Reading Lists

Professionally curated reading lists developed by topic and/or age level. Some Reading Lists include titles from multiple age groups and will appear under more than one category

Lucky Leprechaun Reads

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated each year for the patron saint of Ireland. What began as a religious feast has now morphed into a celebration of all things Irish and in turn the Leprechaun has become the day’s mascot. In Irish folklore the Leprechaun is a type of fairy who we all know grants wishes […]

A Little Bit of Irish — YA Lit with an Irish Connection

Whether set in Ireland or written by an Irish author, these books are sure to make your St. Patrick’s Day a little greener. The Supernaturalist By: Eoin ColferIn futuristic Satellite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from his abusive orphanage and teams up with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural creatures, […]

The Amelia Bloomer List of Recommended Feminist Literature

AMELIA BLOOMER PROJECT TOP TEN Born in 1818 in Homer, NY, just one town over from where I was born and have been raised, Amelia Bloomer was an American women’s rights and temperance advocate. The appropriately named Amelia Bloomer Project creates an annual booklist of feminist books for young readers, ages birth through 18. Here […]

Pink is for Girls, Blue is for Boys

Long before becoming a parent I read a book that would forever influence how I raise my children, Redefining Girly: How Parents Can Fight the Stereotyping and Sexualizing of Girlhood, from Birth to Tween, by Melissa Atkins Wardy. Essentially it brings to light what we all see on a daily basis; all-pink aisles in toy […]

The 2017 Mildred L. Batchelder Award

The Mildred L. Batchelder Award The Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States. The award is given to the book’s publisher. Mildred L. Batchelder was […]

Happy Birthday! Celebrating Authors/Illustrators Born in March

March is a big birthday month for children’s authors and illustrators. In March we celebrate Rob Dillon (3/2), Patricia Maclachlan (3/3), Dav Pilkey (3/4), Mem Fox (3/5), Kenneth Grahame (3/8), Ezra Jack Keats (3/11), Virginia Hamilton (3/12), Carl Hiaasen (3/12), Diane Dillon (3/13), Sid Fleischman (3/16), Louis Sachar (3/20), Lois Lowry (3/20), David Wisniewski (3/21), […]

The Cat in the Hat and Chuck Taylors — A Love Story

It started one Christmas just 5 years ago, my husband gave me Chucks, of whose existence I didn’t even know. Cat in the Hat were my first pair and now I have quite the collection, it just doesn’t seem fair. The Lorax, the Grinch, If I Ran the Circus, and more, I have Dr. Seuss […]

The 2017 Theodore Seuss Geisel Award

Theodore Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss is best known for his rhyming repetitive stories that started the beginning or easy reader enterprise. Each year the Geisel Award is given by the ALSC to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the […]

Presidential Picks

President’s Day is a day to was traditionally celebrated each year on February 22nd, George Washington’s birthday but has was changed to always be a Monday in order provide workers with a 3 day weekend. From George Washington to Donald Trump, America’s 240 year history has seen 45 presidents, some more popular than others. Celebrate presidents, past […]

Toddler’s Picks — Board Books Your 2 Year Old Will Sit Still For (Sometimes)

It is 8 o’clock in the evening and I marvel at how I find myself here when it seems just minutes ago I woke up at 7 o’clock in the morning. Time flies when you are having fun and time flies even faster when you have a 2 year old. There is never a dull […]

Rowdy Robots — Picture Books With Mechanical Main Characters

Robots are a sure thing to grab the attention of young children. From Rosie, the Jetson’s maid in the 80’s to today’s high-tech droids buzzing airport control towers, robots are certainly intriguing to all ages. Go ahead and share picture books about robots or take it a step further like the librarian in our feature […]

Take a Dive in the Ocean

Ben Clanton is making the narwhal cool again (?). The ocean holds a whole different world, check out these other books full of sea life. Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! By: April SayreFrom before the time she hatches until she returns to the same beach to lay eggs of her own, a sea turtle is […]

Everybody Knows somebody : Join the fight against eating disorders

It seems as though there is a day, week, or month for everything. “Take Your Dog to Work Day”, “Appreciate your Name Day” (next week, by the way), and “Life Insurance Awareness Month”. It’s hard to wake up in the morning and remember what I am suppose to be aware of. It’s not that these […]

Happy Birthday Bev!

What better way to celebrate National Library Week than with the 100th birthday of the author with some of the most library shelf-worthy books published in the second half of the 20th century. One of my favorites, Beverly Cleary turns 100 today. Ramona was ever present in my childhood and I remember reading every Beverly Cleary […]

The Lammys!

I remember reading Annie On My Mind as part of my YA Literature class during my Master’s program. We were assigned a title from each YA “genre” and that was our LGBTQ book I suppose. I guess at the time there probably weren’t many other choices, either that, or it was because that book was […]

ED — An Abusive Relationship

Check Out Charlotte — Another Award!

In the wake of ALA’s announcement of the Youth Media Award winners comes another important if only slightly lesser known award, The Charlotte Zolotow Award. Similar to the Caldecott, the Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the previous year. It was established in 1998 […]

Happy New Year! 2016 Books to Movies

If you’ve already given up on your New Year’s Resolution here’s a new one to sink your teeth into, read all the the children’s and YA books that will become movies in 2016, or sometime soon after. it’s a good idea to keep up with pop culture if you are a librarian that works with […]

PURE GRIT — Strong Women in Historical Fiction

Let me start off my saying that yes I know it is the holidays and I should be sharing a holiday themed list with you. Truth be told I didn’t do one and for me to try to put one together now would be a futile effort as most of your students are out for […]

The Great Depression Revisited

October 29, 2015 marked the 86th anniversary of the lethal plunge of the American stock market that threw the nation into a state of brutal economic turmoil. As the years past so do the primary source narratives of parents then grandparents and great grandparents who lived through difficult time in history. How then do we […]