Robin Smith
Content by Robin Smith
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<b> I'm Not Scared </b> <b>I'm Not Scared </b> insists Baby Owl in Jonathan Allen's newest offering of the same name.
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The author of the wildly popular Percy Jackson series introduces a new set of heroes to his legions of fans in Book One of the Kane Chronicles series.
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All Hal ever wanted was a dog. His wealthy parents give him every toy and gizmo, all hand-wrapped and selected by the professionals at the upscale toy store, but a dog is out of the question.
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Like troubled, dream-filled sleep, there’s a delightfully mysterious quality to Grace Lin’s new novel, Starry River of the Sky.
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I am not usually one for stories about parallel universes, but for Frances O’Roark Dowell’s new book, I must make an exception.
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Family history is alive and well in the newest offering from Patricia MacLachlan. In Kindred Souls, she brings us the story of young Jake, who lives on the family farm with his parents, siblings and 88-year-old grandfather, Billy. The prairie setting feels like another character in the book, one that lives in the hearts of the whole family...
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A curious young bunny hops out for an adventure, all by himself, in Little White Rabbit, the latest creation from Caldecott-winning author-illustrator Kevin Henkes.
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This gem of a story, covering eight days in a sleepy small-town summer, has an unusual central character: a one-legged homing pigeon named Sherman who has gone missing from Mr.
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David Ezra Stein, in his first book since winning the Caldecott Honor for Interrupting Chicken, continues to demonstrate incredible versatility in his illustrations while holding firm to h
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John Rocco takes a child’s-eye view of one special summer night in Blackout.
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Deborah Hopkinson is the kind of writer who puts the accent on the “story” part of the word “history.” If you look back at her work for young readers, from picture books to
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Amy Tan's new book, The Bonesetter's Daughter, is full of mystery, suspense, superstition and magic.
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Dexter is angry. His life has been turned upside down by circumstances way beyond his control.
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A trip down memory lane is just the gift for readers who love children’s books.
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This true story has everything a dog lover is looking for: loyalty, bravery and drama.
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Ever wonder how authors and illustrators work together when they make a picture book?
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Did you ever wonder how photographers get those fabulous pictures of birds?
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Poet, mother, hiker, Coloradan—these are all words that describe Carrie Host. But in October 2003, another word was added to the list: patient.
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Children and their parents are drawn to the silver and gold stickers on picture books. The most important of these stickers designate the Caldecott Medal-winning books.
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On its face, Gennifer Choldenko's first novel is the story of Kirsten, a seventh-grader whose life seems to be falling apart.
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In Fire in the Streets, Kekla Magoon picks up where her award-winning 2009 novel The Rock and the River left off, exploring the role of young people in the Chicago office
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What is it about the lives of dolls? Kids love thinking about what their dolls do when they are alone, away from the prying eyes of their owners.
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Dan Yaccarino's Every Friday was the first book I read this year and I have read it aloud many times in the months since.
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Female friendships are powerful fodder for many novels.
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Inside Out and Back Again, an autobiographical novel written in verse, captures one year in the life of 10-year-old Kim Hà.
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There are worse things in the world than being an ethnic sandwich, but right now, 14-year-old Joseph Calderaro can't think of one.
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Last year, Kathi Appelt won a Newbery Honor for her dark and magical novel, The Underneath.
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While reading about scary things under the bed might not make the fears go away, Joe Fenton's newest, What's Under the Bed?, will give little scaredy - cats something to laugh at.
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2008 Newbery Honor Book
Hope is the thing with feathers / that perches in the soul, / And sings the tune without the words, / And never stops at all
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<b>How Mildred's garden grows</b> Let me admit this right now: I like to grow plants and I have stood for hours at garden shops, weighing the difference between worm castings and cow m
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Newbery-winning author Katherine Paterson re-imagines Saint Francis of Assisi’s beloved canticle praise song to the natural world in a beautiful new picture book, Brother Sun, Sister
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<b>If: A Father's Advice to His Son</b> <b>If: A Father's Advice to His Son</b> is the poem that fathers and son seem to share more than any other.
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If you read this fantastic new picture book to children, I suggest you put off telling them who the knobby-kneed girl on the title page really is.
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You know when people refer to “a book for all ages?” That usually means they are speaking in clichés. But in the new picture book Duck!
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Oh, to live in the land of Jack, Zack and Caspar, three steadfast boys with imagination and the time to play and play!
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For all the books about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks in publication for children, there are precious few books about other major players in the struggle for civil rights.
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It's 1875 and the wounds from the Civil War are still raw for the poor and struggling folks of Mississippi.
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Graphic novel meets picture book in Odd Duck, a humorous and heartfelt story of friendship.
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Laura Vaccaro Seeger has a special gift, a gift I do not have but one I deeply appreciate.
