Deborah Hopkinson
Content by Deborah Hopkinson
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<B>'Babe' author's furry new friend </B> Dick King-Smith is indeed the king of animal stories for young readers.
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Skippyjon Jones is back!
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Michael Rosen's Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet may be a picture book, but it will give high school students across the country a reason to rejoice.
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A new novel by Newbery award-winning author Karen Hesse is a cause for celebration.
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Twelve-year-old Mary O’Hara does not expect to meet the strange, old-fashioned woman walking home from school one day. The woman looks young and talks old.
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It's a presidential election year. Newspapers are crammed with the latest political stories. Walk into any corner store, and you're likely to hear folks talking heatedly about the candidates.
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Almost 20 years have passed since the publication of Lois Lowry’s Newbery-winning novel The Giver. While dystopian stories are widespread today, Lowry’s 1993 book was a pioneer in the genre for young readers, and it remains a searing and unforgettable reading experience.
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As Ruby Red begins, Gwen Shepherd is just an ordinary 16-year-old living in London with her mother, brother and sister and her eccentric extended family in a “posh” hou
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Twelve-year-old Lucy, the heroine of Valerie Hobbs’ lyrical new novel for young readers, treasures her summer visits with Grams, an artist and “a hippie before hippies were invent
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If the legendary author Margaret Wise Brown has an heir apparent in children's books, writer-illustrator Kevin Henkes just might be it.
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<B>A legend's rediscovered tale</B> One of the most exciting picture books to be published this year was actually written and illustrated more than two decades ago.
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Del Hartwick is a perfectly nice 17-year-old.
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<B>A magical place inspires Sharon Creech's latest novel</B> A new book from Sharon Creech is always a treat.
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Newbery Award medalist Paul Fleischman is one of the most original and talented authors of our time.
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When you hear the name Julie Andrews, you're likely to think Sound of Music.
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When Jean Craighead George was a girl, her father took her and her brothers camping and canoeing near their home in Washington, D.C, nearly every weekend.
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During his lifetime, author and illustrator Don Freeman (1908-1978) created some of the most beloved classics in children's literature, including Corduroy, Mop Top and Dandelion.
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<B>A poet's inspiration</B> Set in the 1920s, before the civil rights movement had even begun, <B>Langston's Train Ride</B> imagines the poet Langston Hughes as a young
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There is a long history of prejudice against people with dwarfism, and while today we know it is usually caused by a genetic disorder, author Katherine Marsh details the cruel treatment of Renaissa
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It's the morning after a blizzard, and deep in the woods, the animals begin to notice that something is different.
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Margi Preus, who won a Newbery honor for Heart of a Samurai, returns with another riveting work
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In Emily’s Fortune, Newbery Award-winning author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has penned a fast-paced Western adventure perfect for summer afternoons.
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Fans of The Hunger Games, the riveting and wildly popular novel by Suzanne Collins, have been eagerly awai
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Emily and Jackson are back.
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Arabella Anastasia is definitely not an ordinary girl. And Indescribably Arabella isn't an ordinary book, either.
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British author K.M. (Katie) Grant, creator of the popular de Granville trilogy, boasts a more colorful family history than most of us can claim. In 1747, her ancestor, Col.
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Winter is a wonderful season to snuggle up in a big chair and let books take us traveling. It's also a good season for bears.
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Late in 1866, a 13-year-old Irish lad named Malachy Gormley heads West to work for the Pacific Railroad and support his widowed mother and siblings back East.
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Vampires, ghosts, wizards, angels—they’re hard to escape in books these days.
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Acclaimed storyteller Jane Yolen opens this powerful collection of 14 folktales with a letter to her sons and grandson: "This book is for you because for the longest time boys didn't know
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In just one week, fifth grader Mattie Breen, custodial apprentice and secret storyteller, will face the moment she always dreads: introducing herself in front of her classmates in yet another new school.
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The childhood of America's most beloved president is brought to life in Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books, an engaging picture-book biography by Kay Winters.
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Three compelling new books for teens written by popular adult authors offer the perfect opportunity to get your kids started on summer reading.
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Newbery-winning novelist Karen Cushman introduces her first male leading character in Will Sparrow’s Road, an engaging historical fiction adventure set in 1599, in Elizabetha
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2008 Newbery Honor Book
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Helen Oxenbury is one of the foremost illustrators working in children's books today.
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Wonderful children's books are published each year, yet it's rare to find a story as original and endearing as Alan Armstrong's new novel, Whittington.
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Parents may refer to their teens’ behavior as “13 going on 30.” But in the case of Liam Digby, narrator of Frank Cottrell Boyce’s hilarious new novel, Cosmic
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“It’s like he came out of nowhere.”
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If you're reluctant to say goodbye to summer, try reaching for this sun - soaked treasure for young readers by National Book Award-winning author Polly Horvath.
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In Jessica Warman’s taut, haunting thriller, nothing is quite as it seems.
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"Customs come and customs go. I learned this from the chickens." So begins this amusing tale about a flock of chickens that go on strike against an old Jewish custom called Kapores.
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“Have you ever noticed how minutes or hours seem to speed up sometimes, but other times they go really slow?
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It's September again. Summer is over, and around the country kids are returning to school.
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In A Summertime Song, renowned children's book artist Irene Haas created a sumptuous picture book celebrating all the beauty and fullness of summer.
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Poor Bobo! There's something hiding under this little monster's bed. His brother, Buster, says Bobo is just a fraidy-cat. But it's hard to blame Bobo for being scared.
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If you fell in love with the book (and film) Wonder Boys and found yourself enthralled by The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, then you're in luck.
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Cinderella is perhaps the fairy tale most often retold. For her part, Barbara McClintock was inspired to retell and illustrate Cinderella after a trip to Paris.
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Retellings of the Cinderella story abound, but if you thought it was impossible to find a fresh adaptation, you're in for a delightful surprise.
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Acclaimed illustrator and author Anita Lobel first published Potatoes, Potatoes in 1967.
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Polar bears may be able to withstand sub-zero temperatures, but that doesn't mean they don't enjoy a nice cup of cocoa now and then.
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Karen Healey’s debut novel, Guardian of the Dead, takes place at a boarding school in New Zealand, where Ellie Spencer is living away from home for the first time.
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Of course, scary stories have been with us for a long time.
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If you're looking for truly terrifying fare to read aloud on Halloween, look no further than Vivian Vande Velde's book, All Hallows' Eve.
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One day, 12-year-old Daralynn Oakland is grounded for going fishing in Doc Lake without telling her mother.
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There’s nothing like the simple, delectable pleasure of getting lost in a book on a summer’s day—as author Huntley Fitzpatrick understands.
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Opening a new novel by Polly Horvath is a bit like going on an adventure—on each page something new and unexpected unfolds.
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Acclaimed author Gary Paulsen has often written about dogs, and is known as an enthusiastic fan of canines.
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Caleb is a black teenager in rural Georgia in the midst of World War II in this compelling coming-of-age novel. As the title of David L. Dudley’s novel suggests, Caleb is fighting several battles: the struggle within himself about what it means to be a good person, the fight for civil rights and a conflict with his father about becoming his own man.
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Like most 12 year olds, Mibs (short for Mississippi) Beaumont is looking forward to her 13th birthday. But in the Beaumont family, this means a lot more than just becoming a teenager at last.
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For veterans of winter weather, sometimes it's more fun to read about snow than shovel or drive through it.
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The very word breadcrumbs conjures up images of a boy and a girl lost in a dark and mysterious landscape, trying to get back home to safety.
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British author Frank Cottrell Boyce is probably best known for his book Millions, the story of two brothers who find a bag of money by the side of the railroad tracks.
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Dystopia, fantasy and science fiction crowd the YA shelves these days, but Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein’s astonishing new World War II novel, is a reminder of the power h
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Children and adults alike will be drawn to Robert Neubecker's bright and bold illustrations in Wow! America!. The creator of Wow!
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Most kids have probably never seen a silent movie, but after reading the new picture book from best-selling author Avi, they just might want to rent an old Charlie Chaplin film on their next trip
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There's probably no better way to celebrate the 30th birthday of the hero of Judy Blume's now-classic Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, first published in 1972, than the publication of a new F
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March brings two delicious literary and entertainment treats for teens (and, let’s face it, the rest of us).
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It would be hard to find an American girl who hasn't read a book by Judy Blume.
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It's hard to believe that Lemuel Gulliver is nearly 300 years old.
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Each season has its charms, but none is quite so intoxicating as spring.
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Good news for fans of Hattie Inez Brooks, the likeable, intrepid heroine of the Newbery Honor book Hattie Big Sky: Thanks to many requests from readers, award-winning author Kirby Larson h
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Have you noticed that holiday decorations appear in stores earlier and earlier each year?
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No creature is better prepared for the cold than the polar bear. Did you know, for instance, that polar bears stay warm in temperatures of 40 degrees below zero?
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<b>In ÔDragonology,' British editor creates fire-breathing treat for young readers</b> Some of you with a child between the ages of eight and eighteen have probably seen your son or d
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“Put on your veil, grab your hive tool, and light up your smoker we’re going into a beehive,” begins The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe.
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Not surprisingly, beloved author Patricia Polacco's latest book for young readers, When Lightning Comes in a Jar revolves around the theme of family.
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Piper Paisley’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day. But despite her friends’ best efforts to hatch a plan for romance, Piper isn’t feeling the love.
