut Hamsun: Terrible man, celebrated writer
Norway's greatest novelist re-examined Correction to this article Knut Hamsun: Dreamer and Dissenter. By Ingar Sletten Kolloen. Yale University Press; 378 pages; $40 and GBP25. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk ...
Suburbs: Invincible green lawns
Much derided, suburbs are where city-dwellers like to go The Freedoms of Suburbia. By Paul Barker. Frances Lincoln; 240 pages; GBP25. Buy from Amazon.co.uk SUBURBIA, at least in its British form, seems to be in good odour at the moment. The London Transport Museum has a show of the posters that did so much to promote suburban living in the early 20th century. Now Paul Barker, a respected writer on British society, has issued a trenchant defence of suburbia, which he describes as the great balancing act between urban and rural living, between privacy and price. ...
The Economist: Books and arts
Books and arts
Book Recounts Challenges Of Eradicating Smallpox
In Smallpox: The Death of a Disease, Dr. D.A. Henderson recounts the history of the deadly virus, from the development of the first vaccine in the late 18th century to his involvement in the successful global eradication campaign in the 1960s and 70s.
'The Onion': Mocking All Who Deserve It Since 1988
America's Finest News Source has released a book celebrating its 21 years of satire (with a wink). Onion editors Joe Randazzo and Joe Garden talk with Renee Montagne about the serious business of being funny. Also: See the fun The Onion has had at NPR's expense.
Army Relents; Allows Limited Media At Palin Event
Army officials had said they would prohibit coverage of Palin's on-post event, saying it would turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama.
Books That Will Help You Understand Afghanistan
The conflict in Afghanistan dominates headlines, but many people seek a deeper understanding of the country and the war the U.S. is fighting there. In the first of a series of suggestions for an Afghanistan "reading list," Washington Post special military correspondent Tom Ricks shares his recommendations, ranging from a collection of Afghan proverbs, to a history of the CIA's involvement in the country.
'Googled': From Brainchild To Behemoth
How much do you know about the company that knows so much about you? In Googled: The End of the World as We Know It, Ken Auletta chronicles the growth of Google, from the brainchild of two computer science graduate students, toiling in a California garage, to the multi-billion dollar, multi-nation corporation it is today.
Former Prosecutor Pens A Hip-Hop Theory Of Justice
George Washington University law professor and former prosecutor Paul Butler believes that, in order to fight for justice, Americans must sometimes fight the power of the justice system. He speaks with host Michel Martin about his new book, "Let's Get Free: A Hip Hop Theory of Justice," and his vision for justice policy.
Judith Fox Turns A Close-Up Lens On Alzheimer's
Hundreds Wait In Mich. Cold To See Sarah Palin
Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first stop on Sarah Palin's Going Rouge book tour. The former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate signed copies of her book. Palin fans had waited in line all day for a chance to see her.
McCann, Stiles Win National Book Awards
The 60th annual National Book Awards were handed out Wednesday night in New York. Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, a novel about daring, luck and mortality in 1970s New York, won the fiction prize. T.J. Stiles' biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, The First Tycoon, was the nonfiction winner, and Keith Waldrop's Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy won for poetry.
'Let The Great World Spin' Wins Book Award
Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, a novel about daring, luck and mortality in 1970s New York, won the fiction prize Wednesday night at the 60th annual National Book Awards. T.J. Stiles' biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, The First Tycoon, was the nonfiction winner.
Matthew Continetti On The 'Persecution' Of Palin
It's been all Palin all the time ever since the former Alaska governor unveiled her memoir on Oprah on Monday. Matthew Continetti of the Weekly Standard comes to Palin's defense in his new book, The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star.
Doc Ford Gets To The Bottom Of Florida Mysteries
Crime writer Randy Wayne White spent 13 years as a tackle fishing guide before he began to probe the mysteries of southwest Florida. White is best known for his series of crime novels featuring Doc Ford, an NSA agent turned marine biologist living on Florida's Gulf Coast.
