Reading Room Blog

    As we all respond to the tragedy in Haiti, share these children’s books about the island for an inside look at the people, the place and the culture.

    Diane Wolkstein visited Haiti to collect the traditional stories in her collection, “The Magic Orange Tree and Other Haitian Folktales.”

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

Animals are incapable of reason, or so we’ve been told, but we imaginative humans keep talking to our dogs and cats as if they could do algebra. In this poem, Ann Struthers looks into the mystery of instinctive behavior.

Not Knowing Why

If you like "One Shot" by Lee Child, you may also like these titles and authors:

Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn.
In the aftermath of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, CIA director Irene Kennedy and operative Mitch Kelly are dispatched to the Middle East to diffuse Iran's sworn retaliation against the United States. (Catalog summary)

Winners of the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, Printz Award, Coretta Scott King Award, and more were announced this morning at the American Library Association's midwinter conference in Boston.

See the list of 2010 Award-Winning Children's Books and 2010 Award-Winning Teen Books.

For a list of winners for all ALA book awards, see this press release.
 

I'm here in blustery, snowy Boston with about a thousand librarians and publishers gathered in the convention center to find out what books have won the prestigious awards for young people's literature.  There’s a buzz of speculation as people ask each other, “What do you think will win?” or “What is the book you gave your heart to this year?” 

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

My grandfather, when in his nineties, wrote me a letter in which he listed everything he and my uncle had eaten in the past week. That was the news. I love this poem by Nancyrose Houston of Seattle for the way it plays with the character of those letters from home that many of us have received.

The Letter From Home

    Last Tuesday, our librarians discussed ten books we found worthy of the Coretta Scott King author and illustrator awards.  The actual winners will be announced next Monday, January 18, at the American Library Association conference in Boston.  Click here on Monday morning at 7:45 for a live webcast of the announcements.

    The Coretta Scott King Awards are given to African American authors and illustrators for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions.  Among our nominations for the Illustrator Award is “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” a poem by Langston Hughes illustrated by E. B. Lewis. 

Nancy Thayer wrote the "Hot Flash Club" books, which always feature smart, sassy, sexy women - perhaps past the first blush of youth. If you are looking for books like those, then you may like:

These book lists in the Reading Room: 

•  Mid-Life Madness: stories for People of a Certain Age
• Marriage Can be Murder
• Later Love
• That Would be Ma'am to You

Some specific titles you may enjoy:

A loving relative (or maybe it was you, yourself!) was good to you this holiday season and now you want to fill up your Kindle or Sony Reader with books.  Or you are looking for even more to do with your iPod Touch. Try these sites for free eBooks: