Forwarding address

We're moving! As of Tuesday, Out of the Box (with Read Roger and our newest addition, Calling Caldecott) will be hosted on our chic and shiny new website.

While some tweaking is still happening, here's a sneak peek of what's to come:

You'll find us at www.hbook.com/blogs/outofthebox. See you there!

All steamed up

As my friend and fellow blogger observed not long ago, “steam is so hot right now.”  This year has seen a mind-boggling number of steampunk-themed events in the northeast alone: International Steampunk City, which took over the town of Waltham for a weekend; a book tour for The Steam­punk Bible; an exhibit on steampunk aesthetic , form, and function at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation; The Steampunk World’s Fair three-day festival in New Jersey…  Whew! And the events just keep on coming, with next week’s performance of Valve: Antique Vaudeville Circus and the Museum of Industry’s ongoing Steampunk Calendar. Entranced by the wide, imaginative (or should I say “re-imaginative”?) world of steampunk, I recently read two short story collections that explore the ever-expanding boundaries of the genre.

In editor Trisha Telep's collection Corsets & Clockwork: 13 Steampunk Romances (Running Press, May), authors such as Caitlin Kittredge, Dia Reeves, Kiersten White, and Adrienne Kress write the steamier side of steampunk, where “technomagical and natural desires collide.” This naturally means lots of flirting and first kisses (with gorgeous automatons or gentlemen criminals, aboard airships, or after narrowly escaping mad inventors); it also entails deeper ethical concerns about technology, progress, and humanity’s impact on nature. Don’t miss contributor Dru Pagliassotti’s excellent essay “How Do I Write a Steampunk Story?” at Steamed!.

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories edited by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant (Candlewick, October) goes even further in expanding the steampunk oeuvre—but you’ll have to wait for the September/October issue of The Horn Book Magazine to read my review. In the meantime, pilot your airship over to the website for our list of recommended steampunk-inspired reads.

—Katie Bircher

August Notes from the Horn Book

August's Notes from the Horn Book is available now. Here's what to expect this issue:
- five questions for historian and scholar Marc Aronson
- More new nonfiction
- Concept books with a twist
- YA sequels
- Books of interest to adults
- updates on the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards ceremony and Horn Book at Simmons

Sign up here!

Updated blog reading list

We've revamped our recommended blog list, first compiled by NYPL librarian and Fuse #8 blogger Betsy Bird to accompany her article "Blogging the Kidlitosphere." Check out old friends and new faves here at the Horn Book website.

Upcoming stars

Starred reviews appearing in the September/October Horn Book Magazine:

- The Haunted Hamburger and Other Ghostly Stories by David LaRochelle; illus. by Paul Meisel (Dutton) - A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade)
- Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (Farrar)
- Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck; illus. by Kelly Murphy (Dial)
- The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf (Candlewick)
- Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin (Holt)
- A Little Bitty Man and Other Poems for the Very Young by Halfdan Rasmussen; trans. from the Danish by Marilyn Nelson and Pamela Espeland; illus. by Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick)
- Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert by Marc Aronson (Atheneum)
- Orani: My Father’s Village by Claire A. Nivola (Foster/Farrar)
- Feynman by Jim Ottaviani; illus. by Leland Myrick; color by Hilary Sycamore (First Second)
- Drawing from Memory by Allen Say (Scholastic)
- Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman; illus. by Beth Krommes (Houghton)

Congratulations!

Newest Notes out today

July's Notes from the Horn Book will be hitting inboxes in about an hour. Here's what to expect this issue:
- five questions for illustrator Sophie Blackall
- Sophie's recent picture books
- picture book bios
- brand-new middle-grade fiction
- fresh perspectives on tough topics in YA
- updates on the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards ceremony and Horn Book at Simmons

Sign up here!

June Notes on the way

June's Notes from the Horn Book will appear in your inbox this afternoon.  This time we've got

- five questions for Jeanne Birdsall

- long-anticipated middle-grade novels

- summer themed picture books

- biographies for middle schoolers

- YA trilogy enders

Sign up here if you're not subscribed yet!