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Once in a great while, a publisher brings an out-of-print book back into publication.
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Have you ever picked up a book by a new author and thought: My, my. This is really good!
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How would you feel if your mortal enemy showed up at a tea with you?
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In a ballroom in the Seattle convention center, filled with a couple thousand librarians and other folks who love children's books, author and librarian Susan Patron's life changed in January when he
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You know the feeling you have when you look at a book and you’re sure that you’re going to love the story?
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To read poet and novelist Naomi Shihab Nye's tales of driving and being driven is to hear her voice in every syllable.
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You know the feeling when you read a book and you want everyone you know to read it—right now?
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<b>Papi's Gift</b> <b>Papi's Gift</b> written by Karen Stanton and illustrated by RenŽ King Moreno, is a different kind of Father's Day book.
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2008 Caldecott Honor Book
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Margot Theis Raven and E.B. Lewis team up again in the beautiful and evocative Night Boat to Freedom.
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Leo is a new cat owner who knows nothing about felines. He is especially clueless about how to feed his fluffy kitten.
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Great-great-uncle was a wind flyer. A smooth wind flyer, a Tuskegee wind flyer.
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When I teach my second graders about Grimm’s fairytales, they are often shocked by the graphic details in the stories they know only through the Disney movies they have watched since toddlerh
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2007 Geisel Honor Book
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In her latest book, Ann Hood, author of last year's semi-autobiographical novel The Knitting Circle, puts the reader on the harrowing frontlines of every parent's worst nightmare: a
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I love the careful, almost photographic style of illustrator (and now writer) Kadir Nelson and was thrilled to hear that he was working on a history of Negro League baseball for young readers.
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isobedience. Such a quaint word in this world where children "make bad choices" rather than disobey. But, who is disobeying in Jane Hamilton's fourth novel?
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ild falls in love with a man, and the man is seduced by the intensity he has generated. Then his attention shifts to someone else. End of story. Not quite.
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odi Picoult's new novel is as current as today's sordid headlines: rape, incest, Satanism, hazing, abuse of power and corrupt police departments.
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New readers and listeners love the cadence and predictability of rhymed poems and J. Patrick Lewis is a master of the form.
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Illustrator Loren Long teams up with President Barack Obama to create a picture book tribute to several notable Americans in the form of a letter from the First Father to his daughters.
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Blue, all three pounds of her, was discovered in a copper kettle in December 1941 and adopted by the generous and caring Hannah Spooner.
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Remember Margaret Wise Brown’s The Runaway Bunny? That little gem of a book has reassured generations of children that their mothers will love them no matter what.
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I love Johanna Wright’s art. When I saw her first picture book, The Secret Circus (2009), I read it three times before I would share it with anyone.
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Anthony Browne turns his prodigious talents to a clever retelling of the Goldilocks tale in his latest picture book, Me and You.
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Ludelphia Bennett has quilting in her fingertips, her heart and her brain. Her 10 years of life have been both a challenge and a joy.
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I'm a fan of letterpress and block prints, so my eye was immediately drawn to Kazuno Kohara's stunning illustrations in Ghosts in the House!.
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Of the many stories about Albert Einstein that are available for young readers, the new picture book by Jennifer Berne and Vladimir Radunsky is one of the best.
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Twenty-three years is a long time to wait for a poem to become picture book.
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My sweat smells like peanut butter. So opens Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, a moving, hilarious and altogether engaging tale of self-discovery by Wendy Mass.
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Bob Shea is back with the same energy and humor that marked his earlier offerings, Big Plans and New Socks. This time, he nails the bravado of the young child right on the head.
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In this short illustrated chapter book, new readers will giggle along with Robot and Rabbit as they compromise their way through one of childhood’s milestones: the sleepover.
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You know that feeling when you settle into a book and the world fades away?
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There are many things that Cloudette loves about being small: the adorable nicknames, the ability to fit into small spaces and the way she can really hide during a game of cloud hide and seek.
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<b>The world's most famous polar bear</b> I wonder if Thomas Dorflein, the zookeeper at the Berlin Zoo, ever thought he would spend half a year as a foster parent to a polar bear?
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Children’s books break the legendary fourth wall when the characters on the page speak directly to readers or involve them in the action.
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Caitlin Smith’s unusual world has suddenly become even more confusing.
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“There are things that happen. Little things that make a difference.” For sixth grader Ella, who lives outside Las Vegas, the little things are everything.
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Whether parents are reading it with their little one scrunched up next to them or a teacher is reading to an audience of preschoolers, Denise Fleming’s Shout!
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It’s a good day for new readers when Grace Lin decides to write a book especially for them.
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Pour a pot of tea and snuggle up with Old Bear and His Cub, the latest treasure from Olivier Dunrea.
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According to my records, I have read The Wizard of Oz 17 times.
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