More 2015 Favorites

So many good picture books came out this year!  Here are a few more favorites.

Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed. This story, based on real events about a cat who "composed" a piece of music for a competition, is utterly delightful.  I love how the illustrator captures the real composer's frustration, the cat's mischievousness, and the hustle and bustle of New York City.  By the way, ketzel means cat in Yiddish, and ketzele (pronounced KETZ-el-uh) is the diminutive.  You can even buy - separately - a CD of the piano competition at which the piece was played.

Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower, written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli.  How clever to use fingerprints for the faces of the "bad guys!"  This unique book about a con man is great for older children.

In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van, illustrated by Amy Chu.  Lovely illustrations show a Vietnamese fisherman's family waiting for him to come back from the sea.  The story-within-a-story (or painting-within-a-painting) element has readers questioning what is real.

Americanine: A Haute Dog in New York. Kebbi's energetic pencil drawings capture New York's frenetic energy better than (almost?) any I've seen.  The conceit that the narrator is a French dog who is visiting New York for the first time is unnecessary (any ignorant visitor would do; e.g., an alien, or, even better for a children's book, a young child) except to create the occasional pun ("haute dog"), the art more than makes up for it.  And there's the Orthodox Jew who appears in almost every drawing... why?  Are there any other recurring characters?  I suspect spending a bit more time with this book would pay off.

Imaginary Fred.  Have you ever attended a concert where two imaginary friends were the musicians? Have you ever introduced your imaginary friend to your friend's imaginary friend? This take on imaginary friends is unique and hilarious.  The sight of the baffled audience listening to music played by the imaginary friends (or perhaps they only hear silence?) is priceless.  There are quite a few new books about imaginary friends this year (We Forgot Brock! is another, and a big hit with my students), but this is my favorite.  

Wait. This one is perfect for the toddler-preschool crowd.  Mommy's in a hurry, but look at all that she's missing out on!  A beautiful take on how children live - and force their parents to live - in the moment.  Portis's style reminds me a bit of Lauren Castillo's here, especially as this book is set in New York City like much of Castillo's work.  I wish I'd included this one in my mock Caldecott.

Leo:A Ghost Story.  Shades of blue predominate in this story about a ghost who saves the day and finds a friend.

A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Sophie Blackall.  Showing how one dessert - blackberry fool - has been made in different ways throughout time not only serves as a timeline of kitchen technology (bundle of twigs - whisk - mechanical mixer - electric mixer), but also shows societal changes throughout history.

Home, written and illustrated by Carson Ellis.  A palette of brown, blue, and red showcases all kinds of homes, from the real (apartments, wigwams, boats), to the imaginary (a home on the moon with a view of Earth, the home of a Norse god).  Pair it with A House is a House For Me for a fun discussion of houses and the completely different types of art (one stark and simple; one extremely detailed) in each book.

The Little Book of Big Fears.  A clever take on alphabet books (the missing letters spell GUTSY and BRAVE) that is perfect for your little worrier.

Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova.  This poetic biography of Anna Pavlova has the reader enter a winter wonderland.

See You Next Year.  The pleasures of visiting the same vacation spot year after year, thrown into greater relief by one change - the making of a new friend.

The Tea Party in the Woods.  In black-and-white-and-shades-of-gray with touches of red and yellow, this book tells the sotry of Kikko as she tries to bring a pie to Grandma through the woods. Sound familiar?  Not quite!  Betsy Bird wrote the perfect review.  

(Some of) My Favorites of 2015

Here are some of my favorite picture books of the year.  I realized that if I listed them all in one post, I wouldn't finish writing about them until January!  So here is what I hope is only the first installment.

Black Cat, White Cat. This book is just gorgeous. Borando uses the contrast and symmetry between black and white to stunning effect.  And the surprise ending (although genetically impossible), is hinted at by the one spot of orangey-red color on the cover. 

How the Sun Got to Coco's House.  Bob Graham is the master of the "small moment" story.  He takes one moment, expands on it, and makes it universal.  Or, as here, he does the opposite.  Rather than show us everything that happens in one moment, as in The Silver Button, here he takes us around the world as we follow the sun.  This is a beautiful, visually poetic take on time. A nice companion to non-fiction about time zones and the movement of the earth.

