Welcome to Through the Looking Glass
Welcome to the May and June 2011 issue of Through the Looking Glass Children’s Book Reviews. I have put together a wonderful collection of reviews for you for this issue, and I hope you enjoy reading the reviews as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
As always, the books reviewed on TTLG are carefully chosen by the editor. We only review books that suit the scope of TTLG, and that we feel have something to offer readers. Therefore, all our reviews are positive ones. We hope this will help you to find excellent books for the young people in your lives. If you are looking for books for yourself, we hope you will find books that you will enjoy reading. Please consider buying books through this website. Your purchases help to support our work, and give us the means to improve this online resource.
May and June are the months when summer finally makes itself felt. Winter coats and sweaters are put into boxes or are tucked away on high shelves, and bathing suits are tried on to see if they still fit. The sun is warm, and children are happy to spend their play time out of doors. There is a delightful collection of books about summer on the TTLG Summer Days page, with books for readers of all ages.
For this month’s special feature I am looking at books about elephants. When I was in university I was lucky enough to study and see both domesticated and wild elephants in India and Kenya. I have had an abiding fondness for these wonderful and intelligent animals every since that time. You will find picture books, novels, and nonfiction titles in the TTLG Elephants feature.
For this month’s Editor’s Choice title, I have selected a very special young adult novel called Ten miles past normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell. This is an extraordinary book that I cannot recommend highly enough.
Finally, take a look at the new Bookish Calendar. Here you will find reviews about Nellie Bly, Mother’s Day, Paul Gauguin, a horse called Seabiscuit, and much more. This calendar is a great tool to use at home and in the classroom to help children incorporate books more fully into their lives.
-:Bookish Events for May and June:-
May 8th -14th is Reading is Fun Week (USA)
May is “Get Caught Reading” Month (USA)
Children’s Book Week May 2-8th (USA)
I hope you find a way to celebrate some, if not all, of these bookish events. If I have missed an important bookish event, please drop me a line to tell me about it.
For those of you don’t already know, I also publish a blog about children’s books and the children’s book world. On the blog I post reviews, interviews with great authors and illustrators, I offer book giveaways, and I tell you about interesting contests and bookish events. Do visit the blog and sign up for the feed. I am doing something new this year. I will be reviewing a picture book for every day of 2011. Please join the 2011 TTLG Picture Book Celebration!
At the beginning of last year, I launched the new website, and all the new content for every issue is on this new website. However, a large part of the old content is still on the old site. You can still get to this content, but it is not integrated into the new site. Moving the 4,000 reviews over is going to take some time, and I appreciate your patience while I work on this.
Some of the titles I reviewed several years ago are now out of print. Though you cannot buy these books in every bookshop, many of them are still available for purchase on websites like Amazon.com.
I hope you enjoy this new issue, and I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
