Book Delight with Chrissie Wright

In this Deep Dive episode, Chrissie shares a week by week look at a weird books unit with 4th and 5th grade students in the library.

Resources Mentioned on the Show:

• "Let the Kids Get Weird" by Janet Manely on LitHub
• "Goodnight Moon" on Looking at Picture Books Substack by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen 
• Mac Barnett on NPR: "Are picture books undervalued? This new ambassador of children's literature thinks so"

Books Discussed on the Show:

• Tumblebaby by Adam Rex and Audrey Helen Weber
• The Cat Way by Sara Lundberg, translated by BJ Woodstein
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
• Let’s Be Bees by Shawn Harris
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• I Want to Be a Vase by Julio Torres, illustrated by Julian Glander
• Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen
• The Pineapple Princess by Sabina Hahn
• I Do Not Eat Children by Marcus Cutler
• The Teeny Weeny Unicorn by Shawn Harris
• A Sleepless Night by Micaela Chirif, illustrated by Joaquin Camp, translated by Jordan Landsman
• Pretty Ugly by David Sedaris, illustrated by Ian Falconer
• Pepper and Me by Beatrice Alemagna
• Tove and the Island with No Address by Lauren Soloy

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, live video Q&As with Chrissie, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. 

Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

In this Forecast episode, Chrissie is sharing 10 books for kids releasing in February, 2025 that she is looking forward to.

FEATURED TITLES

Picture Book

• Caboose by Travis Jonker, illustrated by Ruth Chan (2/4)
• Let's Be Bees by Shawn Harris (2/11)
• Every Monday Mabel by Jashar Awan (2/25)
• Shark Girl by Kate Beaton (2/25)

Graphic Novels

• How to Draw a Secret by Cindy Chang (2/4)
• Saphie the One-Eyed Cat by Joho (2/4)
• Casey's Cases by Kay Healy (2/11)
• Crumble by Meredith McClaren, illustrated by Andrea Bell (2/25)

Middle Grade

• Jojo vs. Middle School by Joy McCullough and Veeda Bybee (2/11)
• It's All or Nothing Vale by Andrea Beatriz Arongo (2/11)

OTHER RESOURCES:

• Libro.fm Educator & Librarian Advanced Listening Copy (ALC) Program

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, roundups of kidlit books that have received starred reviews, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

In this Reading Raves, Chrissie shares her favorite kidlit she read during January, 2025. 

FEATURED TITLES:

• Katrina Hyena, Stand-Up Comedian by Sophie Kohn
• Pencil and Eraser by Jenny Alvarado
• Super Magic Boy: I Am a Space Tiger by Jarod Rosello
• The Secret of Danger Point by Kim Dwinell
• Looshkin: The Maddest Cat in the World by Jamie Smart
• Wildflower Emily: A Story About Young Emily Dickinson by Lydia Corry
• Young Hag and the Witches' Quest by Isabel Greenberg

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, roundups of kidlit books that have received starred reviews, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

In this episode, Chrissie is sharing 4 things she'd like to encounter more of in kidlit this year:

1. Mercenary page turns
2. Unmentioned mischief
3. Covers designed for kids not grown-ups (especially the back)
4. Books from small presses and kidlit in translation

RESOURCES AND BOOKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

• "Goodnight Moon" on Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen's Substack, Looking at Picture Books
• Guess Again by Mac Barnett
• Mr. S. by Monica Arnaldo
• A Day with Mousse by Claire Lebourg
• A Sleepless Night by Micaela Chirif

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, roundups of kidlit books that have received starred reviews, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

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In this Forecast episode, Chrissie is sharing 10 books for kids releasing in January 2025 that she is excited about.