Whatever Happened to My Sister?  I think this is the only picture book which addresses the sadness - even grief - a younger child feels as her older sibling grows up and, in some ways, outgrows her.  When I asked my 7-year-old what the book was about she said, "Yeah, it's about the sister getting her period and stuff."  While the book never addresses the physical aspects of puberty, it addresses the emotional ones - for both the child going through it and her younger sibling. The resolution at the end shows that although growing up has changed the sisters' relationship, it has not severed their sororal bond.  

Bright Sky, Starry City.  A blackout allows a city girl to see the stars. Lovely.  Factual information at the end about light pollution is an added bonus.

When Dad Showed Me the Universe.  A touching, funny story about the differences in the perceptions of adults and children. I loved it, but I must admit it was lost on my 7-year-old.  

Is Mommy? This seemingly silly book, with illustrations to match by one of my favorite illustrators, Marla Frazee, is really about the enduring love children have for their mothers. Toddlers answer all the questions about their mommies in the negative - she is messy, old, ugly, mean.  But do they still love her?  Of course!  My 10-year-old loved this one and was thrilled to read it to her 2-year-old cousin.  

Mesmerized.  The true story of how Benjamin Franklin exposed Dr. Mesmer as a fraud is fascinating in itself.  This well-written, well-illustrated book goes one step further and explains the scientific method in a clear, coherent manner. Great for history buffs, budding scientists and doctors, older children, and well, pretty much everyone else, too. Now that I think of it, why hasn't this book been mentioned anywhere for an award? Perhaps the Sibert, for informational books?  

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear.  In addition to the beautiful illustrations, which have been justly heralded and talked about as deserving a Caldecott, I love this book for the way it talks about the power of stories.  The book is framed as the author telling the story of her great-grandfather to her son, who is named after him.  Her great-grandfather is the man who bought a bear he named Winnie, who eventually lived at the London Zoo, who in turn was the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories.  As the author says, "Sometimes you have to let one story end so the next can begin."  When her son asks if the story is all true, she answers, "Sometimes the best stories are."  With photos of her great-grandfather, Winnie, and the real Christopher Robin at the end, this book is a treasure. Although it is a bit long for younger children, the book separates the two stories, so that it could easily be read in two separate installments.

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael Lopez.  The more I read this to classes at school, the more I love it. The vibrant colors, the musical free verse, the determination of the heroine.  This may be my first choice in our mock Caldecott.

Which picture books were your favorites this year?

Mockdecott 2016!

For the second year in a row, I am running a mock Caldecott competition at my daughters' school.

I nominated 12 books this year.  There were lots of wonderful books that have also been mentioned as possible contenders, but I couldn't include all of them.

Although the Caldecott committee is only supposed to consider the quality of the work, I try to present the students with a mix of books: diverse in subject matter, medium, ethnic background of the author/illustrator/characters, fiction and nonfiction.

So without further ado, our 2016 nominees are [drum roll]:

A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van, illustrated by Amy Chu

Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower, written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli

Waiting, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes

My Pen, written and illustrated by Christopher Myers

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael Lopez

Water is Water: A Book About the Water Cycle by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Jason Chin

The Whisper, written and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Home, written and illustrated by Carson Ellis

We Forgot Brock!, written and illustrated by Carter Goodrich

Lenny & Lucy by Phillip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead

Are you running or participating in a mock Caldecott this year?  Is your child?  What books are on your short list?

For the (Younger) Child Who's Read Everything

In a previous post, I gave you books for 4th and 5th graders who have read everything.  Now, for the child who is not ready (reading-level-wise or content-wise) for those books, here are a few ideas.

Oldies but Goodies

The Adventures of Ali Baba Bernstein by Johanna Hurwitz.  David Bernstein is sick and tired of being one among many "Davids."  The ending, where he invites all the David Bernsteins in the NYC phone book to his birthday party is priceless (and may have your children asking what a phone book is).

The Riverside Kids books by Johanna Hurwitz.  These interconnected stories of neighbors in a Manhattan apartment building have a timeless appeal.  Sadly, a lot of these are out of print.

The Two and Only Kelly Twins by Johanna Hurwitz.  My 2nd grade daughter thought the part where twins pretend to have a triplet so hysterical that she read it three times.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald.  Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle cures tiny-bite-taker-itis, don't-want-to-go-to-bed-itis, can't-stop-quarreling-opathy, and other childhood illnesses by giving the victims a taste of their own medicine, in the funniest way possible.