Excerpt: 'The Persecution of Sarah Palin'
Reading Sarah Palin: Will She Run For President?
Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate, is now a best-selling author. Palin's book, Going Rogue, made the best-seller list before it was released. She's planning a book tour that will only stoke her meteoric political celebrity. But to what end?
NPR Topics: Books
Book reviews, interviews with authors, and NPR Book Tour, a weekly audio feature and podcast where leading authors read and discuss their work. Subscribe to the RSS feed.
Best Children's Books About Thanksgiving
(Cover art courtesy of National Geographic) Best Children's Books About Thanksgiving originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 00:01:56.
Check out my brief reviews of some of the best children's books about Thanksgiving. The books range from the nonfiction book 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving to humorous children's Thanksgiving picture books to books about the beauties of nature. What are your family's favorite children's books about Thanksgiving? Click on "Comments" below and post your recommendations.
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo, is an odd and engrossing novel-length fairy tale. In fact, it has a lot in common with Grimm's fairy tales. The hero, Despereaux Tilling, is a mouse with large ears. The Tale of Despereaux is not only a excellent book for 8-12 year olds, it is also a terrific read aloud for younger kids. Kate DiCamillo was awarded the Newbery Medal for this very entertaining novel, which was first published in 2003 by Candlewick Press. The Tale of Despereaux continues to be very popular with children and families, as well as with elementary school teachers who use it as a read aloud, to the delight of their students. A special boxed edition of the book (pictured) is also available. Have you and your children read the book? What about Kate DiCamillo's latest book, The Magician's Elephant? If so, click on "Comments" below and share your opinions about one or both of the books.
(Cover art courtesy of Candlewick Press)
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 00:01:21.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Spotlight on Ezra Jack Keats
(Cover art courtesy of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers)
Spotlight on Ezra Jack Keats originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 00:01:29.
Ezra Jack Keats was born on March 11, 1916. He died on May 6, 1983, at the age of sixty-seven. The talented artist and author is remembered as something of a pioneer in his use of African American children as main characters and in his use of mixed media collages to illustrate his stories. Ezra Jack Keats was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1963 for his picture book The Snowy Day, which is still popular today. The Snowy Day is also included in
Keats's Neighborhood, a collection of popular stories by Keats. Do you and your kids have a favorite picture book by Ezra Jack Keats? If so, click on "Comments" below and post information about it. Thanks.
We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers
If you are looking for a good book to introduce your 3- to 6-year-old children to recycling and what they can do to help protect the environment, I recommend We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers. This picture book features big brother Charlie and his "small and funny" little sister, Lola, and wonderfully quirky mixed media collages. You may remember Charlie and Lola from the picture book I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, for which British author and illustrator Lauren Child received the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 2001 or from I Am Not Sleepy and Will Not Go To Bed or I am Too Absolutely Small for School. Perhaps your kids' have enjoyed the animated TV series named after the brother and sister. In addition to an entertaining story that also explains what recycling is, why it's important, and what kids can do to help, the book also includes a removable poster so kids can track their own recycling efforts.
(Cover art courtesy of Penguin)
We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 00:01:09.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
(Cover art courtesy of Scholastic Press, An Imprint of Scholastic) The Invention of Hugo Cabret originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 00:01:02.
Brian Selznick achieved the highest honor a children's picture book illustrator can receive in the United States when he was awarded the Caldecott Medal for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which he wrote and illustrated. His win was something of a surprise, because The Invention of Hugo Cabret is not your typical picture book, although like good picture books, both illustrations and text are used to tell the story. Instead, it is a fascinating adventure novel for 9-14 year olds, set in 1931 Paris. As the title page describes the book, it is "A Novel in Words and Pictures." The book is more than 525 pages long; 284 of those pages contain Selznick's dense pencil drawings. Along with the text, sequential double-page spreads of illustrations wordlessly move the reader through time, space, and the story of the orphan Hugo Cabret. I highly recommend it. Have you and/or your children read The Invention of Hugo Cabret? If so, click on "Comments" below and share your opinion.
