Can you recommend some children's picture books that don't just feature white faces? [more inside]
posted by featherboa on Aug 7, 2008 - 39 answers

A friend's preschool aged daughter is going in for surgery in a few months. Can you recommend books, videos, etc. for talking to her about surgery? [more inside]
posted by Lentrohamsanin on May 6, 2008 - 10 answers

When I was in elementary school, I read this young adult book about a band of children who carry an American flag all the way to Washington, D.C. (along a highway, maybe?) for some reason. Anyone know the book? [more inside]
posted by irregardless on Feb 19, 2008 - 2 answers

I'm looking for a children's book, but I have forgotten most of the salient details, including the title and author. It involved the meanderings of a worm. Each page had a sentence that included a word that was being taught to the reader. The only specific vocabulary word from the book I remember is "erudite". The book pages were black or dark with highly stylized illustrations of the worm's adventure. [more inside]
posted by spaltavian on Nov 28, 2006 - 2 answers

Help me remember a children's book. I wish I had more details than I do, but here goes: The plot is something like an intrepid group of kids solving mysteries (or something). The striking part of the book are the great illustrations of a city, very detailed. I'm pretty sure it's set in London, probably a British book, as sometimes when I see London on TV and movies I have a vague recollection of this book. (Guess this means I'm getting old). I would marvel at the attention to detail of the city...they're weren't really like the over-the-top "Where's Waldo?" type of detail, but they certainly blew my young mind. I don't remember it having a lot of text, so I'm thinking it was mainly a picture book, with minimal story, though I could be wrong about that. This ring a bell with anyone? [more inside]
posted by zardoz on Jun 3, 2006 - 2 answers

When I was a kid, I loved Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy, Tacy, and Tib books. What's similar? [more inside]
posted by booksandlibretti on Apr 28, 2006 - 19 answers

I have a 1940s English edition of Little Women which is missing an entire chapter. It hasn't been removed by accident - it was printed like that, and the chapters renumbered - yet nothing else in the book is abridged or altered, as far as I can tell. Why would an entire chapter be missing from this copy? [more inside]
posted by andraste on Nov 25, 2005 - 15 answers

ten-year-old girl, reading at the twelfth grade level, with an abundant interest in the natural sciences. i'm trying to pick good books which blend science, history and cultural perspectives (along the lines of The Great Influenza, Krakatoa and Guns Germs and Steel) that won't be too grown-up for her. despite her reading comprehension and general intelligence, she is just a little girl (with the short attention span of most kids) and one who spends most of her time in rural appalachia. i have asked my children's librarian, but i hope y'all have some suggestions, too.
posted by crush-onastick on Mar 30, 2005 - 43 answers