Nancy and Plum by Betty MacDonald.  Orphaned sisters suffer under a Miss Hannigan-like orphanage matron, but find a happy ending.

The Elevator Family by Doug Evans.  The hotel is fully booked, so this family takes a strange little room that moves up and down!

The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy.  Mildred Hubble is the worst witch.  Not worst as in meanest, but worst as in most unsuccessful.  Poor Mildred is the hapless type of child bad things just seem to happen to.  Lucky for us, those children make for the most entertaining stories.

The Chalk Box Kid by Robert Clyde Bulla.  A boy can't have a real garden in his new apartment, but he still manages to bring the beauty of nature to his home.

Homer Price by Robert McCloskey.  Old-fashioned but funny.  The donut scene is priceless (think Lucille Ball with the chocolates).

Some more recent books:

The Two and Only Kelly Twins by Johanna Hurwitz.  My 2nd grade daughter thought the part where twins pretend to have a triplet so hysterical that she read it three times.

The Franklin School Friends and other books by Claudia Mills.  My 2nd grader gobbles these like candy.

And just in case you missed these:

Books by Andrew Clements.  Some of these may be a bit too hard for younger kids, but it depends on the child.  My 2nd grader has read and loved Lost and Found, No Talking, and The Report Card. Frindle is fantastic although some of the concepts may be lost on younger children.

Freckle Juice and The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume.  Need I say more?

The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling.  Everything John Midas touches turns to chocolate!

What are your 2nd and 3rd graders' favorite books?

A Myriad, a Plethora, An Abundance of (Okay, Just Three) ... Books About Collective Nouns

From A Zeal of Zebras

I found A Zeal of Zebras: An Alphabet of Collective Nouns at a museum gift shop and was drawn in by the visually stunning cover.  As a word-lover, the topic of collective nouns also piqued my interest, and I was sold.  Although I wonder if these terms are ever actually used, their vivid imagery is irresistible.  I even picked up an adult version of this book and found gems such as "a squint of proofreaders!"   A Zeal of Zebras presents animals in alphabetical order and is as informative as it is gorgeous.

And you know how, once you notice something, it seems to be everywhere?  All of a sudden, I noticed books about collective nouns everywhere.

A flock of sheep from A Tower of Giraffes

A Tower of Giraffes: Animals in Groups takes the same tack, providing information about each animal and its community.  But while I loved the art (I dare you to not to touch the woolly-seeming sheep!), the animals seem arranged in no particular order and the book comes to an abrupt end.

An Ambush of Tigers: A Wild Gathering of Collective Nouns takes a completely different approach.  My wordplay-loving 7-year-old loved this rhyming book, which asks questions like "Would a labor of moles wear polka-dot ties when it goes to work for a business of flies?" and "When a murder of crows leaves barely a trace, is a sleuth of bears hot on the case?"  In a nice touch, it has a glossary which gives the alternate (more common) meaning for each word used to name an animal group.  Fun and funny, this is a more accessible introduction to collective nouns than a mere list.  But it lacks information about the animals and animal communities themselves, which is why these books work so well together.

A sleuth of bears

Interestingly enough, the books do not always use the same word for a group of animals.  An Ambush of Tigers and A Tower of Giraffes both feature flamingos  - but the former calls a group of them a bland "stand," whereas the latter identifies such a group as a much more vivid "flamboyance."  A romp of otters or a raft of them?



What is your favorite collective noun?

For the Child Who's Read Everything

Lately, I've gotten a LOT of requests for book suggestions from friends.  Most of them have children between 3rd and 5th grade and have read a lot of the recently released books.  Suggesting new books wasn't going to cut it with these kids.  So instead, I went back in time.  I looked to more obscure, forgotten classics, but also the books I read and loved as a kid (in the 80s!).  I couldn't resist throwing in a few of my contemporary favorites, just in case they had somehow missed out on them.  Also included is a list of classics that are still popular.

In no particular order...:

Oldies but Goodies

Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.  Tom discovers a garden that only exists when the clock strikes thirteen.

Her Majesty, Grace Jones and The Boyhood of Grace Jones by Jane Langton.  A girl uses her imagination to survive the Depression.

Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards (yes, THAT Julie Andrews) (but please read The Secret Garden first!).  An orphan girl makes a deserted cottage in the woods her private hideaway and finds peace, beauty, and friendship in nature.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards.  An adventure reminscent of The Phantom Tollbooth.

