It's National Bike Month - You'll find Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom on my May Calendar of Children's Books, but there are many more children's books about bicycles, as you'll see when you read Great Books About Bicycles from School Library Journal.

In Memory of Fredrick L. McKissack - I was sorry to hear that author Fredrick L. McKissack, died on on April 28, 2013, at the age of 73. He and his wife, Patricia C. McKissack, focused on books about African-American history. Their more than 100 children's books included: Best Shot in the West: The Adventures of Nat Love, Sojourner Truth: Ain't I A Woman? Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters and Days of Jubilee : the end of slavery in the United States. Fredrick L. McKissack did the majority of the research and Patricia C. McKissack did most of the writing for their books. The couple received numerous awards for their work, including a Coretta Scott King Book Award in the Author category. (Sources: Obituaries, The New York Times, May 9, 2013 and St. Louis Post Dispatch, May 1, 2013)

(Cover art courtesy of PriceGrabber)

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Do your kids, grades 5-12, enjoy informational books? For history, drama and intrigue, Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, Steve Sheinkin's 2013 winner of the Robert F. Sibert Medal for informational books, is an excellent choice. For a different kind of drama and intrigue, this time in the context of science and nature, Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, a 2013 Sibert Honor Book by Phillip Hoose, is a great choice. Moonbird is a rufa Red Knot shorebird with such an amazing story that he's earned the title of "superbird."

(Cover art courtesy of Macmillan)

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My 2013 Summer Reading Lists For Kids and Teens contains a mix of book recommendations, from a variety of excellent sources. The books on these lists are ones children and teens will enjoy reading year-round. Many of the reading lists are annotated and arranged by grade levels or ranges. You'll find children's books for young children to teens, including picture books and other children's books to enjoy together, children's fiction and nonfiction for middle readers, and young adult books for teens. For additional summer reading resources for kids and teens, see my article Encouraging Summer Reading.

(Cover art courtesy of Macmillan)

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Sometimes I think that Dr. Seuss and graduation go together like green eggs and ham. Why? Year after year, when booksellers put up their displays of books that make good graduation gifts, one book always appears. It's Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss. This children's picture book, which presents a joyous, yet realistic and fanciful, look at life, is a perennial favorite, appealing to graduating high school and college students, just as it does to young children. To learn more about the picture book, read my review of Oh, the Places You'll Go!. I have also updated my list of Children's Books that Make Great Graduation Gifts. Are there other children's picture books that you'd recommend as graduation gifts? If so, please click on "Comments" below and share your recommendations.

(Cover art courtesy of Random House)

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