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Laurence Roach is a 15-year-old boy with a plan: save his family, no matter what it takes.
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Caldecott Honor illustrator Peter S’s has lived in the United States for 20 years, and his new book, The Train of States, is a sumptuous tribute to his adopted country.
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"I am a story," begins Julius Lester's creative new picture book, Let's Talk About Race, a child-friendly, engaging book perfectly suited to get kids thinking, and talking, about this importan
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Life: An Exploded Diagram, the new novel from award-winning British author Mal Peet, is a reminder that labeling a work as “YA” (young adult) is often, well, arbitrary.
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“Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?”
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<b>Making poetry into child's play</b> <i>zoo's who</i> is the latest title from award-winning poet and artist Douglas Florian, whose innovative books also include <
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<b>Making poetry into child's play</b> For children and adults who love story poems, Kevin Crossley-Holland has compiled a beautifully illustrated poetry anthology entitled <b>
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For readers who want to know more about poetry itself, poet and teacher Paul B.
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<b>Making poetry into child's play</b> Award-winning author Naomi Shihab Nye, whose <i>19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East</i> was a finalist for the Nati
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It's hard to resist the exquisite paintings of award-winning illustrator E.B. Lewis. His talents shine anew in this quiet, heartfelt collaboration with Jacqueline Woodson.
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Kids have always been fascinated by dinosaurs. And here's a book that proves it.
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Lexi and Taylor have been best friends since kindergarten, and even if Taylor is rich and has the best clothes and haircut, Lexi knows she has something even more desirable: a beautiful face.
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Here's a new title that middle and high school students will welcome.
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<b>Nancy Farmer's satisfying sequel</b> Nancy Farmer is a master storyteller.
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It's the summer of 1899, 50 miles outside of Austin, Texas, and Calpurnia Tate's entire family, with the exception of her eccentric grandfather, is suffering from the heat.
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Author Gary Schmidt has won many fans with his luminous, heartfelt novels, including two Newbery honor titles, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and The Wednesday Wars.
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Douglas Wood's first book, Old Turtle, became an overnight sensation and an instant classic, inspiring children and adults alike.
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Spring figures predominantly in the clever new collection from Bobbi Katz, Once Around the Sun, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, which follows a brother and sister through the months of the year.
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Sometime in the future, a 16-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen lives with her little sister and mother in North America in a place called District 12.
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History also plays a role in Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, Carole Boston Weatherford's poignant picture book on the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins that began on February 1, 19
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The important role of protest marches in America's civil rights movement is explored in A Sweet Smell of Roses.
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Like many kids, George feels overlooked and ignored in the big, busy world of adults.
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New author Sandra Horning didn't have to search far to find the inspiration for The Giant Hug, her first children's book.
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It's important to have a shoe that fits right just ask Cinderella!
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Famed children's book illustrator Jules Feiffer, known for such favorites as I Lost My Bear and Bark, George, scales new heights with The Daddy Mountain, a tale of a small girl a
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k History Month: Children's inspiration and celebration Black History Month has been celebrated since 1976, but its origins date back to 1926, when a high school teacher named Carter G.
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What do you do when you have a bad day?
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ilde Schuurmans was inspired to write Sidney Won't Swim by her dog, Zaki, who is terrified of water. Believe me, I can relate.
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oetry were cooking, Douglas Florian would undoubtedly be considered a master chef.
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y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.
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y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.
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y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.
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y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.
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y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.
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arie Brown, the heroine of Jenny McPhee's clever debut novel, The Center of Things, is tall (she compares herself to Olive Oyl), unmarried, deaf in one ear and agonizingly early for every appoi
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Parents of adopted children love to recount the details of the day they first met, and Emily Prager is no exception.
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Brown versus the Board of Education, the historic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court declaring segregated schools unconstitutional, occurred 50 years ago this month, on May 17, 1954.
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“I’ll call you Dust Devil, and from now on we’ll ride together. I reckon I’ve finally found the horse that can carry me.”
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So begins Monchi's story of the 1938-39 school year at Coyote School in Pima County, Arizona. Every day, Monchi and his friends catch a bus and take a long, bumpy ride to school.
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The year is 1918, and wherever 16-year-old Mary Shelley Black turns, she is confronted with people’s fears of the deadly Spanish influenza.
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In June 1867, 17-year-old Verity Boone returns to live with her father in her hometown of Catawissa, Pennsylvania.
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Every once in a while a special picture book comes along. On the shelf it calls out to you immediately.
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Karen Cushman's voice is something to be reckoned with, whatever century she happens to be writing about.
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At first glance, longitude doesn't seem like a topic with the makings of a page-turner.
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Reading a new book by author and illustrator Jon J. Muth is a bit like pulling open a door and stepping into another world.
