Kidlit Trivia for June 27, 2023

 This 81-year old writer and grandfather of 8 is best known for his song lyrics but in 2019 he published a picture book about a  grandfather taking his grandkids on wild adventures with a magic compass. The title of the book is the name that the writer's grandchildren call him in real life. The book is "Hey, Grandude!" and the author is Paul McCartney.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for June 13, 2023

 This Brooklyn-born writer began as an editor, and one of the more successful books she pushed to publication was Caps For Sale. Her own book, written in 1947, was banned from the New York Public Library until 1970, because the powerful librarian there hated it and felt children should be reading classic fairy tales. The author wrote about bunnies but enjoyed hunting rabbits and had affairs with men and women. This is Margaret Wise Brown and her best known book is Goodnight, Moon.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for June 6, 2023

 An 11-year-old girl (who dresses like a boy) practices for a career in espionage by observing people on her "spy route" and writing her about them in her notebook. The New York Times said the 1964 novel introduced a "new realism" into children's literature, and it's been banned from some school libraries because the main character "sets a bad example." The lesbian author came from a wealthy, disfunctional Southern family and died at 46 of a brain aneurism. This is Louise Fitzhugh and her most famous book is "Harriet the Spy."

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 30, 2023

 Born in a small Yorkshire village in 1940, this author-illustrator grew up watching his dad paint every day after returning from the coal mines. He fulfilled his father's dream by attending art school in London. The editor of Oxford University Press loved his paintings and encouraged him to illustrate children's books. His bright colors were expensive to reproduce so it was decided he should illustrate classics with wide appeal. His first was an alphabet book, followed by The Hare and the Tortoise, The Miller, the Boy and the Donkey and other fables.This is Brian Wildsmith.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 23, 2023

      This English author/illustrator was born in 1812, the last of 21 children. Life was tough for the family, but he amused his siblings and himself with nonsense rhymes and limericks.  He wrote The Owl and the Pussycat, The Scroobious Pip and The Nonsense Alphabet and never sought to moralise to Victorian  children, only to entertain them. Although he never wrote a novel, he was mentioned as a novelist in a song by the Beatles, who admired his wordplay. This is Edward Lear.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 16, 2023

   When he was a child this Canadian author's family took in a pair of owls. As a teen in Saskatoon, he wrote a coulmn about birds for the local newspaper. He studied zooloogy and never finished his degree but continued to be fascinated by nature and became a passionate environmentalist. He wrote a book about his dog Mutt (who had nightmares and needed goggles to ride in the family car) and about the owls his family adopted, but his most famous book, published in 1963, is about wolves and faulty government policy towards them. This is Farley Mowat, and his book is Never Cry Wolf.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for May 9, 2023

 This singer/songwriter turned her lyrics into a picture book published in 2016. But her biggest contribution to literacy is her donation of more than two million books each month to children around the world. She started her Imagination Library in 1995 to honor her father who couldn't read or write. The writer is Dolly Parton and her book is Coat of Many Colors.