The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth.  Exactly what it sounds like!

Black and Blue Magic by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.  Harry Houdini Marco is given the gift of flight and in turn gives the gift of believing in the impossible to others.  See my discussion of it here.

The Saturdays and sequels by Elizabeth Enright.  Four motherless children alternate having adventures in old New York on Saturdays.

The "Shoes" books by Noel Streatfeild (Ballet Shoes is the best).  British orphans need to make their living on the stage.

Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.  A pampered orphaned city girl moves to live with family in the country and learns to - and that she can - take care of herself.

Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster.  In this epistolary novel, an orphan writes letters to her mysterious benefactor.

Anna to the Infinite Power by Mildred Ames.  Super-creepy book about a girl who doesn't know she's one of thousands of identical clones.

The Girl With Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts.  A girl discovers she has the power of telekinesis.

The Anastasia books by Lois Lowry.  Laugh-out-loud funny.

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord.  A Chinese immigrant girl finds that falling in love with baseball and the Brooklyn Dodgers is her route to becoming an American.  Very funny, to boot.

For slightly older children

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt.  Historical fiction about the Civil War.

Dicey's Song and sequels by Cynthia Voigt.  A raw, poignant, heartbreaking story of abandoned siblings.

The Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.  A motherless girl copes with growing up.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr.  Anna and her German Jewish family flee their home as the Nazis come to power.

Some more recent favorites

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.  Calpurnia Tate defies her mother's wishes that she be a proper young lady and instead pursues her love of science, guided by her grandfather.

The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm.  Another wonderful grandfather-granddaughter scientist story.

Our Only May Amelia and  The Trouble With May Amelia by Jennifer Holm.  Completely different from The Fourteenth Goldfish, these books tell the story of a pioneer girl in Washington in 1899.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin. Beautifully written books in which the protagonists go on a journey (physical and spiritual) only to find that what they seek has been at home all along.  With Chinese folktales embedded in the books, the complicated plot structures make these great read-alouds.

The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech.  Neither the peasants nor the royals in this seeking story are fully satisfied.

A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass.  The story of a girl with synesthesia.

Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park.  This book, about a Korean-American girl and her male friend who decide to enter a project about growing silkworms in the state fair is really about racism, ethnic identiy, assimilation, what it means to be an American, sustainable farming, and novel-writing itself.
 
Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park.  Another story of a girl who loves baseball.  But the subplot of a local soldier who comes home from the Korean War with PTSD makes this a story for older readers.

Twerp and Finding the Worm by Mark Goldblatt.  These coming-of-age in 1960s Queens are based on the author's own life and deal with issues big and small, including friendship and religion.  A tragedy in the second book may make this more appropriate for older children.

The Magic Half  by Annie Barrows and Seven Stories Up by Laurel Snyder. Time travel and sibling relationships make for fun books.  Read more about them here.

Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles.  A historical novel set in a tuberculosis sanitorium against the backdrop of World War II.

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.  A tear-jerker about a brilliant girl unable to talk because of cerebral palsy and what happens when she finally becomes able to communicate.

And just in case you missed these classics (horrors!):

The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.  Claudia and her brother James run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and become intrigued by the a mystery regarding the provenance of a sculpture.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  Tessering, good versus evil, and smart women scientists make a great trifecta.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri.  An orphan is taken care of by her hermit grandfather and finds peace, beauty, and friendship in nature.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  An orphan has to live with a distant relative and finds peace, beauty, and friendship in nature.  Sound familiar?  I strongly recommend reading this one out loud due to the Cockney-accented English of some of the characters.

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  A pampered child who suddenly experiences a turn of fortune draws on her inner strength to survive.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit.  Would it really be good to live forever?

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.  Classic tearjerker.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.  A puzzle of a book.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.  Word play and math concepts galore.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.  Historical fiction about the Salem witch trials.

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George.  Classic survival story.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell.  Another survival story.

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Rylie Brink.  Caddie does not want to be a proper young lady in 1864 Wisconsin.

Please tell me if this list is helpful!  Which of these do you remember reading as a child? What did I leave out?

The Joy and Frustration of Empty Shelves

Purchasing books for the school library is an exercise in balancing the constraints of money, space, and mission (to educate? to entertain?) with the students' requests for certain books and the popularity (possibly short-lived) of certain series.