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Halloween used to be mostly for little kids, but in recent years teenagers and adults have embraced the holiday, not wanting to be left out of the parties, the chance to dress up and most of all, the
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Summer is a wonderful time to share books with children, whether it's a trip to the library for story time or a family outing to a friendly (air-conditioned) bookstore.
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When he was 7 years old, Vane Weston became known as “the Miracle Child” for surviving the Category 5 tornado that killed his parents. That was 10 years ago.
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Zora Neale Hurston, whose rich literary legacy includes the beloved book Their Eyes Were Watching God, was also an anthropologist who collected oral stories as she traveled throughout the So
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In The Year Money Grew on Trees, first-time children’s author Aaron R.
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The new school year can stir up lots of worries for kids.
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Children today are more likely to have seen the Walt Disney 1940 film version of Pinocchio than to have read the original book.
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Katie Sutton (parent trainer extraordinaire) offers up a comprehensive manual for effective handling of grown-ups in this delightful novel.
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Jack Gantos is perhaps best known as the author of books for younger readers, including the award-winning Joey Pigza novels for middle graders and the Rotten Ralph picture books.
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People of all ages have long turned to poetry as a way to express profound emotions of grief.
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Fans of Harriet M. Welsch rejoice: Harriet, Ole Golly, Sport and Cook are back in Helen Ericson's charming companion volume to the late Louise Fitzhugh's classic tale, Harriet the Spy.
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Travels of a different kind are the subject of The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence by Judith St. George, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand.
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<b>The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story</b> <b>The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story</b> by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Nicola Bayley, is the perfect choice for a child who lo
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While young people might recognize the name of Marie Curie, the stories of many other women who pursued scientific research throughout history remain unknown.
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There's definitely something magical about Mary Pope Osborne.
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Kenyon Baker is 15 and three-quarters. Much too young for a summer love triangle. Or is he?
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Presidents are very much on everyone's mind during this election year. But do you really know what presidents are made of?
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The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom is a picture book written by Bettye Stroud and illustrated by Erin Susanne Bennett.
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Aspiring athletes can watch the Olympics, and wannabe actors have the Oscars to anticipate each year. But where can young writers go for inspiration?
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In Gingersnap, Newbery Honor winner Patricia Reilly Giff returns to the Brooklyn of her childhood to tell the heartwarming story of a young girl during World War II.
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If you were marooned on a deserted island with a toddler, what one book would you want? It's a good bet many parents would choose Margaret Wise Brown's classic bedtime story, Goodnight Moon, i
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So begins David Lucas' quirky, charming tale about a most unusual boy. Being shy is hard, especially with a name like Halibut Jackson, which definitely attracts attention.
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<B>There's no place like home</B> Mark Taylor's first picture book was inspired by a real-life event.
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Permanent Rose is the third of Hilary McKay's books about the Cassons, a quirky and wonderful English family.
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Linda Ashman's new book, To the Beach, is a humorous story sure to resonate with anyone who's ever tried to get a family out the door for a big outing.
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Fourteen-year-old Nate Chance knows that times are hard on his 400-acre Montana dairy farm.
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Fall blows in with a stunning new picture book by Lois Ehlert, the Caldecott-winning illustrator of Color Zoo and the creator of Color Farm and Circus.
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Katie McGarry’s debut novel has everything a summer romance for teens should: compelling characters, an intriguing plot, sparkling dialogue and plenty of suspense.
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Seventeen-year-old Chelsea Price is facing yet another boring summer in Massachusetts with her dad when she stumbles upon an old shoebox hidden in the back of a closet.
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The compelling, complex heroine of Chime, Franny Billingsley’s eagerly awaited new romantic fantasy for teens, is haunted by remorse.
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Venom is book one in Fiona Paul’s intriguing new series, Secrets of the Eternal Rose, set in Venice at the end of the Renaissance.
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Just about all kids love to paint. (Adults, too.
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For The Vine Basket, her first novel, Josanne La Valley drew on personal experience to present the heartfelt story of a young girl in Xinjiang, a region the Uyghur people call East
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When she was in fourth grade, Natalie Babbitt, the renowned author of the classic Tuck Everlasting, decided that she wanted to be a children’s book illustrator.
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Spring is a time to try out new ideas, and Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku, written by Paul B. Janeczko and J.
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Colorado anthropologist Jeannie Mobley shines a light on her native state in Katerina’s Wish, her debut novel about an immigrant Bohemian family in a Southern Colorado mining
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Although it's an alphabet book, Wendell Minor's Yankee Doodle America: The Spirit of 1776 from A to Z is really much more.
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Yellow Elephant: A Bright Bestiary celebrates animals and colors with poems by Julie Larios and the vibrant artwork of Julie Paschkis.
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