I think it’s really fun when stories encourage kids to be inventive and exercise their problem-solving skills. (See: all the parts in the Series of Unfortunate Events when Violet Baudelaire tied back her hair into a ponytail and got to work inventing something.) In the spirit of that creativity, today I want to recommend the […]

She had to learn how to twirl a baton and she had to learn fast, because if she learned how to twirl a baton, then she stood a good chance of becoming Little Miss Central Florida Tire. And if she became Little Miss Central Florida Tire, her father would see her picture in the paper […]

I like to keep an eye on some “Caldecott award watch” websites, and when I saw one mention a book called Ideas Are All Around, by Philip C. Stead, it caught my attention as one that the Story Warren crowd might be interested in. This whimsical picture book is a simple story; the narrator goes […]

“Imaginary friends are like books. We’re created, we’re enjoyed, we’re dog-eared and creased, and then we’re tucked away until we’re needed again.” from Crenshaw, by Katherine Applegate Here’s something that I love: finding similar characters in very dissimilar books, and mentally comparing them. I’ve been thinking about this recently in regard to a very specific […]

One of the things I love about discovering a new favorite contemporary author is the gift of waiting with eager anticipation for their next book to come out. I’ve been enjoying that anticipation over the past few months since I heard about the October publication date for Gary D. Schmidt’s new book, Orbiting Jupiter. I […]