Author: Roberta

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Lee Hopkins Makes Readers Smile with Amazing Faces

Amazing Faces compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins will make you smile. It also will make you frown, sigh, and laugh out loud. This book of poetry is sure to evoke a range of emotions that are shared by all people, a range reflected in the diversity of radiant faces beautifully illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. Amazing-faces

Hopkins has assembled poems from an impressive list of authors, including Nikki Grimes, Jane Yolen, Janet S. Wong, and Joseph Bruchac. But the list of names fade away as the poems take center stage. Some are powerful, some are gentle, and some take your breath away. For example, about storyteller Aunt Mary Sky:

You can read so many things in her face
Like a cloud touched by a breath of wind
one shape, then another takes its place
as even the trees lean close and listen.

This book is really meant to be shared. Readers will want to discuss and ponder each poem and accompanying illustration. Although listed for ages 4-8, this inspiring collection is definitely appealing to a readers of a wide range of ages.

Teachers and librarians take note: you’ll want to have this one in within reach as a useful, multipurpose resource.

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Lee & Low Books; 1 edition (June 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1600603343
ISBN-13: 978-1600603341

nonfictionmonday

Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. For more information, stop by Anastasia Suen’s Nonfiction Monday page. This week’s post is at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

This book was provided for review.

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Answers to Children’s Author Trivia Volume 10

We have two women authors this week to make up for discussing three men last week.

23. This author’s first book was a fictional account of her older sister’s early death, called A Summer to Die. For later books, she won Newbery Medals in 1990 and 1994. Who is she?

Lois Lowry has included some of the speeches she gave throughout the years on her website. For example, she has included the speech she gave when she won the Newbery for The Giver in 1994. If you have some time, it is well worth poking around her website and blog.

Check out these videos, too. In this video, Time for Kids reporter Hannah Spicijaric interviews Lois Lowry, particularly about The Willoughbys.

In this video, Lowry is interviewed by Time for Kids reporter Sarah Horbacewicz about her recent book The Birthday Ball.

What a fascinating person!

24. This writer enjoyed fairy tales as a child and her books often have a fairy tale quality. She was given art lessons by her mother, and has worked as an illustrator as well as a writer. In fact her first book was a collaboration with her husband. He wrote the book and she illustrated it. Two of her books have been made into movies, and one was a Newbery Honor book. Do you recognize the author?

Natalie Babbitt has had two books made into movies:  Tuck Everlasting and The Eyes of the Amaryllis.

We were introduced to Natalie Babbitt’s work when my son chose Search for Delicious for a book report. It is definitely a story with multiple layers of meaning and complexity. It will stick with you after you read it.

Here are some of her other books:

Can you see the fairy tale influence?

Note: Children’s Author Trivia is taking a vacation this week, but will be back next Thursday.

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Wild Wild Alphabet

Wild Alphabet by Dan Green, with design by Mike Haines and paper folding by Julia Frohlich, is a pop-up book of cool animals and fun information that is sure to be “pop”-ular as a gift book. wild-alphabet

Dan Green has chosen some common animals to highlight, like the elephant and the hippopotamus, but also a few unusual ones like the narwhal and wallaby. Each two-page spread has the name of the animal, a photograph of the animal, a few facts about the animal written in an engaging way, and then a big bold capital letter with a black-and-white image that pops up or interacts with the letter kinetically. My favorite is the dinosaur, Utahrapter, which requires you to actually open the letter to see what is underneath.

Of course this book is designed to be engaging to young children, but I noticed the older ones like to take a peek too. If nothing else they try to figure out, “how did they fold that?”

To get a better idea of the book, here’s a very well-designed trailer. Isn’t the music fun?

What child wouldn’t enjoy the thrill of Wild Alphabet?

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 52 pages
Publisher: Kingfisher; Pop edition (September 14, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0753464721
ISBN-13: 978-0753464724

nonfictionmonday

Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. For more information, stop by Anastasia Suen’s Nonfiction Monday page. This week’s post is at TheBookNosher.

This book was provided for review.

Posted on

Children’s Author Trivia Volume 10

How about some better clues today? Can you guess who these children’s book authors are?trivia-logo

23. This author’s first book was a fictional account of her older sister’s early death, called A Summer to Die. For later books, she won Newbery Medals in 1990 and 1994. Who is she?

24. This writer enjoyed fairy tales as a child and her books often have a fairy tale quality. She was given art lessons by her mother, and has worked as an illustrator as well as a writer. In fact her first book was a collaboration with her husband. He wrote the book and she illustrated it. Two of her books have been made into movies, and one was a Newbery Honor book. Do you recognize the author?

Are the clues with more details helpful? What do you think?

The answers are now posted.