The Songbook Highway

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Maurice Sendak

It’s a very sad day today in Libraryland. Beloved author/illustrator Maurice Sendak passed away at the age of 82. I met him when I was about 9 years old. My mother and I waited for hours in the rain at a book signing event in New Haven. When [...]

Coming this August . .

The Bell Jar meets Hatchet meets Into the Wild . . .

Morel, Alex. Survive. New York, NY: Penguin (Razorbill), 2012. Print.
ISBN 9781595145109

Survive is one of the most emotionally intense YA novels I’ve read in a long time. It’s the story of a deeply [...]

Remembering

Moundlic, Charlotte, and Olivier Tallec. The Scar. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick Press, 2011. Print.

When I was little, my Uncle Brian (who was more like a big brother because he was only 8 years older than me and lived with us sometimes) was killed. When my mom and I stayed with my [...]

A (yarn) yarn

Barnett, Mac, and J Klassen. Extra Yarn. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2012. Print.

So far, this is my favorite picture book of the year because it makes me laugh. (The humor is a little off-kilter, which makes it even more fun.)

Extra Yarn is the story of a girl named Annabelle who [...]

New Haven Rock City

Guess what? Cracker is touring this summer with Bare Naked Ladies, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and Blues Traveler—and they are going to be right here in Palm Beach County!*

Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven are my all-time favorite bands, of course, but I also really like Blues Traveler. John Popper [...]

Early Childhood Education: Growing Up

Back in the early 70’s, there weren’t many childcare options in my quaint New England town. Since my mother was a working single mom, I had to spend hours every day at a wretched place called The Happy Child Nursery School.

The owner was a morbidly obese, smelly [...]

Unbroken

You don’t have to be a history buff to get lost in this incredible story about the life of Olympic track star and World War II Veteran, Louis Zamperini. The History Channel bores me to death, but I was fascinated by this book and finished it in two long sittings.

“Zamperini’s [...]

The Academy Awards of Children’s Literature
Here are a few of the big winners of the ALA Youth Media Awards which were announced this morning:

Sibert Medal:

Sweet, Melissa. Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. Print.

Caldecott Medal:

Raschka, Christopher. A Ball for Daisy.
New York: [...]

Record Covers
Here’s a great gift for your favorite Crumb . . . it’s the latest anthology of record cover artwork by cartoonist R. Crumb!

Crumb, R. R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection.
New York, N.Y: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc, 2011. Print.

And speaking of record covers . . . have you seen [...]

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
The critics absolutely loved the newest book by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jeffrey Eugenides. Publisher’s Weekly put it at the top of their Best Books of 2011 list.

Eugenides, Jeffrey. The Marriage Plot. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Print.

If you went to college in the 1980’s, you will especially [...]