Just like Beverly

Here in the GPL Children's Department, we might be just a teeeeeeeeeeensy bit obsessed with our Ramona books.

So you can imagine our excitement when this brand new biography of Beverly Cleary hit our shelves this afternoon:

Just Like Beverly
by Vicki Conrad; illustrated by David Hohn
Seattle: Little Bigfoot, 2019.

Just Like Beverly is a picture book biography (otherwise known as the BEST kind of biography) of Beverly Cleary, children's librarian and author of the Ramona Quimby series, along with many other well-loved children's books like The Mouse and the Motorcycle and the Newbery Award-winning Dear Mr. Henshaw.

You might think that someone who grew up to write books for kids would have been an avid reader as a child... but actually, Beverly Cleary was so slow to read that she almost flunked first grade! The books her teachers handed her were boring and serious. Weren't there any books about kids like Beverly and her friends, kids who were silly and liked to have adventures?

Turns out that Beverly would have to write them herself. But first, she had to start small... with a prizewinning fourth-grade essay on the Oregon beaver!

Want to find out how our hero went from winning that $2.00 essay prize to receiving the Library of Congress' Living Legend award some 70 years later? You'll want to give this fabulous new bio a try.

Back to school with brand new books

It's back to school time here in the 'Burg. Take a look at some of our favorite new picture books about those exciting first days of a brand new school year.

The Pigeon HAS to Go to School
By Mo Willems
New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2019.
It's everybody's favorite bird, back for another laugh-out-loud adventure. This time, Pigeon's reporting for the first day of school, but he'd like you to know that he is NOT happy about it. He's worried about math, learning the alphabet, and most of all - what the teacher and his classmates will think of him.

The King of Kindergarten 
By Derrick D. Barnes; illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2019.
From the author who brought you the Newbery Honor book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, The King of Kindergarten introduces us to a confident little boy who is ready to rule the first day of school.

Big Boys Cry
By Jonty Howley
New York: Random House, 2019.
It's Levi's first day at his new school, and he is so nervous! His dad tries to comfort him by telling him that "big boys don't cry," so Levi does his best to be brave through the day. When he returns home after school, however, he finds his dad waiting for him with tears in his eyes. Turns out big boys DO cry, and that's just fine!