All Things Kid Lit: My Garden

Picture Book Pick of the Week:

My Garden
written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes

A young girl knows what she’d have in her garden: rabbits made of chocolate, seashells that grow more seashells, and flowers that would change color by her thought alone. “Sometimes in my garden, good, unusual things would just pop up—buttons and umbrellas and rusty old keys.” There’s no need to water or weed in this garden, and only one simple tool can make it grow.

You Might Also Like:

• Jack's Garden by Henry Cole
• The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Things Grow by Joanna Cole
• Lily's Garden of India by Jeremy Smith

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Kid Lit Links of Interest:

Newbery Medal Winner Rebecca Stead on Her Book 'When You Reach Me'

Washington Post

March 16, 2010

A 2006 New York Times article -- about a man who had amnesia and kept walking up to people asking them for help -- reminded author Rebecca Stead of a man she had passed every day growing up in New York City, whom she called the laughing man. "He was this really erratic, scary guy and my kid-reaction was just terror," she said. That memory, she explained, "was the seed" for "When You Reach Me," which won this year's Newbery Medal as best children's book.

Kids' Books: This 'March Madness' is Literally Playing by the Book

Seattle Times

March 15, 2010

Think "March Madness" is all about basketball? Think again. For the second consecutive year, School Library Journal is sponsoring a "Battle of the Kids' Books." Patterned after the wildly popular March Madness, when college basketball teams vie against one another in a "bracket" scheme, the "Battle of the Kids' Books" pits 16 topnotch children's books against each other and asks popular children's-book authors to choose a winner.