A bit disappointing, actually. The essays were disjointed, not especially appealling (one would think with years of articles to draw from, the cream of the crop would have been a bit more exciting), there's no through line or strong authorial voice, I disagreed with quite a few of the gists, and walked away not feeling compelled to add one single new book to my reading list, which is (for me) almost unheard of.

So if you're reading it in the hopes that it will excite you about children's literature, it kind of doesn't. (Or at least it didn't for me). Whereas something like Wild Things by Bruce Handy (not to be confused with Wild Things by Betsy Bird on the same subject!) was terrific.

This is readable (I wasn't cursing at it) but not particularly interesting or fun or revelatory.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )

Returned damaged from ILL to EMU. ( )

Mostly essays, mostly by ppl a little more educated & arrogant than I am. Hard to think who the audience would be - ppl who already despise Berenstain Bears (like me) already feel confident in their ability to choose & share children's books. Ppl who do like 'books with wheels' won't 'get' most of the recommendations here, even if they do manage to read the essays. Mostly, though, I think that ppl who don't have their own opinions would get the most out of this.

I'm sort of enjoying some of the essays, and even getting some more titles to add to my to-read lists. But my life is not being enriched for reading this.

I did really liked the anti-Berenstain essay: *Trashing Elmo* by Ginee Seo and Bruce Brooks.
From that I'm going to try to find|Spring is Here|Taro Gomi, and if I do I'm going to recommend that book to my 18 yo son who is fan of the Miyazaki movies.

From other essays and lists I'm going to look (or look harder for, in the case of Henkes, for example) for:

First the Egg|Laura Vaccaro Seeger

The Stinky Cheese Man And Other Fairly Stupid Tales|Jon Scieszka|Lane Smith and designed (in this case a critical, not merely important, role) by [a:Molly Leach (note the red-colored font used for the annoying voice of the Little Red Hen).

One Voice, Please|Sam McBratney

My Garden|Kevin Henkes

Tacky Goes to Camp|Helen Lester

All the World|Liz Garton Scanlon

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime|Bob Shea

Judy Moody (Judy Moody, # 1)|Megan McDonald - because Junie B. is feisty, cutesy, faux-obstreperous" and I don't like her.

How Oliver Olson Changed the World|Claudia Mills

Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally)|Lisa Yee (nonwhite characters as focus not just side-kick)

Hannah's Winter|Kierin Meehan

A Drowned Maiden's Hair|Laura Amy Schlitz (great first line)

How the Hangman Lost His Heart|K.M. Grant (romance in hist. fic.)

The Tree of Life Charles Darwin|Peter Sís

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Through the Gates and Beyond|Jan Greenberg

What To Do About Alice? How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy!|Barbara Kerley

The Winter Road|Terry Hokenson (adventure/ survival, female MC)

Prehistoric Actual Size|Steve Jenkins

Just the Right Size Why Big Animals Are Big and Little Animals Are Little|Nicola Davies

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree|Lauren Tarshis

Everything on a Waffle (Coal Harbour #1)|Polly Horvath (it'll be a reread; this time I'll focus on irreverence and dark satire)

Let's Try It Out In the Kitchen|Seymour Simon and others in the series, and others at Simon & Schuster

Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware (Pals in Peril #3)|M.T. Anderson (absurdist humor)

Becca at Sea|Dierdre Baker

The Willoughbys|Lois Lowry (humor, metafiction)

I'm Being Stalked by a Moonshadow|Doug MacLeod

Forever Rose (Casson Family, #5)|Hilary McKay (not sure why the fifth, instead of first, is recommended...)

The Thumb in the Box|Ken Roberts

Little Wolf's Book of Badness (Middle Grade Fiction)|Ian Whybrow

Sky Magic|Lee Bennett Hopkins (poetry)

Tap Dancing on the Roof Sijo (Poems)|Linda Sue Park (poetry, Korean form)

Included is an index, notes on contributors, and two bibliographies.

Some ideas I like:

Books that are often recommended as 'bibliotherapy' (ie, when grandma is dying, or a divorce is pending) should actually be in every child's repertoire as early as possible, as a *vaccination.* (Maeve Visser Knoth)

"The point of being a skilled reader is not to read increasingly difficult books, it's to allow you scope." (Roger Sutton)

"There is no need put yourself in the shoes of a ten-year-old.... Only by experiencing it as a reader... will you be in a position to recommend it to another: not a child, but a fellow reader." (RS)

1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up by Julia Eccleshare this is not - though it might appeal to some readers of that." ( )

After reading Jim Trelease' "The Read Aloud Handbook" and a series of other more inferior books about reading to children with book recommendations, I stopped at getting similar books since I think one inspirational/informative book is enough in this area. However, this book proved me wrong. One of the author, Roger Sutton, has been the editor of the magazine "Hornbook" for many years, and both the Hornbook and he are well known by their seriousness in picking the reviewing Children's publications and their strictness in giving stars.

The book read like a triple feature Hornbook magazine. Everything I like about the magazine is in the book. There are famous children's authors, writing about different topics/genres and their point of views in things relating to Children's literature. I always love reading "other" writings from authors, which make me understand them more. There is a chapter on every genre, from book for babies all the way to Young Adult Fiction. The book recommendations are great, including a few new ones that were not included in The Read Aloud Handbook. Since Mr. Trelease hasn't been updating his famous book, I might have to give this one to new parents from now on.... ( )

Finding books to enjoy with your kids is hard. Finding books that they would enjoy reading themselves is harder.

I enjoyed the first few chapters and requested several picture books and early readers we missed from the library. I didn't finish, but plan to bring this back in a couple of months to look for more gems we missed for the upper grade-school set to offer to my kids

( )