40 Forever: Growin Up!

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 [...]

40 Forever: Unbroken

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 [...]

40 Forever: Academy Awards of Children’s Literature

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: [...]

40 Forever: Covers It All

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 [...]

40 Forever: The Marriage Plot

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 [...]

40 Forever: Buy Now!

Support your local retailers
One fun way to help the economy is to shop locally. A hand-wrapped holiday gift from a local boutique (sent via US Mail to support your local letter carrier) is much more meaningful than something bought online from a huge corporation. It’s also good for your [...]

40 Forever: El día de los muertos

El día de los muertos

My husband and I recently celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Six years ago today, we were honeymooning in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico as the town was getting ready for the día de los muertos/Day of the Dead holiday. Marc and I were [...]

40 Forever: Match Your Costume

A book to match your costume

Myers, Christopher. Black Cat. New York: Scholastic Press, 1999. Print.

Lots of parents come to the library this time of year searching for books to match their children’s costumes. Here are a few of my favorite pairings:
For the Egyptian princess:

costumeworld.com

Climo, Shirley, and Ruth Heller. The Egyptian Cinderella. New [...]

40 Forever: In Stitches

Stitches by David Small

National Book Award Finalist
Small, David. Stitches: A Memoir. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2009. Print.

“David Small evokes the mad scientific world of the 1950s beautifully, a time when everyone believed that science could fix everything . . . Capturing body language and facial expressions subtly, [...]

40 FOREVER: That Doggie In The Window!

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month

Orlean, Susan. Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.

Susan Orlean’s book about Hollywood’s most celebrated rescue dog is not your ordinary dog story. It’s about the impact of moving pictures (There were more canine roles during the [...]