• Lists

    12 Picture Books for Pink Shirt Day

    Pink Shirt Day header

    I came across Pink Shirt Day a few years ago and posted about it. It has now become one of my most popular posts which I’m grateful even if it makes me a little sad. According to the statistics on the Pink Shirt Day website, 1 in 5 children are…

  • Lists

    9 Picture Books for Pink Shirt Day

    pink

    Today is Pink Shirt Day! Pink Shirt Day is an international movement “to practice kindness and wear pink to symbolize that you do not tolerate bullying.” Bullying is a serious concern for kids of all ages and it’s important to have an open dialog with kids about what bullying looks…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: The Littlest Bigfoot

    Synopsis: Alice lives life almost invisibly – her family ships her off to school, she doesn’t have a single friend and she knows that she isn’t pretty with her big, bulky frame and her wild hair she calls a mane. So when she saves Millie Maximus’s life at her eighth boarding…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade

    I’ve enjoyed a number of Jordan Sonnenblick’s books in the past and he even visited our library for an author visit program, so I had high hopes for The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade, but honestly, this wasn’t my favorite story.Maverick is starting sixth grade and this year he promises to…

  • Activities

    Community Connections – Interfaith Education

    I spent a few hours last night at a Sharing Ramadan event hosted by our local Islamic Society. It was a wonderful event with a speaker who took the time to talk about the beliefs of the Islam faith as well as how Muslims are being viewed by the media.…

  • Activities

    Wonder Trailer – Get Ready to Ugly Cry

    As a book lover and past children’s librarian, I adore LOVE children’s books and so I don’t say this lightly – Wonder by R.J. Palacio is one of my favorite books of all time. And so I was ecstatic to see the official trailer for the new movie was released. Let…

  • Lists

    Middle Grade Gets Real – 25 Titles About Tough Topics

    There are arguments that kids shouldn’t read about tough topics – topics that include death, adoption/foster care, childhood illness, substance abuse, disability and more. But, how do kids learn about these topics if they don’t see them in their daily life? Or, how do kids feel less alone if they…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: Wolf Hollow

    “The year I turned twelve, I learned how to lie. The year I turned twelve, I learned that what I said and did mattered.”  And with those words, you’ll meet Annabelle a 12-year old girl, living in rural Pennsylvania in the early 1940s.  Her life is fairly simple, helping her…

  • Reviews

    The Bully Book

    Funny how themes often pop up and carry through multiple books.  This is (obviously) another book about bullying, with a vastly different take from yesterday’s post of The Second Life of Abigail Walker.  The Bully Book written by Eric Kahn Gale is about a young boy, Eric,  who enters the…

  • Reviews

    The Second Life of Abigail Walker

    Bullying has become a huge issues in schools across America and it has clearly bled into children’s literature as well.  The Second Life of Abigail Walker by Frances O’Roark Dowell is a book about rising above the bullies and believing in yourself, even when you’re not quite sure what that means. …