New and Cool in Children's Literature

The NCAA men’s college basketball tournament has come and gone, but what some of you didn’t know is that the Noble branch of the Cleveland Heights/University Heights public library system was having a little March (and April) madness of its own. We called it Picture Book Madness!

Every day from March 11-April 15, we held a vote between two children’s picture books here at the Noble branch. Each day, one book would be eliminated, and one would move on to the next round. Thirty-two picture books were included in the competition, and boy, were there a lot of upsets! (Of course, when we take a vote, an “upset” is rather subjective.) Here is the original lineup– you can click on the list to make it a bit bigger:

In the end, the picture book that won out– beating Curious George, Alexander…, Frog and Toad Together, Olivia, and in the championship, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble– was No, David! by David Shannon. Here’s our final bracket, which we had hanging in the children’s room for the last month (it’s looking a tiny bit worse for wear):

Congratulations, No, David! Stay tuned for next year… Picture Book Madness 2014, coming next March!

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Even though the year begins in the dead of winter, sometimes I don’t feel like my year has really started until the first signs of spring. We all have associations with the season of spring. Some of them aren’t very pleasant, like how mushy the ground gets, or all the rain in the weather forecast. But with spring also come new baby animals, bright leaves and buds growing, more and more blue sky, and the wrapping-up of the school year. To me, spring is a time of beginning– a start of something new, a glimpse of what is to come.

The beginning of a book is the same way. It’s the first look at a story, a preview of a journey you just might take. This spring, I wanted to share with you some of the most attention-grabbing first lines from children’s chapter and picture books– all of which are definitely worth reading past page one!

 

1. “All children, except one, grow up.” – Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

 

 

 

 

2. “Farmer Brown has a problem. His cows like to type.” – Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

 

 

 

3. “My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog.” – Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

 

 

 

4. “She was born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she did not open her eyes for three days.” – The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

 

 

 

5. “Everything was just dandy… till that Emily Post book showed up.” – Thanks a Lot, Emily Post! by Jennifer LaRue Huget

 

 

 

6. “It all began when Floyd’s kite became stuck in a tree.” – Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

 

 

 

7. “Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away.” – From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsberg

 

 

 

8. “It was a dark and stormy night.“ – A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

 

 

 

9. “Five little puppies dug a hole under the fence and went for a walk in the wide, wide world.” – The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey

 

 

 

10. “Everybody knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do.” – The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

 

 

11. “I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” – I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

 

 

 

 

12. “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” – Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Put these books on hold at your library! Click the picture of the book or its title.

Do you know of any great beginnings that I forgot to include? Share them in the comments!

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