Guide Online update

Get a sneak peek at the Fall 2011 Horn Book Guide! We've just added 210 reviews to the Guide Online—check out the brand-new titles, authors, and illustrators.

Subscribe to the print Guide and Guide Online here.

Recreational reading (and listening)

Our annual summer reading list is up, just in time for the long holiday weekend! If your Memorial Day plans involve travel (and traffic), be sure to peruse the new recommended audiobooks list for road trip listening suggestions.

May Notes out

This month's Notes from the Horn Book arrives today, including
- five questions for Patrick McDonnell
- nonfiction picture books for nature lovers
- chapter books for young readers
- middle-grade audiobooks (with bonus recommended audiobook list)
- new young adult fiction

Missing out? Sign up to receive the monthly Notes from the Horn Book e-newsletter here.

April Notes is here!

Look for the new Notes from the Horn Book in your inbox this afternoon, chock-full with

- five questions for Franny Billingsley
- fantasy for older readers
- spring animal antics in picture books
- nonfiction picture books
- truthiness in middle-grade fiction

  

Sign up for free here.

Spring Guide now online

We've just added the final Spring 2011 Horn Book Guide reviews (1,551 of them!) to the Guide Online database. Take a peek at the newly added titles, authors, and illustrators.

Subscribe to the print Guide and Guide Online here.

New Notes

The new Notes from the Horn Book is coming soon to an inbox near you, with
- five questions for Lee Bennett Hopkins
- poetry picture books
- new chapter books for young readers
- nonfiction about American legends
- young adult historical fiction

In each newsletter you'll also find online resources provided by Teaching Books. This month's links include audio excerpts of featured books Amelia Lost, Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream, and The Notorious Benedict Arnold. Sign up here!

Required reading for Women's History Month

We've just put up a list of recommended women's history books on the Horn Book website.

New Guide Online reviews

The Spring 2011 Horn Book Guide, covering books published from July to December 2010, will be out in April. Get a sneak peek over at our website, where we've added 349 reviews to the Guide Online.

New newsletter and next issue's stars

The ALA awards edition of Notes from the Horn Book arrives this afternoon -- if you're not subscribed, visit our website to view it online and sign up.


If that's not quite enough to tide you over until the next issue, here are the books receiving starred reviews in the March/April Magazine:

Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage (Scholastic)
Chime by Franny Billingsley (Dial)
Recovery Road by Blake Nelson (Scholastic)
The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone (Levine/Scholastic)
Young Fredle by Cynthia Voigt; illus. by Louise Yates (Knopf)
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade/Random)
Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown)
Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story by Thomas F. Yezerski (Farrar)

Snow day confessions

What did the Horn Book staff read during their snow day yesterday? You may be surprised!

Roger:
I started listening to Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood. It’s the first in a detective series set in the 1920s; here our Bright Young Thing heroine the Hon. Phyrne Fisher, bored with London, goes to Melbourne and finds herself solving a few mysteries. Light and fun, at least so far.
Cindy:
I read Muppet comic books. A blog post about them is forthcoming!

Kitty:
I was going to say, "Nothing! What I wouldn’t give for a day at home to read for hours! Grumble grumble grumble..." But then I realized that’s kind of what I did yesterday. Reading to my kids counts, right? Let’s see, there’s “Sailor Dog” by Margaret Wise Brown, a weird story about a dog named Scuppers with the sea in his blood (but not as weird as some of her other stories in this Friendly Tales collection... “The Little Fat Policeman,” I’m looking at you). Then a couple Sandra Boynton books (Hippos Go Berserk and a wake up book), Higher! Higher! (a few times), Helen Oxenbury’s Tickle, Tickle, etc., Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy, Where’s Walrus, some concept board book that my daughter got at her last doctor’s appointment (thank you, Reach Out and Read), a bunch of Karen Katz’s board books, and that’s all I remember.

Elissa:
I read Guide proofreading pages. And browsed Vanity Fair (Beiber issue ☺).

