Picture book biographies about artists are a-plenty. And so far I haven’t come across a bad one. Generally, when people choose to write about art for kids, it is because they care deeply about art and kids. (Isn’t that one of the reasons we work in libraries under the auspices of “children’s services”?) You can’t get around the fact that kids want paper and more paper or boxes and more boxes, to make things, to draw things, to color in or outside the lines.
Tag: juvenile biographies
Women’s History Month: Books and Resources
How are you celebrating Women’s History Month at your library?
Name that Person!
A Pilot! A Voice! An Artist! An Explorer! Turn your library school visits into a game show or host a “Name that Person” event at your school library during lunch time. Meet a room full of amazing people through books. Set-up: Display children’s biography books on one table. Arrange strange, silly and fun items that match up with the book on another table. Two chairs/stools facing each other with a buzzer in the middle (or have your two volunteers stand up with a buzzer on a stool between them.) Use a variety of new and favorite children’s biographies about people from all over the world or focus on biographies on a specific subject. For example: poets, presidents, authors, musicians, explorers. Name that Person! Use two volunteers with a buzzer between them or have your whole group ready to guess. Place an object in front of them or share a few important…
Interview with Author Michelle Houts
Michelle Houts, author of Kammie on First: Baseball’s Dottie Kamenshek, shares how her book highlights Kamenshek’s life of integrity alongside her professional achievements. Houts, also the editor of Missing Millie Benson by Julie K. Rubini, reflects on the role nonfiction plays in shaping children’s reading interests and how librarians serve these readers, researchers, and writers. I received a complimentary copy of these two books in the Biographies for Young Readers series published by Ohio University Press before this interview. 1. How did you first learn about Dottie Kamenshek, the famous baseball player loosely based on Dottie Hinson from the popular movie A League of Their Own? What inspired you to write your book for young readers, Kammie on First: Baseball’s Dottie Kamenshek? I first read about Kammie in a one-page entry in the book Profiles of Ohio Women. As soon as I read about her, I knew she would be a…