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The opening round nominees for the Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced. More than a dozen have previously appeared on Fanfare. [more inside]
posted by Wobbuffet on Nov 16, 2021 - 49 comments

15th-century guide on children's manners digitised for first time [The Guardian] “– a manuscript from 1480, which has been digitised for the first time by the British Library, gives an insight into the antics of medieval children, as it exhorts them to “pyke notte thyne errys nothyr thy nostrellys” – don’t pick your ears or your nostrils - and to “spette not ovyr thy tabylle”. The 15th-century conduct book, The Lytille Childrenes Lytil Boke, was intended to teach table manners. It has been put online as part of a new children’s literature website bringing together original manuscripts, interviews and drafts by authors from Lewis Carroll to Jacqueline Wilson. The medieval text is part of the British Library’s own collection, and “by listing all the many things that medieval children should not do, it also gives us a hint of the mischief they got up to”, said the library.”
posted by Fizz on Mar 3, 2020 - 26 comments

But it remains the case that the authors of many of the most successful and influential works of children’s literature in the middle years of the last century — works that were formative for baby boomers, Gen-Xers, millennials and beyond — were gay. [more inside]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl on Feb 7, 2019 - 37 comments

Kafka for children is a selection of short stories by Franz Kafka, with illustrations.
posted by idiopath on Jan 10, 2018 - 17 comments

From the title page:
The Book of the Homeless
( Le Livre des Sans-Foter )
Edited by Edith Wharton
Original articles in verse and prose Illustrations reproduced from original paintings & drawings
The book is sold for the benefit of the American Hostels for Refugees (with the Foyer Franco-Belge) and of the Children of Flanders Rescue Committee. [more inside]
posted by Stanczyk on Feb 5, 2017 - 2 comments

One Third of Parents Avoid Reading Children Scary Stories, Study Finds [The Guardian] “A survey of 1,003 UK parents by online bookseller The Book People found that 33% would steer clear of books for their children containing frightening characters. Asked about the fictional creations they found scariest as children, a fifth of parents cited the Wicked Witch of the West from L Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with the Child Catcher from Ian Fleming’s Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang in second place. Third was the Big Bad Wolf, in his grandmother-swallowing Little Red Riding Hood incarnation, fourth the Grand High Witch from Roald Dahl’s The Witches, and fifth Cruella de Vil, from Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians.”
posted by Fizz on Aug 25, 2016 - 57 comments

"One day I dreamed that my parents, my brothers and I went to visit three islands and I jumped into the water without protection," she wrote in her diary. "I felt like I could be in the water and not drown. I was curious and I swam into the deep water and then I saw my skeleton with my name written on it." Roger Omar collects children's dreams, and asks artists to illustrate them. [more inside]
posted by taz on Jun 9, 2013 - 17 comments

First recorded 50 years ago, Peter Paul and Mary's Puff the Magic Dragon has a rather sad ending: Puff 'sadly slips into his cave' while little Jackie Paper grows up and puts his childhood behind him. But in 2007, Peter Yarrow published a book, Puff, the Magic Dragon, in which the classic song remains the same, but whose illustrations give us a new glimpse into Puff's future. Here is Mr. Yarrow, performing the song with his daughter Bethany at Woodstock's Bearsville Theatre, in '07. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jan 27, 2012 - 45 comments

The Star Trek Quiet Book, by the author of The Jedi Quiet Book
posted by Toekneesan on Sep 30, 2011 - 35 comments

Illustrator Andrew Kolb asks Have you ever listened to a song and your mind's eye is immediately filled with visuals? David Bowie's Space oddity as a childrens book. [more inside]
posted by Sailormom on Aug 27, 2011 - 61 comments

[Mark Twain] did not squat down to be heard and understood by children, but asked them to stand on their tiptoes—to absorb the kind of language and humor suitable for adults.
posted by Fiasco da Gama on Jul 15, 2011 - 21 comments

Hobo Lobo of Hamelin is a thing by a dude, who’s all like, “I’m Gonna Make a Thing.” And then he did. Or is doing. Or, you know, whatever. This dude can be found on the internet. He websites to put food on his family. A wonderfully crafted and designed illustrated book for the digital age.
posted by netbros on Jul 2, 2011 - 26 comments

From the venerable MONSTER BRAINS (previously, previously, previously) comes the lost children's classic GODZILLA LIKES TO ROAR
posted by The Whelk on Oct 26, 2010 - 18 comments

The Story of Blossom the Brave Balloon.
posted by dersins on Jan 15, 2008 - 11 comments

Coloring is fun! Engage kids and get your message across with soothing, simple style!

Print these .pdfs for the little ones in your life to color. Together, learn a little grown-up wisdom about Being a Witness in Federal Court, Disaster Preparedness, Food Safety with Thermy™, Why Elephants Cry, Biomedical Research with the Lucky Puppy, or how the United Nations is a very bad organization made up of foreign countries who do not want you to be free, with Brasco!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur on Dec 3, 2007 - 42 comments

The children's book illustrators archive. Czeschka - Die Nibelungen; Nielsen - Hansel and Gretel; Goble - Japanese Fairy Tales; Dulac - Arabian Nights; Pavlishin - Folktales of the Amur; Finlay - The Ship of Ishtar; Detmold - The Arabian Nights; Crane - Flora Feast; Kirin - Croatian Tales of Long Ago; Clarke - Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination; Collard - British Fairy Tales, and; more Rackham in the gallery then you can shake a pen at.
posted by OmieWise on Dec 13, 2006 - 14 comments

Why Mommy is a Democrat — a self-published children's book by Jeremy Zilber (sample pages here.) Warm fuzziness, left-wing nuttiness, or squirrely propaganda?
posted by cenoxo on Apr 4, 2006 - 44 comments

Mr. Gonopolis and his 12 Holsteins. It’s December 24th and Santa gets the measles. Mr. Gonopolis, a bumbling dairy farmer from Minnesota and member of the Emergency Substitute Santa Claus Corps, gets the call and hitches up his 12 Holstein cows. Following a custom of naming cows after people he admires, for the 20th anniversary edition of his children’s book Uncle Hyggly renamed one of the cows “Oprah” and got into some hot water. Even so, this book is a welcome alternative to other cow temptation (NSF Farmers).
posted by luckypozzo on Dec 28, 2005 - 15 comments

How Babies are Made in Germany. A book for children. (Possibly NSFW.)
posted by thebabelfish on Oct 23, 2005 - 55 comments

Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed! (54 pp., illustrated, "The story of two boys who dream about opening a lemonade stand when a strange thing happens...") Don't miss the excerpt [pdf] and the "cast of 'characters'" links on the left. Feel free to skip the author's note. (via.)
posted by nobody on Aug 25, 2005 - 74 comments

It's Just A Plant: a children's story of marijuana "One night Jackie woke up past her bedtime. She smelled something funny in the air, so she walked down the hall to her parents' bedroom." Here's a new way for parents to teach their kids about drugs--through a brightly-illustrated children's book, not second-hand misinformation or Drug Warrior scare tactics. Parents, librarians, and booksellers, please take note. [via D'Alliance, the blog of the Drug Policy Alliance]
posted by Asparagirl on Nov 12, 2004 - 58 comments

Harmful to Minors In the introduction to her book she writes that " 'Harmful to Minors' launches from two negatives: Sex is not ipso facto harmful to minors; and America's drive to protect kids from sex is protecting them from nothing. Instead, often it is harming them." Is she right, some think she is just evil.
posted by onegoodmove on Apr 4, 2002 - 24 comments