Martha:
I spent most of yesterday making my way through a pile of forthcoming novels, most of which were disappointing. One was kinda fun, though -- Jacqueline Harvey's Alice-Miranda at School, about a kind-hearted, take-charge newcomer to a posh but rather mysterious English boarding school. It's got spunk -- and it appears to be the first installment of a series (the ARC includes a glimpse of the next adventure, Alice-Miranda on Holiday). After that I wallowed in the extremely wallowable FitzOsbornes in Exile (sequel to Michelle Cooper's Brief History of Montmaray) -- which would have been an ideal way to spend the whole snow day. Can I have a do-over?

Jen:
I finished Chime -- and immediately turned right back to page one to start re-reading. And I “read” Mo Willems’s My Friend Is Sad with my kindergartner, who read most of it to me, stopping midway through to say “Mommy, I’m reading! I’m really reading!” Very exciting -- thanks, Mo... and Gerald and Piggie!

Katrina:
I started Palo Alto, a book of short stories by James Franco (handsome, dashing movie star/Renaissance Man and son of famous children’s writer Betsy Franco). The writing bug must be genetic!

Katie:
I finished Holly Black's creepy collection The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, read Fang-Tastic Fiction (a bibliography of paranormal novels), and started P.C. Cast's The Fledgling Handbook 101 (a "nonfiction" companion to The House of Night series). They'll all come back to haunt you (har-har) in later blog posts.

See the November/December 2010 issue of the Horn Book Magazine for snow day reading recommendations from some of our favorite authors, including Jack Gantos, Mary Downing Hahn, and Susan Cooper. Find them online in our Magazine archive, too.

A proud day for Amos McGee

Over at The Horn Book website, you'll find yesterday's ALA award winners, plus our reviews of winning titles. Congratulations to all the winners!

Also, January's Notes from the Horn Book (including five questions for Jeannie Baker, armchair-traveling novels for middle graders, "Read it again!"-worthy toddler books, nonfiction picture books, and "out-of-this-world" YA) is in your inbox now -- unless you're not a subscriber, in which sad case you can view it online here and sign up here.

December Notes: all Fanfare, all the time

December's Notes from the Horn Book is full of Fanfare goodness, with glowing recommendations of 26 of the year's best-of-the-best books for children and young adults -- plus an interview with honoree Megan Whalen Turner.


The December Notes is available online at the Horn Book website, but make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on upcoming issues.

Drumroll, please!

We're delighted to announce the 2010 Horn Book Fanfare list, our picks for the best children's and young adult books of the year.

Picture Books

Mirror, written and illustrated by Jeannie Baker (Candlewick)

Me and You, written and illustrated by Anthony Browne (Farrar)

I Know Here, written by Laurel Croza, illustrated by Matt James (Groundwood)

April and Esme, Tooth Fairies, written and illustrated by Bob Graham (Candlewick)

The Village Garage, written and illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Ottaviano/Holt)

Nini Lost and Found, written and illustrated by Anita Lobel (Knopf)

Fiction

Forge, by Laurie Halse Anderson (Atheneum)

Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher (Dial)

Happy Birthday, Sophie Hartley, by Stephanie Greene (Clarion)

Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same! written and illustrated by Grace Lin (Little, Brown)

The Sky Is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson (Dial)

Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, written and illustrated by Lincoln Peirce (HarperCollins)

As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth, written and illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins (Greenwillow)

The Dreamer, written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sís (Scholastic)

Revolver, by Marcus Sedgwick (Roaring Brook)

The White Horse Trick, by Kate Thompson (Greenwillow)

A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)

One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad/HarperCollins)

Folklore

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, written and illustrated by Salley Mavor (Houghton)

Poetry

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen (Houghton)

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse, written by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josée Masse (Dutton)

Nonfiction

They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Houghton)

The War to End All Wars: World War I, by Russell Freedman (Clarion)

Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca (Porter/Flash Point/Roaring Brook)

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot [Scientists in the Field], written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop (Houghton)

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, and Treachery, written by Steve Sheinkin (Flash Point/Roaring Brook)

Read more about each of these excellent titles -- plus an interview with honoree Megan Whalen Turner -- in the December Notes from the Horn Book, coming next week. Sign up for the newsletter and view Fanfare lists since 1938 on our website.