Tuesday, April 20th, 2021
Mother's Day is May 9th, so it's time to start planning how to celebrate all the moms, grandmas, and other mother-figures in our lives. It can be tough to find the words to explain what these women mean to us, but if a picture's worth a thousand words, these picture books might come close to saying how we really feel.
Beverly Cleary, the creator of such beloved characters as Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, and Ralph S. Mouse, has died at the age of 104.
Cleary struggled to read as a child despite her love of stories and her desire to read them. She found she didn't to relate to the children in the books available to her, which likely played a role in her own writing style later in life. Cleary is known for her "quintessential" middle-class American kids whose lives are sometimes funny, sometimes tough, and who can solve everyday problems on their own without a lot of adult intervention. The adults in her stories—parents, teachers, and other grown-ups kids encounter in their daily lives—are often as quirky as the kids. This deft way of putting kids and adults on equal footing was a way of empowering young readers without putting them in extraordinary situations. These were, as Cleary said in her memoir “stories about the sort of children I knew.”
Thursday, March 25th, 2021
Gardening is a special kind of magic, and now is the time to share that joy with the little ones. Even the youngest kids can enjoy watching their flowers bloom and seedlings poke their way out of the ground. While we wait for the last vestiges of winter to loosen their grasp, here are a few stories to inspire your young gardeners!
Tuesday, March 16th, 2021
Like our last spotlight feature, Fashion Victims, our latest favorite is one of those books that brings out the inner nerd in all of us.
Written by Isabel Thomas and featuring art by Sara Gillingham, Exploring the Elements: A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table is straightforward enough for young scientists to understand, but it's also frankly fascinating even for older readers. For example, did you know palladium was named after an asteroid called Pallas? How about the fact that krypton is used in high speed photography?
Tuesday, March 16th, 2021
Despite the snow we got overnight, the first day of spring really is this Saturday, March 20th, and Easter isn't far off on April 4th. Check out these adorable books for young readers, perfect for adding to an Easter basket or enjoying outdoors...as soon as the snow melts again!
Thursday, March 11th, 2021
The Battle of the Books is a book-based quiz competition for fourth and fifth graders in the Grand Traverse community. Kids read incredible stories together and then experience heart-pounding moments in competition. This weekend, the two finalist teams will battle for the top spot!
Thursday, March 11th, 2021
The past year has been tough for all of us, but it's been especially hard on kids. With their schedules disrupted, their normal outlets for activity suspended, and their usual sources of comfort and guidance—parents, teachers, guardians, coaches, etc—all dealing with stress of their own, it's tricky for kids to learn to navigate this new landscape of emotion. Books can help them find ways to understand and cope with these big feelings. Our children's specialist, Rachel, has put together a list of books for young readers in need of a little guidance.
Thursday, March 4th, 2021
Our Reading Month Bingo Challenge is in full swing, and young readers all over the country are welcome to participate! If they need a little help finding books that can check off a missing square or two, our children's specialists have some recommendations. Here are a few books for readers looking to find books with a magical element!
Thursday, March 4th, 2021
Here in the kids section of Brilliant Books, we love graphic novels! And luckily for all of us here and all of your young graphic novel fans out there, there are so many good ones coming out lately!
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021
Today is Read Across America Day, a celebration originally inspired by Theodore Geisel—the one and only Dr. Seuss—and held March 2nd in honor of his birthday. Presented by the National Education Association (NEA), Read Across America Day is a day to encourage young readers and their families to take time out to read and explore the ideas and lessons that books can teach.
