December 2013

Make Them Laugh. Help Them Read.

It’s Humor month at ReaderKidZ, my favorite time of year! Funny books have great power with children, especially emerging or reluctant readers. If you can get them laughing, we think you’ve got them hooked. The idea that a group of letters, usually in concert with images, can kapow the funny bone and produce a laugh… Read more »

Librarian’s Corner Favorite: Clown of God by Tomie dePaola

A young Italian orphan learns to juggle to earn money. As his talent grows he is asked to join a traveling troupe and his performances attract great crowds. He even performs for royalty, juggling to spread happiness and joy. Growing older, and less skilled, the crowds thin and his performances are mocked as those of… Read more »

Book-Give-Away Continues – The Hogan That Great Grandfather Built

Holiday time is family time.  Our next give-away book is hot off the press, released just this week, and presents an honoring of family and home: THE HOGAN THAT GREAT-GRANDFATHER BUILT  (Salina Bookshelf, 2013) celebrates the home and beauty of the Navajo family. Illustrations by Peterson Yazzie glow with the warmth and vibrancy of the… Read more »

Ho, ho, ho! A chance to win another wonderful book!

The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. As a young boy, he hated school and rules, couldn’t sit still, and turned everything in the world around him into a math game. Known as the Magician from Budapest by the age of twenty because of… Read more »

Little Santa by Jon Agee

Little Santa by Jon Agee (Dial, 2013) Did you ever wonder what Santa was like as a small child? It certainly couldn’t have been easy growing up in the uppermost reaches of the northern hemisphere. As author/illlustrator Jon Agee tells it,  “Life was tough in the North Pole. Every day there was … wood to… Read more »

A Bundle of Books: Holiday Give-away!

Here are not one but three perfect picture books that will make wonderful gifts for that special child, educator, or librarian in your life! No Monkeys, No Chocolate written by Melissa Stewart and Allen Young, illustrated by Nicole Wong (Charlesbridge, 2013) unravels the scientific mystery of where chocolate comes from in two layered levels of text… Read more »