Celebrate National Adoption Month with Children's Books
Related Links
Celebrate National Adoption Month with Children's Books originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 00:01:56.
November is National Adoption Month. Celebrate with children's books about adoption. There are not a great many children's books about adoption for beginning readers. However, Canadian author Jean Little has written an excellent series of chapter books for beginning readers that focus on a young girl, Emma, and her adopted younger brother, Max. Emma's Yucky Brother, the first book in the series, tells the story of how four-year-old Max joins Emma's family and how the children begin to care for, and trust, one another. For additional books about adoption, see Adoption Guide Carrie Craft's adoption book reviews.
(Cover art courtesy of HarperCollins)
Celebrate Canadian Children's Book Week
Celebrate Canadian Children's Book Week originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 00:01:41.
All across Canada this week (November 14-21), authors, illustrators, and storytellers are visiting communities as part of the annual TD Canadian Children's Book Week celebration. Schools, public libraries, bookstores, and community centers are hosting special programs as Canada celebrates Canadian children's books and reading. The theme this year, Gold Medal Reading!, celebrates sports in preparation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, which will be held in Vancouver, BC. Who are some of your family's favorite Canadian authors and illustrators of children's books? Jean Little is one of my favorite Canadian authors. Share your favorites by clicking on "Comments" below and posting a message.
Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking
(Cover art courtesy of Viking, A Division of Penguin Young Readers Group) Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 00:01:18.
Often referred to as Sweden's best-known author, Astrid Lindgren gained international fame for her children's books, particularly Pippi Longstocking, which has been translated into 91 languages since it was first published in 1945. In honor of the 100th anniversary of Astrid Lindgren's birth, Viking published a new translation of Pippi Longstocking, with lively illustrations by award-winning author and illustrator Lauren Child. Have you or your children read Pippi Longstocking? What did you think of it? Click on "Comments" below and share your opinions.
Spotlight on John Henry
(Cover art courtesy of Puffin Books, Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers)
Spotlight on John Henry originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 00:01:38.
The children's picture book John Henry combines a fascinating tale by Julius Lester with award-winning artwork by Jerry Pinkney. The book was designated a Caldecott Honor Book for excellence in American, children's picture book illustration. Some of the things that make this book about the African American folk hero memorable include:
I recommend this picture book for children 4-9 years old. What are some of your favorite children's books about folk heroes? Click on "Comments" below and share your recommendations.
Resources for Veterans Day
Related Links
Resources for Veterans Day originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 00:01:19.
Veterans Day honors all of the men and women in the U.S. military and their families for their sacrifices on behalf of the United States of America. As a reminder of all we have to be thankful for, why not share Chris Gall's beautifully illustrated edition of America the Beautiful with your children. If you are looking for a book about remembering those who died in war, I recommend
The Wall by Eve Bunting. This poignant children's picture book is about a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial by a father and his young son.
(Cover art courtesy of Houghton Mifflin)
About Children's Books
Children's Books
2009 OSCAR NOMINEES 81st Academy Awards
2009 Academy Award Oscar Winners
2009 Best Picture Oscar Nominations
2009 Best Animated Feature Oscar Nominations
2009 Best Lead Actress Oscar Nominations
- Kate Winslet in "The Reader"
- Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"
- Angelina Jolie in "Changeling"
- Melissa Leo in "Frozen River"
- Meryl Streep in "Doubt"
2009 Best Lead Actor Oscar Nominations
- Sean Penn in "Milk"
- Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor"
- Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon"
- Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
- Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"
2009 Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nominations
- Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
- Amy Adams in "Doubt"
- Viola Davis in "Doubt"
- Taraji P. Henson in "Benjamin Button"
- Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler"