Over on the Horn Book’s Facebook page, there’s an opinion that Javaka Steptoe only won the Caldecott Medal because his father was John Steptoe. When pressed for evidence, the (former, as she’ll tell you) subscriber replied that “the pattern of ALA award committees in the past several years in its selections of winners/honors. Promote diversity […]
Roger’s ALA 2017
June 27, 2017 by 3 Comments
My ALA began on a sad note when, while Richard and I were on the way to the airport, Martha texted to tell me that Robin Smith had died. This is such a loss – I knew no one as good as Robin at connecting children and books. I saw it in her many years […]
“It’s bigger than it looks.”
June 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Forgive me but one more brief rant about television. What is UP with shows that hobble perfectly watchable characters and situations with annoying and incomprehensible long-game backstories? Sense8 and Orphan Black, and Fringe and Alias before them, are in most ways just the kind of TV I like: human characters in the contemporary world who […]
ALA Attire
June 20, 2017 by 1 Comment
The worst thing about the days leading up to ALA is the wardrobe issue. You’re saving all the good (well, better) stuff for Conference and you wear rags to work. Those V-neck t-shirts you bought by mistake. The socks that used to be purple but are now decidedly pink. Don’t look at me. But I […]
No, the places YOU’LL go.
June 15, 2017 by 4 Comments
When I say, as I do with some regularity, “I hate Dr. Seuss,” I don’t mean it as criticism of his work for any kind of aesthetic or political shortcoming, and obviously I don’t have anything against the man himself. What I mean is that The Cat and the Hat, etc. made five-year-old me very, very […]
I Can Cook Too
June 9, 2017 by 3 Comments
No sooner did I leave New York last week when I was off to Columbus for two days of meetings with my  fellow Mediasource Inc. editors (Rebecca Miller of SLJ/LJ and Susan Marston of JLG) and all the top brass, including what seem to be the zillion new vice-presidents (five, actually). It’s very helpful to do this […]
New York Time…
June 5, 2017 by 3 Comments
… which happens to be the title of Richard Peck’s 1981 novel for adults, providing me a great opportunity to bridge two worlds when that Richard and my Richard and I were having dinner before seeing A Doll’s House, Part Two last Saturday night. We could all talk about real estate, which we did, as well […]
July/August 2017 Horn Book Magazine starred reviews
June 2, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The following books will receive starred reviews in the upcoming issue of The Horn Book Magazine: Special Issue: ALA Awards. Stay: A Girl, a Dog, a Bucket List by Kate Klise; illus. by M. Sarah Klise (Feiwel) The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC’s (the Hard Way) by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown) […]
“We are all winners.”
May 26, 2017 by 5 Comments
As promised, I am reminding you that Kwame Alexander and I will be announcing the winners of the 2017 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards on Wednesday, May 31st at/around 4:45 PM EST and you can watch for free from the comfort of your office/home/tiki bar. Live from New York! IÂ hope all the envelopes will be in […]
The Mystery in the Bookshop
May 23, 2017 by 1 Comment
A colleague from the New York office was over for drinks last Friday and she mentioned that she forgot to bring a book for the train back. Â I gave her my copy of Elizabeth Peters’ Die for Love, a cozy about an academic librarian who finds love and murder at a romance-writers convention she attends […]
