rebecca's pocket

Mrs. Dittmer's Summer reading list for kids

» Oakland California school librarian Mrs. Dittmer's list of recommended summer reading for kindergarten through 8th grade. / (0) Comments  / [ 07/11/06 ]

More children's book reviews by Andrew Oglesby

» Last week I linked to some charming reviews of childrens book by 6-year-old Andrew Oglesby. Here is an earlier set of reviews by my new favorite book critic. On Earth Magic

To me, it's not a book for 6-year-olds. Other 6-year-olds might like it, but I really think it's a book for older people because it's like something that would have to do with history, and older kids like things like history. This book is very imaginary -- like the Tuesday [poem]. It has playing hopscotch with the sun and that's not something that would really happen. It's very creative. Whoever wrote this book was really using their creative juices.

(By the way, when you click through that Amazon link, notice that all the books offered in conjunction with this book are the other ones in this review. A mention on CNN really works.) / (0) Comments  / [ 07/04/06 ]

Children's book reviews by a 6-year-old

» Outstanding reviews of children's books by 6-year-old Andrew Oglesby. From his review of Once Upon a Dragon: Stranger Safety for Kids (and Dragons):

When they got to Chapter Two, I could tell that was the Hansel and Gretel story because the witch lived in some kind of gingerbread house and she says, "Come in, eat my candy. It's delicious." Since dragons love candy, he went to get the candy. But the girl pulled his tail and she said, "We can't go in there. She's going to eat you." In the real Hansel and Gretel story the boy and girl just go in the house, but this is stranger safety.

I would read this young man's review of any book, any time. / (1) Comments  / [ 06/30/06 ]

Lexington High School Library Summer Reading Lists

» The Lexington (MA) High School Library has lists of required reading for all their students and numerous links to lists of pleasure reading for teens. / (0) Comments  / [ 06/21/06 ]

Fairfax County Public Schools Suggested Summer Reading Lists

» Fairfax County Public Schools Suggested Summer Reading Lists for 6th graders, 7-8th graders, and 9th-12th graders. Nice descriptions of the books listed, except for the last category, which links to various other lists on the Web. / (0) Comments  / [ 06/20/06 ]

Jewish Family Summer Reading Club

» Here's another family reading club. Philadephia's Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education has created a Jewish Family Summer Reading Club focused on Jewish-themed writing for children and adults [pdf].  / (0) Comments  / [ 06/13/06 ]

BC Girls Summer Book Club

» BC Girls is a bookclub for 7 to 8-year-olds, organized by one of the mothers to keep the girls reading over the summer. The article includes a sidebar of suggested books for various ages. "For this month, the selection is Freckle Juice, Judy Blume’s story about Andrew Marcus, a second-grade student who wishes he had freckles and plans to buy a secret freckle recipe from a classmate. This time, the BC Girls are bringing their own recipes for something they’d like to change about themselves."  [ 06/09/06 ]

A Mother-Daughter Book Club

» The University Place Branch of the Pierce County Library System has a monthly Mother-Daughter Book Club. They have a monthly breakfast meeting, and their website lists the books they have read with their reviews. It's a terrific idea, but what about one for the boys?   [ 06/08/06 ]

FLA Department of Education Recommended Summer Reading

» Florida Department of Education's Just Read site has posted its list of recommended summer reading.  [ 05/30/06 ]

ALA Alex Awards

» The ALA Alex Awards. "The ALA Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18."  / (0) Comments  / [ 05/24/06 ]

ALA Summer Reading Lists for Children

» The American Library Association Recommended Summer Reading for Children and their families goes all the way through high school. / (0) Comments  / [ 05/22/06 ]

Children's Summer Reading List Inaugural

» And for young people:

• Education World's list of School and Library Summer Reading Lists
• Suggested Summer Reading Lists from Schools, libraries, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and more.
• Horn Book's Suggested Summer Reading for Kids

 / (0) Comments  / [ 05/18/06 ]

Mother's Day Book Recommendations

» It's just around the corner. Here are a few book recommendations for Mother's Day:

• The Book Babe's May 2006 Mother's Day Gift List and their "Tough Mamas" Reading List, a collection of the most resilient moms in the current fiction.
• About.com's Christian Books for Mom
• Children's books about Mother's Day
• Amazon's Books for Moms. (I have to say Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back—one of Amazon's recommendations for "Hip Moms"— sounds pretty darned interesting.)
• Or, if you know your Mom's taste in books, maybe you can find a title she hasn't read yet on the Waterboro Public Library's List of Reading Lists.

 / (0) Comments  / [ 05/04/06 ]

Children's Choices 2005 Reading List

» The Children's Choices for 2005 list is the 31st in a series of reading lists compiled up by children. The list is divided into Beginning Readers, ages 5–7, Young Readers, ages 8–10 (half way down the page), and Advanced Readers, ages 11–13 (2/3 of the way down the page). / (0) Comments  / [ 04/19/06 ]

The Grand Dame of Children's Literature

» Beloved children's author Beverley Cleary is about to turn 90. To honor the occasion, her publisher, HarpersCollins, has designated April 12 Drop Everything and Read! Day, complete with a list of suggested books compiled by experts from Reach Out and Read, NEA, and Reading Rockets. (via rw) / (2) Comments  / [ 03/28/06 ]

20 Superb Novels for Teenage Girls

» NYT Book Review: 20 Superb Novels for Teenage Girls. Compiled by Justine Henning of Reading Penpals, a site that will hook children up with a good book and an adult penpal to write to about it. / (0) Comments  / [ 03/17/06 ]

Best-selling children's books of all times

» The 150 best-selling paperback children's books of all time and 150 best-selling hardback books of all time (through the end of 2000), with author and year of initial publication, compiled by Publishers Weekly. Judy Blume dominates in paperback. Any surprising titles — or omissions — here? [slithy, slithy popups!] (thanks, mab!) / (2) Comments  / [ 03/13/06 ]

10 books every child should read

» Aiming to put together "a children's canon on which people might like to draw", The Royal Society of Literature asked top children's authors for a list of 10 books every child should read before they leave school. Here are the 7 resulting lists, including ones from Philip Pullman and JK Rowling. These lists are erudite enough that they would make a good year's reading for any adult, and it would be fun to read them one list at a time to try to extract the message each author was trying to get to the children. Of course, everyone likes Ben Okri's list of "10 1/2 Inclinations" the best. ("1. There is a secret trail of books meant to inspire and enlighten you. Find that trail.")

I don't know. 10 books isn't very many. What have they left off? (via mc) / (5) Comments  / [ 02/21/06 ]