Graphic novels are one of my (relatively) new favorite discoveries in the world of books. There are so many great ones out there, and so many good new things being created all the time! I love seeing new art forms expand to different types of readers, so I loved discovering Odd Duck by Cecil Castellucci […]

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 […]