When I see empty shelves because all the books have been checked out, I am thrilled that we have books that the kids love, and I  regret I don't - can't - have more of them.  The Wimpy Kid shelf is perpetually empty, as are the shelves designated for other popular series, such as Captain Underpants and Big Nate, as well as the graphic novel shelf.  I have four copies of Smile and it is rarely back in the library for more than a few minutes.  I encourage the children, particularly the ones who I know have regular access to the public library, to seek them out there, but you know kids.  It's all about immediate gratification.

A rare sighting of TWO Wimpy Kid books on the shelf!

We don't have more than four copies of any book.  Our school has 600 students and the library can't consist just of Wimpy Kid and books by Raina Telgemeier, much as the students might wish it did!  (Oh, and Minecraft - which the children always request and of which we have none.  Because I refuse to have video-game or television or movie based books in the school library.)  With some of these series consisting of 10 books or more, if I had four copies of each one... well, you see the problem.  And what happens in a few years, if Wimpy Kid et al. is no longer popular?

However, because of the way we schedule library time, the first class to grab those Wimpy Kid books keeps getting them.  They come on the first Monday of the year, take them out, and then every time they return them, they circulate to other children in the same class.  Thursday classes are out of luck. We need a new system.

One idea I've proposed is that that every time a Wimpy Kid or other similarly popular book is returned, we should not let it immediately recirculate.  We should hold it until the next class comes in, or even until the next day.  As a matter of policy - and simplicity - we don't allow holds on books.

How many copies of popular books do you have at your/your child's school library?  How do you make sure as many children as possible have access to them?

Photos of the books I DID purchase to follow in a later post!

Let's Go On A Treasure Hunt!

Let's go on a treasure hunt!  What are we hunting?  Words!  And where are we hunting for them?  In books!

In an effort to bring back dictionary usage, I wracked my brain for something that would make vocabulary fun.  I'm not sure this will work, but I figured it was worth a try.  I picked 10 difficult words and students will get points for: (1) finding the words in books they are reading; (2) guessing the meaning from context; (3) looking the definition up in the dictionary; (4) identifying the word's part of speech; (5) listing synonyms and antonyms of the word.  May the best reader win!

What Wouldn't You Want to Live Without?

What wouldn't you want to live without?

Chocolate?  Google?  Pictures? Snuggling?  Cheese? Those were some of the answers our students and parents gave when we asked them that question.

Zombies scary stuf! [sic]

Last spring I purchased 40+ books in the You Wouldn't Want to...  series (You Wouldn't Want to Live Without... Electricity/ Books/ Fire; You Wouldn't Want to Be A... Suffragist/ An Aztec Sacrifice; you get the idea!) for the school library.  I knew they would be popular once they made it onto the shelves this fall, but I still wanted to draw the students' attention to this new collection.  I left out slips of paper asking what they couldn't live without and tons of children (and a few parents) filled them out and, as expected, the books have proved popular.

These books are not the type of nonfiction I usually like.  I find a lot of today's nonfiction too busy (I did not grow up with all the screens and video games that get today's kids used to seeing lots of graphics and scattered information on each page). And while I think there is a place for nonfiction that provides snippets of information, I think they have to be supplemented if students want to delve more deeply into a topic.  Finally, these books feel a bit gimmicky to me - they make everything about history gross, horrific and negative.

Star Wars

Despite myself,  I do like these books.  I find they go more in depth than others of this type. They are less busy than, say, the Magic School Bus books, which I find dizzying.  The topics are interesting. When you think of things you wouldn't want to live without, clean water and toilets come to mind, and are covered by entries in this series, but you probably wouldn't think of things that you think you would want to live without, like insects, or extreme weather, which also are covered here.  Similarly, being a suffragist or a samurai or a gladiator might sound really cool... until you read these books.

So, what wouldn't you want to live without?

My Apartment Complex

Do you remember those TV ads for the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes?  You know, the ones where they knock on someone's door and tell them they've won $25,000?  Well, every time my sister and I saw one of those, we had the same reaction: Why doesn't anyone who lives in an apartment ever win?

