At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries


Estelle Ellis - 1995
    From an elegant, curved modern library with sunny picture windows to a bedroom library with dark wood paneling; from a simple apartment with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves to the grand Rothschild library, At Home with Books shows how book lovers live with their books in every room of the house.Includes professional advice on editing and categorizing your library; caring for your books; preserving, restoring, and storing rare books; finding out-of-print books; and choosing furniture, lighting, and shelving.

Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult


Bruce Handy - 2017
    Offering children gems of advice such as "Strive to learn" and "Be not a dunce," it was no fun at all. So how did we get from there to "Let the wild rumpus start"? And now that we're living in a golden age of children's literature, what can adults get out of reading Where the Wild Things Are and Goodnight Moon, or Charlotte's Web and Little House on the Prairie?In Wild Things, Bruce Handy revisits the classics of every American childhood, from fairy tales to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and explores the back stories of their creators, using context and biography to understand how some of the most insightful, creative, and witty authors and illustrators of their times created their often deeply personal masterpieces. Along the way, Handy learns what The Cat in the Hat says about anarchy and absentee parenting, which themes link The Runaway Bunny and Portnoy's Complaint, and why Ramona Quimby is as true an American icon as Tom Sawyer or Jay Gatsby.It's a profound, eye-opening experience to reencounter books that you once treasured after decades apart. A clear-eyed love letter to the greatest children's books and authors, from Louisa May Alcott and L. Frank Baum to Eric Carle, Dr. Seuss, Mildred D. Taylor, and E.B. White, Wild Things will bring back fond memories for readers of all ages, along with a few surprises.

Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise


Katherine Rundell - 2019
    This delightful and persuasive essay is for adult readers.

The Reading Zone: How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, Critical Readers


Nancie Atwell - 2007
    The book establishes the top ten conditions for making engaged classroom reading possible for students at all levels and provides the practical support and structures necessary for achieving them.

A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books


Nicholas A. Basbanes - 1995
    Written before the emergence of the Internet but newly updated for the twenty-first century reader, A Gentle Madness captures that last moment in time when collectors frequented dusty bookshops, street stalls, and high-stakes auctions, conducting themselves with the subterfuge befitting a true bibliomaniac. A Gentle Madness is vividly anecdotal and thoroughly researched. Nicholas A. Basbanes brings an investigative reporter’s heart and instincts to the task of chronicling collectors past and present in pursuit of bibliomania. Now a classic of collecting, A Gentle Madness is a book lover’s delight.

1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List


James Mustich - 2018
    Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it’s not a proscriptive list of the “great works”—rather, it’s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage. Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop, stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures, too. Lists to help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View. And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and The Road next to Robert McCloskey and Make Way for Ducklings, Alice Walker next to Izaac Walton.  There are nuts and bolts, too—best editions to read, other books by the author, “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations , and an interesting endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned—a life-changing list for a lifetime of reading.

Naked Reading: Uncovering What Tweens Need to Become Lifelong Readers


Teri S. Lesesne - 2006
    While some fourth-to-ninth-graders come to see books as a lifeline for understanding a changing world, too many experience “the fourth-grade slump”—a marked decline in interest and achievement in reading. Without help, many become middle and high school students who have stopped reading for pleasure, and only slog through what is assigned.Teri draws on her extensive experience as a teacher and consultant to examine ways that educators can help interest kids in books and keep them reading during this crucial period. She looks at:developmental attributes of tweens;emerging interests for tweens;themes and plots tweens find most engaging;annotations for scores of children's and YA literature most appropriate for tweens;practical classroom activities for sparking tween engagement in reading.As in her previous book, Making the Match, Naked Reading is loaded with specific titles to help you connect kids with books that will interest them the most.

Honey for a Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life


Gladys M. Hunt - 1969
    Now in its fourth edition, Honey for a Child’s Heart discusses everything from the ways reading affects both children’s view of the world and their imagination to how to choose good books. Illustrated with drawings from dozens of favorites, it includes an indexed and updated list of the best new books on the market and the classics that you want your children to enjoy. Author Gladys Hunt’s tastes are broad, her advice is rooted in experience, and her suggestions will enrich the cultural and spiritual life of any home.

Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them


Francine Prose - 2006
    Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart - to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot's Middlemarch. She looks to John Le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue and to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail. And, most important, Prose cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted.

Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany


Jane Mount - 2018
    Book lovers, rejoice! In this love letter to all things bookish, Jane Mount brings literary people, places, and things to life through her signature and vibrant illustrations. Readers will:• Tour the world's most beautiful bookstores• Test their knowledge of the written word with quizzes• Find their next great read in lovingly curated stacks of books• Sample the most famous fictional meals• Peek inside the workspaces of their favorite authorsA source of endless inspiration, literary facts and recommendations, and pure bookish joy, Bibliophile is sure to enchant book clubbers, English majors, poetry devotees, aspiring writers, and any and all who identify as bookworms.

Wild Things! Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature


Betsy Bird - 2014
    Did Laura Ingalls cross paths with a band of mass murderers? Why was a Garth Williams bunny tale dubbed "integrationist propaganda"? For adults who are curious about children’s books and their creators, here are the little-known stories behind the stories. A treasure trove of information for a student, librarian, new parent, or anyone wondering about the post–Harry Potter book biz, Wild Things! draws on the combined knowledge and research of three respected and popular librarian-bloggers. Told in affectionate and lively prose, with numerous never-before-collected anecdotes, this book chronicles some of the feuds and fights, errors and secret messages found in children’s books and brings contemporary illumination to the warm-and-fuzzy bunny world we think we know.

Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention


Stanislas Dehaene - 2007
    Dehaene's research will fascinate not only readers interested in science and culture, but also educators concerned with debates on how we learn to read, and who wrestle with pathologies such as dyslexia. Like Steven Pinker, Dehaene argues that the mind is not a blank slate: Writing systems across all cultures rely on the same brain circuits, and reading is only possible insofar as it fits within the limits of a primate brain. Setting cutting-edge science in the context of cultural debate, Reading in the Brain is an unparalleled guide to a uniquely human ability.

Literature for Today's Young Adults


Kenneth L. Donelson - 2008
    The authors give teachers criteria for evaluating books of all genres.

BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google


John Palfrey - 2015
    More than just book repositories, libraries can become bulwarks against some of the most crucial challenges of our age: unequal access to education, jobs, and information. In BiblioTech, educator and technology expert John Palfrey argues that anyone seeking to participate in the 21st century needs to understand how to find and use the vast stores of information available online. And libraries, which play a crucial role in making these skills and information available, are at risk. In order to survive our rapidly modernizing world and dwindling government funding, libraries must make the transition to a digital future as soon as possible -- by digitizing print material and ensuring that born-digital material is publicly available online. Not all of these changes will be easy for libraries to implement. But as Palfrey boldly argues, these modifications are vital if we hope to save libraries and, through them, the American democratic ideal.

Show Me a Story!: Why Picture Books Matter: Conversations with 21 of the World's Most Celebrated Illustrators


Leonard S. Marcus - 2012
    Marcus, twenty-one top authors and illustrators reveal their inside stories on the art of creating picture books.Max and Mickey; Miss Nelson; Pack, Quack, and Mrs. Mallard; Pigeon; Sylvester; John Henry; and a very hungry caterpillar - these are just a few of the beloved picture book characters discussed in Show Me a Story. Renowned children's literature authority Leonard S. Marcus speaks with their creators and others - twenty-one of the world's most celebrated authors and illustrators- and asks about their childhood, their inspiration, their determination, their mentors, their creative choices, and more. Amplifying these richly entertaining and thought-provoking conversations are eighty-eight full-color plates revealing each illustrator's artistic process from sketch to near-final artwork in fascinating, behind-the-scenes detail. Why do children love and need picture books so much? Recasting and greatly expanding on a volume published in 2002 as Ways of Telling, Leonard S. Marcus confirms that picture books matter because they make a difference in our children's lives.