Articles & Opinion
What were you required to read in tenth grade? Maybe you graduated many years ago, and you assume that since so much has changed in the larger cultural conversation, certainly high-school English would also have changed. So many good books have been published since then, you might think. But I...
Illustration (c) 2023 by Janelle Washington. From the May/June 2023 special issue of The Horn Book Magazine: Diverse Books: Past, Present, and Future. Find more in the "Seeing Ourselves" series here....
Christina Soontornvat on a school visit. Photo courtesy of Christina Soontornvat. When I do school visits, I always show a slide filled with covers of diverse fantasy and sci-fi. I love the reaction from the kids — they point and gasp and whisper to their friends about which ones they...
Maurice Sendak once said, “As a child, I felt that books were holy objects, to be caressed, rapturously sniffed, and devotedly provided for. I gave my life to them.” That’s how I have always felt as a teacher and parent too. I began my teaching career in Newark, New Jersey,...
What goes into adapting a print book into audio? What special considerations are involved when that book is a graphic novel? Listening Library producer Amber Beard and Senior Executive Producer Linda Korn share their experiences of one example: Just Roll with It (rev. 9/21) by Lee Durfey-Lavoie, illustrated by Veronica...
Last summer I had the opportunity to visit the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota, one of the largest archives housing materials related to children’s literature. Amid the sketches, dummies, early manuscripts and correspondences, and many other related paper ephemera and objects, what especially drew my interest was a...
Beginning readers and comics are natural partners. Both use visual support to help readers make sense of their stories. In beginning-reader comics, this allows authors opportunities to use more difficult words and tell more complex stories without losing their audience. Beginning-reader comics also serve as a bridge to the exciting...
I’m fond of reminding people that Greek mythology isn’t a compendium of dead narratives about long-dead people and distant places, pulled from a dusty old book or scroll. What we now call Greek mythology is what remains of a past culture’s most sacred beliefs — a collection of living stories,...
Board books often include features that entice little fingers to pull, twist, and lift, sometimes blurring the line between book and toy. This is fine by me; little ones should play with their books! Although such board books are often called “novelty books” and derided as gimmicky, they don’t have...
273 articles
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