Featured Titles

PICTURE BOOKS / EARLY READERS

• Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffman
• The Great Antonio by Elise Gravel
• The Interpreter by  Olivia Abtahi, illustrated by Monica Arnaldo

SHORT CHAPTER BOOKS

• Gabby Torres Gets a Billion Followers by Angela Dominguez
• Willow's Woods by Suzanne Selfors

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Chickenpox by Remy Lai
• Operation Cover-Up by Tate Godwin

MIDDLE GRADE

• Scattergood by HM Bouwman

NONFICTION

• Unstoppable John by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Jerry Jordan
• The Big Book of Barf by Vicky Lorencen, illustrated by Remy Simard

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, roundups of kidlit books that have received starred reviews, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

In this bonus episode, Chrissie is sharing everything she read aloud in the library in December and what she thought.

These monthly episodes are a perk for paid subscribers on Substack. Today, you're getting a peek behind the paywall. If you enjoy this episode, visit librarychrissie.substack.com to become a paid subscriber and receive this episode at the end of every month.

Welcome back to Favorites Month! This week, Chrissie is sharing her favorite graphic novels of 2024.

FEATURED TITLES

Realistic Crowd Pleasers:

• Let's Go, Coco! by Coco Fox
• The New Girl by Cassandra Calin

Carving new ground in kidlit...

• Dear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison -- and How We Stay in Touch by Jay Jay Patton with Kiara Valdex, illustrated by Markia Jenai
• Pearl by Sherri L. Smith, illustrated by Christine Norrie
• Poetry Comics by Grant Snider

Light and Lovely

• Detective Beans: and the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen
• Monti and Leo: A Newcomer in Pocketville by Sylvia Kantorovitz
• The Egg Incident  by Ziggy Hanaor and Daisy Wynter

Dark, Weird, Funny:

• Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp
• K is in Trouble by Gary Clement

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, roundups of kidlit books that have received starred reviews, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

Welcome to Favorites Month! Each week in December, Chrissie is sharing a category of her favorite kidlit of 2024. This week, we're talking short chapter books.

On this show, short chapter books are defined as highly illustrated fiction narratives told across chapters in under 200 pages.

Featured Titles

• A Day with Mousse by Claire Lebourg, translated by Sophie Lewis
• Beti and the Little Round House by Atinuke, translated by Emily Hughes
• Drag and Rex: Sweet and Silly by Susan Lubner, illustrated by Blythe Russo
• Lone Wolf Goes to School and Lone Wolf Gets a Pet by Kiah Thomas, illustrated by K. Fai Steele
• Welcome to the Woofmore and The Woofmore Is Not Haunted by Donna Gephart and Lori Haskins Houran, illustrated by Josh Cleland
• Loose Threads by Isol, translated by Lawrence Schimel (note this title was inadvertently out of alphabetical order. It happens!)

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, roundups of kidlit books that have received starred reviews, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

Welcome to Favorites Month! Each week in December, Chrissie will share a category of her favorite kidlit of 2024. This week, we're talking middle grade.

Featured Titles

• A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall  by Jasmine Warga
• Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste
• Read At Your Own Risk by Remy Lai
• The Curse of Eelgrass Bog by Mary Averling
• The House with a Dragon In It by Nick Lake, illustrated by Emily Gravett
• The Liars Society by Alyson Gerber
• The Underdogs of Upson Downs by Craig Silvey

Honorable Mentions

• The Fairy Tale Fan Club by Richard Ayoade
• The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

On My TBR:

• Tig by Heather Smith
• Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood by Robert Beatty
• The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly
• Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, roundups of kidlit books that have received starred reviews, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

In this Reading Raves episode, Chrissie shares eight great books for kids that she read this month.

FEATURED TITLES

Short Chapter Books

• Frank and the Big Mistake by Martha Brockenbrough, illustrated by Jon Lau
• Loose Threads by Isol, translated Lawrence Schimel

Graphic Novels

• Detective Beans: and the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen
• Pearl by Sherri L. Smith, illustrated by Christine Norrie
• The First Cat in Space and the Wrath of the Paperclip by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris
• The Wolf Suit by Sid Sharp

Middle Grade

• Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste
• The House with a Dragon In It by Nick Lake, illustrated by Emily Gravett

Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.

If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, roundups of kidlit books that have received starred reviews, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.