Kids Blog

Read It Again! Great Read-Alouds for Kids

When it comes to read-alouds, some books are just superstars. Here are a few of my favorite superstar books from storytime - hits with both kids and parents. Enjoy!

Kids Have Reading Rights, Too!

There are a whole bunch of unwritten rules when it comes to kids and reading that we would never stand for ourselves as adult readers. Think about it: when was the last time you started to read a book but then abandoned it because the characters were flat or the dialogue was silly? How would you feel if someone stood over you and MADE you read that terrible-to-you book? Angry? Exasperated? Like you want to throw the book across the room?

Word Knowledge is World Knowledge

Talking is like breathing - we do it countless times every day without thinking. Of course, that was not always the case. You had to learn your language, and the way you did that was listening to other people (most likely your parents and other adults in your family) in everyday situations. For example, your father asked if you wanted a snack, and you pointed to the yellow pointy thing on the counter. He said, "Banana!

Finding the "Right" Book for Your School-Aged Reader

Has your child not yet fallen in love with reading? They could just be stuck in finding the "right" book for them! For me, I didn't find the "right" book - the "one" that set the precedence for my true love of reading - until I read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

Art Lab for Kids

When you were little, what kinds of art did you do? My art education was pretty standard for the time. We used watercolors, crayons, and learned a few paper craft kinds of things. The book Art Lab for Kids by Susan Schwake has plenty of standard art experiences, but it offers even more to do and explore in the wide, wide world of art.  Best of all, the focus on each project (there are 52 in total) is not perfection but the experience of making the art itself.

Toddlers Can Be Creative, Too!

Can toddlers really create art? YES! And I have a book to prove it to you. In many instances, children learn best by doing. Parents want to expose their child to a great variety of activities and often wonder: "What can I do now?" 

Learn About Real Lives: Biography In Context

Dragons and magicians, flying carpets and talking animals - these imaginative elements all have a place in a child's reading diet. But sometimes kids just want to know about REAL people who used hard work and determination (not magical feathers) to achieve real-life accomplishments.

2019 Sequoyah Award Voting Opens February 1st!

Every year since 1959, Oklahoma children cast their votes on favorite books from a carefully cultivated list of current titles in order to choose the winner of the Sequoyah Book Award. One of the oldest children's choice literary prizes in the United States, the Sequoyah Award currently has three categories: children's, intermediate, and high school books. Take a look at this year's children's list titles! 2019 Children's Sequoyah Masterlist 

Meet Yasmin!, Everyday Adventurer

Great beginning reader alert! "Yasmin" is a new, picture-heavy series of stories that feature Yasmin, a plucky Pakistani-American second grader, navigating the world with creativity, curiosity, and an adventurous spirit. 

Creating Semantic Maps of Winter

The science of reading research highlights how "semantic maps" help us comprehend what we read. ("Semantic" in this sense means anything related to words, particularly the concepts words represent.) In its basic form, the more you know about a topic - the more connected bits of knowledge you have on your semantic map of, say, winter - the more you will be able to understand an article or book about that topic.