Yes, Hou­di­ni was a magi­cian and an escape artist. He was world famous. But that’s not what this book is about. Har­ry Hou­di­ni was a reader.

Why does a children’s pic­ture book have so much pull on me, a senior? Because I’ve nev­er stopped read­ing and lov­ing pic­ture books.

In a world that craves under­stand­ing, there’s a book for that. This is one of those books. The finest kind.

It’s vital to remem­ber the books pub­lished in the recent past that will help chil­dren and teens learn about, under­stand, and process their own call­ing to be a part of the resistance.

When I do my week­ly sto­ry­time, I like to plan for the adults the kids bring with them, many of whom look like they need sto­ry­time more than the kids.

To instill or nur­ture an inter­est in gar­den­ing, five Calde­cott Hon­or books fea­ture the won­ders that gar­dens hold as places pro­vid­ing sus­te­nance, restora­tion, and a sense of mystery.

In this essay, Can­dice Ran­som reminds us of the potent smell of crayons and our need for col­or, a source for healing.

In a world that craves under­stand­ing, there’s a book for that. This is one of those books. The finest kind.

In Min­neapo­lis as we write this post the pow­er of com­mu­ni­ty is strong, both in stand­ing up to ICE and also in pro­tect­ing and help­ing all our neighbors.

I love true sto­ries about peo­ple who do big things in unex­pect­ed ways. Right now, I think we all need to real­ize our actions, no mat­ter how local, can cause big ripples.

The world is in col­or, and col­or brings pic­ture books to life.

I’ve come to real­ize that the “art” of teach­ing lit­er­a­cy sim­ply isn’t enough for kids who need a more sys­tem­at­ic and struc­tured foun­da­tion to “crack the code.”

Did you have a beloved stuffie or doll — one you hung onto no mat­ter how many years passed? These books share sto­ries of these com­fort animals.

Two sim­pati­co authors, Jolene Gutiér­rez and Eliz­a­beth Weiss Verdick, inter­view each oth­er about writ­ing pic­ture books with neu­ro­di­ver­gent characters.

I first read about this play­ground group cre­ation in The New York Times in 2020, and remained curi­ous about how it went.