It’s the start of a new year! I always make New Year’s resolutions. Do you? This year, reading Dearie, a new biography of Julia Child, is spurring a resolution to learn a few go-to fancy salads this year. Bookwise, the year is just full of possibility. One of my friends has started a family book club which includes herself and her 6-year-old. I’m planning on following up on a book club invitation I received over the holidays, and also to look over the “Best of 2016” lists to come up with a reading list for 2017. Do you have any reading resolutions?
I predict our kitchen will look remarkably similar to this one in a few years. This is a spread from one of our must-reads, Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions, a biography of the NASA scientist who invented the Super Soaker. Written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Don Tate.
Here are a few “best of 2016” children’s book lists:
- The Washington Post’s list of the best children’s and young adult books of 2016
- The New York Times’ Notable Children’s Books of 2016
- The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2016 (judged purely on artistic merit)
- Parents’ 10 Best Children's Books of 2016
- Brainpickings’ The Best Children’s Books of 2016
- The Wall Street Journal’s Best Children’s Books of 2016
Here are a few books that I’m immediately putting on our list:
- Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions. Written by Chris Barton, illustrated by Don Tate.
A biography of Johnson, an African-American NASA scientist and the inventor of the Super Soaker. It begins during his grade school years. What’s not to love? - Anna Hibiscus. Written by Atinuke and illustrated by Lauren Tobia.
We're reading Little House in the Big Woods right now. This one, recommended by my friend Jen, sounds similar. The Anna Hibiscus series books are short (Junior has been complaining a little about the length of Little House) chapter books about Anna's life in contemporary (even better) "amazing Africa." - The Polar Bear. Written and illustrated by Jenni Desmond.
We are a family of penguin-lovers, which has gotten us all to learn a lot about Antarctica. This book, a story-within-a-story of a little girl reading a good book about polar bears, centers on the Arctic, which might bring about a balance between South and North Poles at our house. - The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes. Written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.
I grew up hearing the legends about Mt. St. Helens, the Pacific Northwest's "beautiful volcano." It will be interesting to go south to read the legend of two volcanos near Mexico City. - A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785. By Matthew Olshan. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
This sounds like a nice followup to The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane, which was one of our audiobook readalongs on a recent long car trip. Ms. Frizzle's class goes up in a balloon--and then falls out. These explorers stayed in the balloon--with their dogs.
One of Lauren Tobias' charming illustrations of Anna Hibiscus, from Anna Hibiscus.
And here are a few that I’m planning to look into. They might not be right for us as readalouds right now, but I can always put them on a list for later.
- The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown.
A robot shipwrecks on an island of wild animals, whom she befriends. This sounds a lot like one of our favorites, My Father’s Dragon. - The Inquisitor’s Tale, by Adam Gidwitz.
This one involves three kids and a dog on a quest in medieval Europe in which they encounter a farting dragon.