When's My Birthday?

When's My Birthday?
By Julie Fogliano
Illustrated by Christian Robinson
Roaring Brook Press, 2017. Picture Book.

This book is a celebration of the most exciting holiday of all - birthdays! With simple text, this book shares in the excitement and anticipation that little kids experience while waiting for their birthdays. This is a book best read aloud to fully capture the excitement and frenetic energy of young children waiting for their birthday. Simplified, childlike illustrations done in a muted toned cut paper collage are silly and (often) larger than life to drive this point home. Caldecott Honor illustrator Christian Robinson shows children in all colors celebrating and enjoying their birthdays.

Something about this book feels so timeless and retro that it is sure to be a favorite in many families for years to come. Unlike many birthday themed picture books, this one never seems too loud or too big - just subtle and realistic enough.

Comments

Funny Farm by Mark Teague 2009

There are things I liked about Mark Teague's newest book, Funny Farm , and things I didn't like. Where should I start? I'll do the "didn'ts" first. The illustrations show animals personified. Well, some of the animals are. The main characters, Edward, and his farm family relatives, all dogs, are humanized. They stand upright, do farm chores, eat at a table, wear clothes, knit (yes, with paws) and sleep in beds. Most everybody else on and around the farm, who are also animals, act like animals. They are outside, roll in mud, live in the barn, and require care from their owners. It struck me the most on the page spread where there are pigs playing in puddle in the rain and Edward, a black and white boxer, watches from inside the house. I thought "You're a dog! Go play with them!" But, alas, he can't, seeing as how he goes through his entire visit to the farm wearing a suit and red bow tie. Another picture that bothered me was the maple syrup pa...

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester 2008

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Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages. Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

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