We’re about to enter National March Into Literacy Month and
in honor of all things reading related, we’ve gathered some inspiration—from
events to book picks—for your little bookworms. —
WORLD READ ALOUD DAY AT BOOKS OF WONDER
Did you know that March 7 is World Read Aloud Day? To
celebrate, Books of Wonder is
joining with LitWorld to host a day-long event featuring authors, illustrators,
workshops and other family fun. Starting at 10am,
parents and little ones can gather for a session with literacy expert Pam Allyn
for an author book signing and Q&A. (And for more from Allyn, dip into our On
The Write Track article on how to promote writing skills in children.)
Then, enjoy children’s workshops on pop-up books, silly stories and sign
language, along with read aloud sessions from books like Charlotte’s Web. The afternoon will be filled with workshops geared
toward middle school students and young adults, and the day wraps up with New
York Times bestselling author, Peter Lerangis.
BANK STREET BOOKSTORE’S READING LIST
For reading at home, Bank
Street Bookstore Owner Beth Puffer recommends the following books for
little ones as they grow. And to read more about her store, check out The
Little Bookstore That Could.
AGES 1-3
My Animals by Xavier Deneux
More, More, More Said the Baby by Vera B. Williams
AGES 3-5
Subway Sparrow by Leyla
Torres
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead
AGES 5-7
Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
AGES 7-10
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
OUR FAVORITE LOCAL BOOK BLOG
Finally, you can discover truly wonderful children’s books
with the click of a mouse at onepotato.net.
Unlike big box stores that push only the “latest and greatest,” One Potato specializes
in hidden gems—those lost and lesser-known titles that are a genuine pleasure
to introduce to little ones. With over six hundred reads posted so far, many of
the titles being touted on the site cost as little as one cent! An alternative
source of great books for families in search of something new, One Potato also
has a smartly written blog that you’re sure to enjoy when you’re not reading
physical books to the kiddos.
As an inspiring send-off, One Potato blogger Jay Bushara has shared five book picks with New York Family–all new releases!–for you to peruse. Enjoy.
Marshall Armstrong is
New to Our School by David Mackintosh
“A brand new title by a brand new author and illustrator,
David Mackintosh, that is not coincidentally a little stranger than it looks on
its surface. Notes the boy who sits next to him in class, ‘Marshall Armstrong doesn’t fit in at our school,’ and it doesn’t
nearly end with the briefcase and the porkpie hat.”
And Then It’s Spring
by Julie Fogliano and Erin E. Stead
“Finally a worthy successor to The Carrot Seed of sixty years ago, here is the promise of spring:
first ‘a hopeful, very possible sort of
brown,’ then brown with ‘a greenish
hum that you can only hear if you put your ear to the ground and close your
eyes.’ Stubborn and watchful.”
Pomelo Begins to Grow
by Ramona Badescu and Benjamin Chaud
“On growing up and moving on: this is another one of those rare
tall books that doesn’t seem to fit anymore on American shelves, and yet all of
the extra acreage here feels indispensable for containing such phantasmagoria
as a chorus of giddy potatoes who like to throw mud cakes at one another and
lounge in the branches, a hovering, menacing teapot, forests of mushrooms, and
Pomelo himself, who is mysteriously identified as a garden elephant. From
France.”
Three by the Sea
by Mini Grey
“From the curiously un-famous English creator of Egg Drop and The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon comes this roguish, simple
fable of a mouse who cooks dinner (fondue), a cat who keeps house (between
naps), a dog who plants gardens (with bones), and the castaway fox (a representative
of the Winds of Change Trading Company) who arrives with the tide, depositing
his tiny seeds of doubt.”
Monkey With a Tool
Belt and the Seaside Shenanigans by Chris Monroe
“The hero of Chris Monroe’s Monkey With a Tool Belt trilogy bears a passing resemblance to
Curious George, but he’s a great deal more useful in the community than his
mischievous forebear, who always seemed to come too easily to his popularity.
Chico Bon Bon wears his tool belt like a résumé, though he manages to also
summon a genuine delight at meeting the challenges Monroe puts before him. Here, he visits his friend Clark (the eponymous Noisy Problem in book two) and discovers a clumsy duck at the heart
of one paradise’s energy dependency.”
