Evanston Public Library children’s literature experts Betsy Bird and Brian Wilson will share their picks for Best Picture Books of 2015 at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 14 in the Main Library’s Community Meeting Room, 1703 Orrington Ave. The event is for adults only.
This lively and interactive presentation will offer those reading to children or with an interest in children’s literature, advice and tips on great books to share and suggestions for how to make these titles come alive. There will also be plenty of great ideas for books to give as gifts.
Mr. Wilson was recently elected to serve on the prestigious 2017 Caldecott Award Selection Committee. The Caldecott Medal is the highest honor awarded to an illustrated children’s book published in the United States. He has worked at the Evanston Public Library since 2001 where he serves as selector for the library’s picture books. He also leads a storytime program for preschoolers and publishes a blog, “Mr. Brian’s Picture Book Picks.” Mr. Wilson said, “2015 has been a great year for picture books to read aloud to preschoolers, and I cannot wait to share my top 12 favorites.”
Ms. Bird joined the Evanston Public Library as collections development manager in 2015, coming to EPL from New York Public Library where she was a youth materials specialist. Her popular blog in School Library Journal, Fuse 8, gets tens of thousands of visitors each month, her Twitter followers number more than 11,000, and she regularly reviews children’s books for Kirkus and the New York Times.
“So many picture books are published in a given year that it can be enormously difficult sifting through them to find the best,” said Ms. Bird. “Brian and I will take the guesswork out of identifying books for kids that really sparkle.”