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orangerfulToday I went to the "Great Books Consortium" in Baltimore. Pretty much, a bunch of librarians read 120+ books ranging from picture books to children's books and some young adult titles too - and then narrowed it down to a top 8 for each category. And then separated the rest of the books into discussion groups.
Last year, I found out about Markus Zusak. No such luck with this year's authors, but I did find a few fantastic picture books and children's books that I wanted to post about since I know a lot of you are readers, and a few of you have some "short people" (kids) in your lives and you might enjoy these titles.
My favorite picture book (and their favorite too) was David Wiesner's 'Flotsam'. Just hop down to your local library or sneak into the kids sections of your favorite book store and look at this beautiful Caldecott winner. It's about a little boy who finds an old fashioned camera washed up on the shore. It has no text, but the pictures say it all. I'm actually thinking of purchasing the book just to have it around. I think it would be nice sitting on an end table for people to browse while they are visiting.
For those of you that have cats - "My Cat, The Silliest Cat in the World" is just plain fun! The author/illustrator tells us all about his pet cat and all the silly things he does around the house. Only thing is...well, click the link and look at the cover of the book!! The illustrations really capture the cat like "attitude" of this pet.
Adele & Simon was a very sweet story about a big sister and her little brother. But the charm of this book is it's look - it takes place in early 20th century Paris and the kids wander the city on their way home from school (ala Family Circus), Simon losing articles of clothing along the way. The illustrations are gorgeous and if you are a Francophile, you'll get a kick out of the painstaking recreation of Paris. And just for extra fun, it has a "Where's Waldo" element as you hunt for Simon's lost items in the pictures! (It also has a map of their walk in the back and historical notes! I think this one would make a great gift for an adult).
For J Fiction - my favorite title of the bunch of 'Gossamer' by Lois Lowry. It's a tricky book to talk about - it has to do with these creatures that are in charge of creating our dreams for us and keeping the nightmares away. But at the same time, it's the story of an abused boy, his caregiver, and his mother. Beautiful language in this book, though we discussed how hard it would be for a kid to read alone since some of the themes are a little dark.
In Young Adult, American Born Chinese came up in the discussion. Presented in graphic novel form, this book has 3 seemingly unrelated stories that eventually meet up at the end.
Last year, I found out about Markus Zusak. No such luck with this year's authors, but I did find a few fantastic picture books and children's books that I wanted to post about since I know a lot of you are readers, and a few of you have some "short people" (kids) in your lives and you might enjoy these titles.
My favorite picture book (and their favorite too) was David Wiesner's 'Flotsam'. Just hop down to your local library or sneak into the kids sections of your favorite book store and look at this beautiful Caldecott winner. It's about a little boy who finds an old fashioned camera washed up on the shore. It has no text, but the pictures say it all. I'm actually thinking of purchasing the book just to have it around. I think it would be nice sitting on an end table for people to browse while they are visiting.
For those of you that have cats - "My Cat, The Silliest Cat in the World" is just plain fun! The author/illustrator tells us all about his pet cat and all the silly things he does around the house. Only thing is...well, click the link and look at the cover of the book!! The illustrations really capture the cat like "attitude" of this pet.
Adele & Simon was a very sweet story about a big sister and her little brother. But the charm of this book is it's look - it takes place in early 20th century Paris and the kids wander the city on their way home from school (ala Family Circus), Simon losing articles of clothing along the way. The illustrations are gorgeous and if you are a Francophile, you'll get a kick out of the painstaking recreation of Paris. And just for extra fun, it has a "Where's Waldo" element as you hunt for Simon's lost items in the pictures! (It also has a map of their walk in the back and historical notes! I think this one would make a great gift for an adult).
For J Fiction - my favorite title of the bunch of 'Gossamer' by Lois Lowry. It's a tricky book to talk about - it has to do with these creatures that are in charge of creating our dreams for us and keeping the nightmares away. But at the same time, it's the story of an abused boy, his caregiver, and his mother. Beautiful language in this book, though we discussed how hard it would be for a kid to read alone since some of the themes are a little dark.
In Young Adult, American Born Chinese came up in the discussion. Presented in graphic novel form, this book has 3 seemingly unrelated stories that eventually meet up at the end.
