KidCrunch

In his Sunday New York Times column on July 4th, Nicholas D. Kristof presented his list of the best kids books, including the following.

1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
2. The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon
3. Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
4. Freddy the Pig (series) by Walter R. Brooks
5. Alex Rider (series) by Anthony Horowitz
6. Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
7. Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
8. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
9. The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be by Farley Mowatt
10. Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
11. On to Oregon by Honore Morrow
12. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
13. Lad, a Dog by Albert Payson Terhune

New York Times readers were asked to suggest their own favorite kids books in the comments on Kristof’s blog.  The results were overwhelming.  As of this writing, New York Times readers posted nearly 2,500 comments recommending a wide range of excellent books for kids.

As a summer project, I could compile a list of the kids books suggested by Kristof’s readers.  Then my kids and I could start to tackle all the great books we have not yet read.  Or, we could just keep reading what we are reading and hang out at the pool.  So, if and when I finish it, the compilation will be posted here.

Shop for the best kids books on Nicholas Kristof’s list at the KidCrunch Store.

Related Posts:

• Caldecott Award-Winning Books (2000 to 2009)
• Newbery Award-Winning Books for Boys
• Newbery Award-Winning Books for Girls
• All KidCrunch Kids Book Lists

According to a new study by Nielsen Online, our kids are going online in droves and spending more and more of their time on the internet.

In May 2009, active online users included 16 million U.S. kids aged 2 to 11, which represents 9.5% of the active online population.  Over the past five years, the number of kids online has grown 18%, significantly higher than the 10% rate of growth in the overall online population.

Kids are also spending more of their time online.  According to Nielsen, time spent online among kids aged 2 to 11 increased from nearly 7 hours per month in 2004 to more than 11 hours per month in 2009.  Time spent by kids online increased 63% over the past five years, well above the 36% growth rate for overall time spent online.

For more information, view the full Nielsen Online press release.

It is not surprising that kids’ online time is increasing.  Over the last five years we have seen dramatic improvements in the variety and quality of kids internet programming, with the rise of websites like Club Penguin and Webkinz and the introduction of kid-friendly browsers like Kidzui and Kido’z.  Parents may be allowing their kids to spend more time on the websites of trusted sponsors like PBS Kids and Scholastic, which have expanded their online offerings over the past five years.  Finally, as internet users have migrated to broadband, the online world has become more receptive to the graphics- and video-intensive features that appeal to kids.  Parents who used to start their kids on the computer with PC-based games and software (like Jumpstart) may now be starting their kids online at Starfall or FunBrain.

Are your kids spending more time online these days?  Leave a comment to let us know what sites are your favorites.

There has been a lot of “bucket” talk in our house of late.  Most of it is me, yelling:

• “Leave her bucket alone!” or
• “Get away from his bucket!” or
• “Worry about your own bucket!”

I am sure author Tom Rath did not write How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids to give me something else to yell at my children, but I appreciate the new material.

I saw this book on display at Barnes & Noble, flipped through the first few pages and then immediately dragged my 11 year old son to the display table and made him read it cover-to-cover.  My cherished first born has lots of great qualities, but like many big brothers, will occasionally entertain himself by “pushing the buttons” of his little brothers and sister.

That’s why How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids seems like it was written just for our family.  It tells the story of a boy named Felix who learns the “bucket” lesson - that in our everyday interactions we can choose to make someone happy (to metaphorically fill their bucket) or make someone unhappy (to instead take a dipper to their bucket.)  Felix learns how badly it feels to have his own bucket emptied and how great it feels to have it refilled.  Importantly, he learns that the key to keeping our own buckets filled is to seek out ways to fill the buckets of others.

Admittedly, after revisiting the moral of this story, I have gone a little “off message” with some of my bucket nagging.  After one short read, however, my family is still talking about buckets, which demonstrates the strength of the image and message.  This book is a great choice for young families, especially those with siblings.

If you want to buy the book, visit the KidCrunch Store.  If you just need your oldest to read it, take him with you to Barnes & Noble.

A list of Caldecott Award-winning books is a great resource for finding quality picture books for your children.

The Caldecott Awards, named after 19th century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, are awarded each January by the American Library Association (ALA) to the illustrators of the most distinguished American picture books for children.  The Caldecott Medal and Caldecott Honor winners from 2000 to 2009 are as follows.

2009 Caldecott Award Winners

• The House in the Night (Medal) by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes
• A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever (Honor) by Marla Frazee
• How I Learned Geography (Honor) by Uri Shulevitz
• A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (Honor) by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

2008 Caldecott Award Winners

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Medal) by Brian Selznick
• Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad (Honor) by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
• First the Egg (Honor) by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Honor) by Peter Sís
• Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity (Honor) by Mo Willems

2007 Caldecott Award Winners

• Flotsam (Medal) by David Wiesner
• Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet (Honor) by David McLimans
• Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (Honor) by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson

2006 Caldecott Award Winners

• The Hello, Goodbye Window (Medal) by Norton Juster, illustrated by Chris Raschka
• Rosa (Honor) by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier
• Zen Shorts (Honor) by Jon J. Muth
• Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride (Honor) by Marjorie Priceman
• Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems (Honor) by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beckie Prange

2005 Caldecott Award Winners

• Kitten’s First Full Moon (Medal) by Kevin Henkes
• The Red Book (Honor) by Barbara Lehman
• Coming on Home Soon (Honor) by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
• Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale (Honor) by Mo Willems

2004 Caldecott Award Winners

• The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (Medal) by Mordicai Gerstein
• Ella Sarah Gets Dressed (Honor) by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
• What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? (Honor) by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
• Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Honor) by Mo Willems

2003 Caldecott Award Winners

• My Friend Rabbit (Medal) by Eric Rohmann
• The Spider and the Fly (Honor) by Mary Howitt, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
• Hondo & Fabian (Honor) by Peter McCarty
• Noah’s Ark (Honor) by Jerry Pinkney

2002 Caldecott Award Winners

• The Three Pigs (Medal) by David Wiesner
• The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins (Honor) by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian Selznick
• Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Honor) by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Bryan Collier
• The Stray Dog (Honor) by Marc Simont

2001 Caldecott Award Winners

• So You Want to Be President? (Medal) by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small
• Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer, illustrated by Christopher Bing
• Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
• Olivia by Ian Falconer

2000 Caldecott Award Winners

• Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Medal) by Simms Taback
• A Child’s Calendar (Honor) by John Updike, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
• Sector 7 (Honor) by David Wiesner
• When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry (Honor) by Molly Bang
• The Ugly Duckling (Honor) adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, text by Hans Christian Andersen

Shop for these Caldecott Award-winning books and other great kids books at the KidCrunch Store.

I am a big fan of Simple Mom, a blog with a tag line that says it all:  “Live simply, stay sane.  Life hacks for home managers.”

Simple Mom compiled a terrific list of childrens book authors in a post entitled Ten Great Authors in Childrens Literature.  It is definitely a great list to check out and bookmark.

I love all of the childrens book authors in the Simple Mom list, including my favorites Eric Carle, Arnold Lobel, Robert McCloskey and Margaret Wise Brown.  Several authors omitted from the top ten were highlighted in the body of the post (Beverly Cleary, Laura Ingalls Wilder) or noted in the comments by Simple Mom readers (Shel Silverstein, Else Minarik and Jan Brett.)  There was even a mini-debate in the comments about whether Dr. Seuss should have been on the list.  (I vote “yes.”)  Smart readers, those Simple Moms.

Shop for books by these favorite childrens book authors in the KidCrunch Store.

Related posts:

Kids Book List:  Favorite Dr. Seuss Books