Author Spotlight: Sandra Boynton!

Author Spotlight: Sandra Boynton April 3, Happy Birthday, Sandra Boynton!   Sandra Boynton’s board books were some of the first books my boys looked at, teethed on, played with, and listened to during shared reading times as babies and toddlers; and my granddaughters are carrying on the tradition. Her books are engaging, whimsical, and clever […]

Booklist: Worms on the Sidewalk, Books for Shared Reading

Booklist: Worms on the Sidewalk, Books for Shared Reading Ground Hog Day’s Punxsutawney Phil may get the notoriety for heralding the onset of spring, but to me the surest sign of spring is worms on the sidewalk.  My mother is a gardener, so I grew up respecting worms and using gardening gloves to move them […]

Book Review: Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, Scott Kelly

Book Review: Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, Scott Kelly   Nonfiction Memoir: Many people were surprised to read that 7% of astronaut Scott Kelly’s DNA had changed during his year in space. Among the surprised was Scott Kelly himself, who tweeted, “What? My DNA changed by 7%! Who knew? I just learned […]

Book Review: Political Tribes, Amy Chua

Book Review: Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations, Amy Chua   Nonfiction: Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations, Amy Chua   Tribalism is a form of macro-group identification that runs much deeper in the human psyche than we may realize. Humans are hard-wired to belong. Group identification starts in […]

Booklist: Spring Books for Shared Reading with Children

Booklist: Spring Books for Shared Reading with Children   The onset of seasonal allergies aside, spring is the favorite season of many. With the renewed energy from blooming flowers, hatching eggs, and bouncing bunnies, there is also the welcome of shared reading about spring on a warm and sunny day outside or crisp yet cozy […]