Not Just for Kids

........I am comparing board book adaptations of Pride and Prejudice. It is not a format which seems immediately obvious for Austen adaptations, but both BabyLit books and Cozy Classics are givin...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2013/02/over-at-from-ja-to-ya.html

The landscape of this book is probably (hopefully!) unrecognizable to anyone who reads it: a brutal, bleak, totalitarian society in which the laws of intimidation and suspicion oversee all. It re...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2013/02/maggot-moon-by-sally-gardner.html

Not only do I read banned books, but I buy them as well. Let me start with a story. At the end of August, on my final evening of a lovely trip to Cape Cod, I was checking out Herridge Books in We...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/10/banned-books-week-tintin-in-congo.html

That honor, at least this week, will have to go to "malfeasance", from Ian Falconer's Olivia and the Fairy Princesses. As in: "I could be a reporter and expose corporate malfeasance." I have to ...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/09/best-big-word-in-picture-book.html

I'm excited and honored to once again be participating in the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards (but known as the Cybils among friends.) This will be my 5th year acting as a jud...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/09/bring-on-2012-cybils.html

My review of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken is today's Retro Review over at the Nerdy Book Club. Check it out!

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-wolves-of-willoughby-chase.html

So....who watched Saturday's new Doctor Who episode? I did. And I immediately thought of every one's favorite Time Lord when this arrived in Monday's new book order: You can't go wrong with dinos...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/09/appropos-of-nothing.html

.........I'm taking at a look at The Dashwood Sisters' Secrets of Love by Rosie Rushton, the first book in her Jane Austen in the 21st Century series.

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/06/over-at-from-ja-to-ya.html

........I'm taking a look at the PBS series Wishbone and their riff on Pride and Prejudice, "Furst Impressions."

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/05/over-at-from-ja-to-ya_16.html

.........I am examining For Darkness Shows the Stars, by Diana Peterfreund. Set for a June 2012 release, the novel is an original and successful adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasuison. Check it...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/05/over-at-from-ja-to-ya.html

I know I'm late for the lovefest for this book, but I say 'better late than never.' I am so glad I read it. I really enjoyed The Wednesday Wars, in which the character of Doug Sweiteck first appe...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/05/rave-reviews-okay-for-now-by-gary-d.html

2012 marks the 100th birthday of Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, and children's publishing is on the ball. There have been some lovely children's books published this year, focusing on t...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/04/celebrating-fenway-park-ted-and-me-by.html

Long-time readers of this blog, and people who know me well, know that there's no "letting" involved when it comes to reading. My philosophy when it comes to children and books is, "let them read...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/04/letting-my-11-year-old-read-hunger.html

"Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one's desires but by the removal of desire.....No man is free who is not master of himself." So says Epictetus, the Stoic Greek philosopher. But try t...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-tour-oh-no-george-by-chris.html

Who says February is a bummer? Imagine my joy this morning when my sleepy eyes spied the announcement in my Twitter feed that the 2012 BoB contenders had been announced! I adore the Bob's (also k...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/02/get-ready-for-2012-slj-battle-of-kids.html

....I'm trying to give the Pride and Prejudice board book a fair trial.

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/01/over-at-from-ja-to-ya_29.html

After the glory yesterday of the ALA Youth Media Awards, in which we were reminded of all the quality that children's literature has to offer the world, it didn't take long to find a reminder tha...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/01/reader-i-despair-jane-eyre-as-board.html

.......I am discussing Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman.

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/01/over-at-from-ja-to-ya.html

I say "wrap-up" even though round two of the judging is just getting into gear. But for me, the work is done, and now there is nothing left to do but sit back and join those waiting to hear the a...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/01/cybils-wrap-up.html

I have started a new blog over at Wordpress, entitled From JA to YA. It will be devoted entirely to my reading of young adult Jane Austen adaptations, biographies, and anything else which purport...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2012/01/ya-and-jane-austen-obvious-union.html

While on holiday, I've found some kiddie lit references in unusual places. I've come across Snowman toilet paper, Miffy and Mr. Men Kleenex, and Very Hungry Caterpillar cake. Fun!

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2011/12/kiddie-lit-here-there-and-everywhere.html

New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1851 With the establishment of time and place, Krista Russell sets the stage for her debut novel, Chasing the Nightbird. This historical adventure for middle grade rea...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2011/11/author-interview-krista-russell.html

This striking book takes a very interesting approach to the subject of hummingbirds (which, incidentally, make up the second-largest group of birds in the Americas.) It combines factual informati...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2011/10/cybils-review-hummingbirds-facts-and.html

You know, sometimes a hat is just a hat. This recent article from The Independent references Cambridge University academic Dr. Louise Joy, who puts forth the theory that adults read childrens lit...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-do-adults-read-childrens-books.html

It's that time of year again--Cybils time! I'm a little late getting this plug in (you know--life and stuff interfering with my writing) but I wanted to mention it all the same. This will be my f...

https://notjustforkids.blogspot.com/2011/10/cybils-nominee-can-i-see-your-id-true.html