I have the same question about children's books.  Where are the apartment buildings? Perhaps, as a lifelong apartment-dweller myself, I am oversensitive and thus exaggerating their scarcity.  Sure, there are some books - some pretty famous ones, at that - featuring apartment dwellers: When You Reach Me, Liar and Spy, and Goodbye Stranger, all by Rebecca Stead, the Riverside Kids books (these really get at the heart of apartment living, with unpleasant interactions in the elevator, a building-wide party, and Nora's imagining all 200 residents brushing their teeth at the same time!), the Clementine series, and the Fudge books (except for the year the Hatcher family decamps for New Jersey).  The characters in Mark Goldblatt's Twerp and its sequel, Finding the Worm, live in apartment buildings in Queens.  Harriet the Spy is a city dweller, but her wealthy family lives in a house, as do the Primms of Lyle the Crocodile books.  Ditto for the Melendy Quartet.  Some older books, especially those that feature immigrants, are set in (small) apartment buildings such as All-of-a-Kind Family series and In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson.  But modern, apartment dwelling kids?  They seem to be few and far between.

As for picture books, such depictions seem even more rare. Amy Schwartz's A Glorious Day portrays the daily activities of the residents of a low-scale Brooklyn apartment building. What Happens on Wednesdays, Nana in the City (where a boy becomes reconciled to his grandma living in the city, but still doesn't want to live there himself!), the books of Ezra Jack Keats, Gina, a little known out-of-print gem by Bernard Waber about a tomboy who lives in Queens also come to mind.  (Speaking of which, the latter, Mark Goldblatt's books, and How Pizza Came to Queens are the only children's books I have found set in Queens.)  Some others, like Tar Beach, feature apartment dwellers, but that fact plays little to no role in the story.  


Even non-fiction books that take as their subject matter homes seem to equate homes with houses, not apartments.  In Carson Ellis's otherwise lovely Home, apartments get barely a glancing mention.  In If You Lived Here (which admittedly does have the subtitle Houses of the World), there is nary an apartment to be found, although there are other types of multiple dwellings mentioned, such as the tulou of China.  And in Cynthia Rylant's Let's Go Home: The Wonderful Things About a House (emphasis added), of course only addresses the components of houses (including a ridiculously big bathroom).  A search did uncover Apartment Book, but I can't think of any other books about apartments and/or apartment buildings.  Not (only) how they are built, not their architecture or engineering, but how they function as homes.

What children's fiction can you think of where the protagonist lives in an apartment?  Is there non-fiction about apartment buildings that I've missed?

Is it me, or do way more children's book protagonists live in houses than apartments?

Zeroteenth Birthday Book Quiz, Part 3!

The third, and final, part of our quiz!  Scroll down for the answers.  Part 1 can be found here and Part 2 can be found here.

1.       Which of the following is an epistolary novel?

a.       Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

b.      Heidi

c.       Daddy Long-Legs

d.      In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

2.       In Sisters, Raina is afraid of:

a.       Snakes

b.      Spiders

c.       Cockroaches

d.      Dogs

3.       In Half Magic, the children must hold what when they make their wish?

a.       A magic wand

b.      A coin

c.       A letter

d.      A key

4.       In The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Jamie cheats at which card game?

a.       Poker

b.      Crazy Eights

c.       War

d.      Spit

5.       In The Pain and the Great One, both children think:

a.       The other is keeping a secret from him/her

b.      Their parents love the other one best

c.       The other is smarter than him/her

d.      The other is actually adopted

6.       Eloise lives in which New York hotel?

a.       The Plaza

b.      The Waldorf Astoria

c.       The Soho Grand

d.      The Chelsea Hotel

7.       Little Women is set during which war?

a.       The Revolutionary War

b.      The War of 1812

c.       The Civil War

d.      The Spanish-American War

8.       The last book in the Anne of Green Gables series AND the 4^th and 5^th books of the All-of-a- Kind Family series take place during which war?

a.       World War I

b.      The Vietnam War

c.       The Korean War

d.      World War II

9.        In which TWO books, is someone cured of paralysis and can walk again?

a.       The Secret Garden and A Little Princess

b.      Heidi and The Secret Garden

c.       Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and A Little Princess

d.      Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Heidi

10.   In The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Claudia and Jamie try to figure out the    provenance of what kind of artwork?

a.       A sculpture

b.      A painting

c.       A photograph

d.      A collage
   

Bonus question: What book does the word "zeroteen" come from?

a. Ramona's World
b. Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst
c. Completely Clementine
d. Smile


























Answers:  1. c, 2. a, 3. b, 4.c, 5, b, 6. a, 7. c, 8. a, 9. b, 10. a
Bonus: a.

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