Children's Book-a-Day Almanac365 days of history, holidays, and events
365 great children's books -- one for every day of the year
Review posted January 14, 2014.
Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2012. 388 pages.
Starred Review
2013 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #5 Nonfiction
Children's Book-a-Day Almanac is the print form of Anita Silvey's wonderful blog, also called Children's Book-a-Day Almanac. I'd been following the blog, so when I learned there was a print book, I made sure to get a copy, and have delved into it daily for all of 2013.
Anita Silvey's knowledge of children's books is vast. For each day of the year, she recommends a children's book with some connection to that date, and gives you a taste of the book and why it is worth reading. As well, each day has a sidebar with facts about that day -- children's authors born that day, as well as other famous people, historic events, and holidays you might not have known about (like "I Love Horses Day" or "Smile Power Day") -- all with related book recommendations.
I was extra happy when I saw she'd listed one of my all-time favorite books, Anne of Green Gables, on my birthday, June 14.
The only catch? It would be hard to read all these books in a year. Now, I've read enough already, that I really should take it on as a project one year to read all the ones listed that I haven't read before. And then the next year, I could try to read at least one of the additionally recommended books for each day, and on and on it could go.
One thing I'm sure of: I read many of the books listed here on Anita Silvey's recommendation, and I was never disappointed. What you have here is a full year of great reading.