Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution (2011) by Laurence Pringle; illustrated by Steve Jenkins It’s hard to find a book for kids that explains the somewhat tricky concepts of evolution and natural selection – but this one fits the bill and does it in a thoughtful and engaging way. Nonfiction heavyweights Pringle [...]
The Lions of Little Rock (2012) by Kristin Levine It’s 1958 in Little Rock, Arkansas and twelve-year old Marlee won’t say a word – she is literally struck dumb in front of her classmates, too shy to speak in anything but one word sentences. When Liz, a pretty, self-confident new girl befriends and draws her [...]
The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (2011) edited by Noel Daniel, newly translated by Matthew P. Price with Noel Daniel 2012 is the two-hundredth anniversary of the publication of the first of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s famous fairy tales. This extravagant volume celebrates that milestone with 27 newly translated stories decorated by the work [...]
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster; illustrated by Jules Feiffer Celebrating its 50th anniversary, The Phantom Tollbooth is still popular with tween readers because it is creative, funny, and original; it also has a timeless quality. The story begins with a bored Milo returning home from school to an empty house, where he finds a [...]
The Adventures of Ook & Gluk: Kung-fu Caveman from the Future by Dav Pilkey My goal is to keep my seven-year-old son hooked on reading. He’s just learning the power of the written word; so when he handed me a note one morning before I headed to the library that read “Ook and Gluk now!” [...]
The Wikkeling by Steve Arntson; illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini The cover of The Wikkeling is an attention grabber: the brick red, faux cloth binding is imprinted with the silhouettes of three children being menaced by what looks like a tall, skinny man with stretched out fingers, while the book’s title dribbles down the front [...]
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman When I was doing some research for Banned Books Week, I was fascinated to see that one of my all time favorite books is also one of the most challenged. The Golden Compass, the first part in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, has been challenged numerous times because [...]
The Giver by Lois Lowry What is your favorite challenged book that you have a connection with personally (as a child or adult) or professionally? From the moment I first read The Giver by Lois Lowry it has remained on my list of all-time favorite books. What is your connection with this book and why [...]
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