Barnes and Noble Guide to Children's Books

My new toy!!
Okay, it's not really a toy, it's a book.
But it's a book ABOUT books and that is just plain old wonderful!

I've enjoyed reading through this book by Kaylee Davis.  But I have to admit I found a small little error while reading about one of my favorite book series, the Betsy Tacy books.  She has Betsy listed as being one of 11 children, when it was actually Tacy who was from a large family (and had a very bossy older sister named Katie, if I remember correctly).  But this simple mistake doesn't bother me at all because the book is well organized, and has interesting little segments about different authors and illustrators along the way (including a two page spread on Sandra Boynton's books!  Woo Hoo!)  Unfortunately I didn't see much about Tedd Arnold, or Jan Brett which surprised me. 

One of the things I like about the book is its honest reviews.  Davis will be upfront about a book's subject and whether or not a parent should maybe read the book first to decide if the content is right for their child. 

 

Now, travel back in time with me to the year 2000.



This is my "travel back in time" visual

Back in 2000, I purchased the B&N Guide to Children's Books by Holly Rivlin and Michael Cavanaugh.  I loved this book to death, so was glad find a newer, updated one again!

The book above, from 2000, is actually what prompted me to start my Children's Book Binder, which is a large white binder full of information about my favorite authors, illustrators, and books that I love, some of which may not have been included in the guide book.  It's like the owners manual for my children's book collection Haha!   It helps me keep track of books I love, books I want to find (whether it be at sales or antique stores), and books Autumn and I have read.  It's like a giant BOOK REPORT and I LOVE book reports.  

Elmer the Elephant is on the cover of my children's book binder!

Here is one of three pages about Tedd Arnold.

Author pages include Tedd Arnold, Juli Kangas, Renee Graef, Maggie Kneen, Kevin Henkes, Melanie Watt, Wendy Anderson Halperin, Kay Chorao, Arthur Geisert, David Wiesner, Lisa McCue, Lorretta Krupinski, and Brian Floca.  Recent additions include Kim Lewis, Lucinda McQueen, Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham....Ann Schwenninger, Graeme Base, and Felicia Bond.  Whew!  Many of my favorites all in one book!

A page or two about Juli Kangas, one of my all-time favorite illustrators!



"Favorites" pages with reviews of each book and a photo.

There are 6 pages of favorite children's books I'd like to have if I were stranded all alone on an island.  One of these days I'll make a list for "grownup" books as well. 

Book reviews.

I used to do little book reviews of all of the children's books I found at the library that I really loved, but it got to be a lot of work.  To be honest, if I really like a book, I can usually remember it in my head.  But at the time they were fun to do and are fun to look back upon.
 

The binder also contains a few scrapbook pages with photographs from my childhood of my parents reading to me and MANY photos of Autumn through the years, including her first trip to a Barnes and Noble, trips to the library, and a local bookstore in Williston, Books on Broadway.

 

Now that Autumn is reading Chapter Books we keep a reading log in the binder where we jot down the books title, author, date published and what we thought of the book.  She reads way more books than I do, so we usually loose track.  But we always try to write a few lines about ones we've read together at bedtime. 

 

It's a fun little binder!

 

Until another day, happy reading!