Peggy Archer
Children's Author

This week, May 12th through May 18th, is Children’s Book Week. This is the 95th year of this annual celebration of children’s books and reading. Children’s Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, and wherever children and books connect.

Read about some children’s authors who were born this week.

L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900: born May 15, 1856 in Chittenango, New York.

Margret Rey, author/illustrator of the Curious George books with her husband, H. A. Rey: born May 16, 1906 in Hamburg, Germany.

Lillian Hoban, illustrator of Bread and Jam for Frances and other books about Frances, and author/illustrator of the early reading books about Arthur the chimpanzee: born May 18, 1925 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia.

Debbie Dadey, author of Bailey School Kids series and others: born May 18, 1959 in Morganfield, Kentucky.

May 11th through May 17th is also National Transportation Week. Here are some children’s books about transportation.

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Railroad Engineers & Airplane Pilots—What do they do? by Carla Greene
Snow Trucking! and other Trucktown books by Jon Scieszka
Drive and Job Site by Nathan Clement
Firehouse by Mark Teague
Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

And, finally, a few websites to check for more information and things to do during Children’s Book Week.

Book Week online

Get some ideas for ways to celebrate Children’s Book Week at this site from Scholastic.

Find more ideas on the ReadWriteThink website.

Happy Reading!  Read More 

This week, May 13-19, 2013, is Children’s Book Week. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes -- wherever young readers and books connect! To learn more, visit the Children’s Book Council (CBC) website.

Children's Book Week originated in the belief that children's books and literacy are life-changers. In 1913, Franklin K. Matthiews, the librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, proposed creating a Children's Book Week, which would be supported by all interested groups: publishers, booksellers, and librarians. children’s Book Week was established in 1919 and is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country.

With the end of the school year coming very close, it’s also time to start thinking about how to keep kids reading during the summer. Here are some ideas to get kids excited about summer reading.

--Libraries across the country are sponsoring summer reading programs. Get the kids to your local library to sign up! Libraries offer different kinds of incentives for kids who read during the summer, from prizes for books read each week to story times, field trips or author visits. Many libraries also offer reading programs for adults which coincides with the children’s program. Kids learn from the example of adults, so make summer reading a family affair and sign up!

--Set a special time for reading each day. Read in the middle of the day for some downtime, or for a set time before bed. Let them choose which books to read. Read out loud to younger children. If you have an older child whose interest is beyond their reading level, choose appropriate books and read out loud to them, too. It gives them motivation to read those books, and others, on their own.

--Choose a different location to read. Make a special reading corner in your house. Set up a backyard tent, or go to a park. Combine reading with a picnic. If the weather’s not cooperative, set up your ‘outdoor’ setting indoors.

--Do an activity that goes along with the book. If your story has characters roasting hot dogs over a campfire, make a campfire and roast hot dogs. If your book is set in Mexico, play some Mexican music or try some Mexican food. If it’s a book about cowboys or pirates, dress the part. If your book features a beautiful sunrise, get up early and watch the sun rise. Color a picture or do a craft that fits the theme of your book. If your book has an elephant in it, go to the zoo to see the elephants.

--Have your young readers use their creative juices to write a different ending to the book. With my picture book, Turkey Surprise, I sometimes ask kids to think about how the story might change if the little pilgrim brother just refused to hunt for a turkey. Would the big brother go on the hunt alone? How would that change the story? Or what if the brothers went on the hunt together and caught the turkey? How would the turkey get out of becoming Thanksgiving dinner?

There are more great ideas and resources to be found online. Check out Reading Rockets, or the KPIRC website.

Whatever you do this summer, be sure to make reading part of it!  Read More 

The Children’s Choice Book Awards program, launched in 2008 by The Children’s Book Council (CBC) in association with Every Child A Reader, was created to provide young readers with an opportunity to voice their opinions about the books being written for them and to help develop a reading list that will motivate children to read more and cultivate a love of reading.

On May 3rd the Children’s Book Council announced the following winners of the Children's Choice Book Awards for 2011:

Author of the Year
Rick Riordan for The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) (Disney-Hyperion)

Illustrator of the Year
David Wiesner for Art & Max (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year
Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby (Putnam/Penguin)

Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year
Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Knopf/Random House)

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year
The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1) by Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion)

Teen Choice Book of the Year
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (Dutton/Penguin)
--from Children's Book Council
 Read More 

It's Children's Book Week, and the CBC (Children's Book Council) has announced the winners of the 2010 Children's Choice Book Awards--Congratulations to the winners! To see the winners, go to http://networkedblogs.com/3MTTR.

Some time ago children's writers on our listserv talked about their favorite childhood books. I loved Little Red Riding Hood, but my very favorite book was Nurse Nancy. I wanted to take care of people, like Nancy did. When I grew up I went to school and became a nurse.

My friend's favorite books were the Louisa May Alcott books,including Little Women. "I believe those books engendered in me a love of reading, writing and history and I grew up to be  Read More