Blog Posts by Subject: Children's Literature

Have you ever had a slice of cake or pie for lunch? I hate to admit it, but it is a guilty pleasure that I have partaken in numerous times.

Red Velvet, German Chocolate, Lemon Meringue and Strawberry/Rhubarb are just a few of my favorites. Next time you have lunch, have dessert first. The children in your life will get a kick out of mixing up the menu.

On June 7, 2012, a fabulous sunny day, the New York Public Library (NYPL) had a kickoff celebration for summer reading at the Seward Park Library.

What are your summer plans this year? Are you leaving the city for an exotic destination? Or is your family having a stay-cation. Either way, I hope that you will be participating in the Library's summer reading program. Register your family members at www.summerreading.com and start reading. Have a lighthearted competition to see which family member can read the most books.

She's not really his girlfriend. He's not really her boyfriend. She says she doesn't like him like that and he says he thinks of her as his little sister, but smarter. But she still sometimes tells others he's her "boyfriend" and he tells his classmates that she's his "girlfriend."

With the upcoming NYPL exhibit Lunch Hour NYC on the horizon, we can look forward to an in-depth look at the world of cafeterias, Automats, workers' lunches, lunch at home (including tenements), school and charity lunches, and power lunches too. Kids will get a glimpse of lunch in all its myriad forms, and we've whipped together a booklist of lunch-related titles they'll really enjoy. Today, let's examine one of those books for kids on the younger end of the scale. Have a toddler or preschooler who won't touch their food? Introduce them to this omnivorous rodent with tummy filling on his mind in Denise Fleming's magnificent (and strikingly beautiful) Lunch.

Introduction of Speakers

Elizabeth Bird started the Children's Literary Salon, as usual, with an introduction of the speakers: Constance Vidor, Sharon Elswit, Pnina Moed Kass, and Rebecca Linde. Linde is the director of sponsorship and marketing for the New York International Children's Film Festival. She explained that the program would be started by a presentation on the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) from Constance Vidor, who is the director of library services at the Friends Seminary.

For the famous or for those aspring to be, for those who have a job to do, an assignment to finish, or for those just doing what they love, the Picture Collection has long been a valuable resource and source of inspiration.

On May 20, 1944 the Picture Collection received a thank-you letter from Louis Slobodkin.

With the upcoming NYPL exhibit Lunch Hour NYC on the horizon, we can look forward to an in-depth look at the world of cafeterias, Automats, workers' lunches, lunch at home (including tenements), school and charity lunches, and power lunches too. Kids will get a glimpse of lunch in all its myriad forms, and we've whipped together a booklist of lunch-related titles they'll really enjoy. Today, let's examine one of those books and we may as well begin with that most horrorific of all lunch-related themes: school cafeteria food! [insert dramatic music here]

In New York City, there is a lot to celebrate during the month of April, National Poetry Month. It feels like poems fill the air as the weather warms, flowers bloom, animals come out of hiding, and, of course, Earth Day arrives!  No worries if you missed it yesterday, this post will help you and your children celebrate our Earth (and her fantastic creatures!) with a few recommendations from NYPL's vast collection of poetry for young people. 

Stop by our children's room to see the amazing work of local Brooklyn artist Naoko Stoop. Naoko has graciously lent the Ottendorfer Library several of her pieces from her series "Red Knit Cap Girl."

In the late hours of April 14th, 1912 and the early morning hours of April 15th, about 85 years before a dying Leo DiCaprio urged a freezing Kate Winslet to live, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk into the icy waters of the North Atlantic. In a matter of hours this “unsinkable” ship was on the bottom of the ocean and only 712 out of its 2,208 passengers would survive.  Since the news of the sinking first got out up to the present day, on the100th anniversary of the tragedy, there have been hundreds of stories about those who died, those who survived and what really happened on board that ship — real and imagined. What trick of fate 

Have you ever lost something?  I have.  At some point in our childhoods, we have lost a cherished possession.  Sadly, the staff of the Children's Center regularly discover an array of toys and clothing that have been left behind by mistake.  We display some of the toys at our circulation desk in hopes that the small owners will return to claim them.  Happy reunions are our mission.

Last summer, we mailed a small stuffed hedgehog to Virginia after getting an email from a mother determined to track down her daughter's favorite toy.  Humphry the Hedgehog was packed into a tiny box and sent off lickety-split.  We received a big thank you from the 

I love a lot of the topics for the Children's Literary Salons at The New York Public Library. They always seem to include discussions about cutting-edge topics in technology or children's literature. I was very excited to hear what the children's author/illustrator and employee of One Hundred Robots, an online apps for kids store, had to say about this topic. I don't have an iPad or an iPhone, but I am a little bit familiar with application software and its function. Luckily for me, the presentations, panel discussion, and audience questions elucidated this matter for me to a high degree. I went from having a fuzzy understanding of apps (I have discussed them 

Anyone who visits Mulberry Street Library can't help but notice the wonderful bulletin board hanging in the Children's Room. Created by the Library's very own Anastasia Sorrenti, a full-time clerk with a penchant for design, these original displays tie a seasonal theme to well-loved children's books each month. This month's display is a celebration of Dr. Seuss, whose birthday was on March 2.

We sat down with Sorrenti to discuss her process for creating these special works of art. We hope you'll stop by Mulberry Street Library to check out the Children's Room bulletin board soon!

One of the reasons we honor Women's History Month is to celebrate the women whose accomplishments history may have overlooked. Below you'll find recommendations for books in our collections about some of these women and their contributions to society. Additions are always welcome!

Today's Pic Pick is Monsters Eat Whiny Children

By Bruce Eric Kaplan

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Hmmm, I am pretty sure a parent could relate to this story.

On February 4, 2012, supervising librarian Elizabeth Bird hosted a meeting of the minds, bringing a school librarian, public librarian, bookseller, parental blogger, and an author/illustrator together in the Margaret Berger Forum of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

We hope to get you and your students in a New York state of mind with these non-fiction resources about the Big Apple! There are so many great books on this topic, so please feel free to add to this list as you see fit. Feedback is greatly appreciated!

The courts are backed up, the case files are stacked high, and the court stenographer called out sick, but that doesn't mean we can't take a few minutes to judge a book by its cover.

Let's try Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix.