Thank you Brain Pickings

I bow to the superior reviewing of the writers at Brain Pickings.These articles are more complete than any review I have read this year.  Enjoy.

The Best Children's Books of 2016 - from Brain Pickings

Wild Ideas - thanks Brain Pickings

Whoa!  Look at these illustrations.  The book is about solving problems but the dioramas are want-inducing.  Oh, if I could give a space to one of these pieces of art!  Hmmm, but then, I'd have to dust it and worry about it and keep it out of the bright sunlight and make sure it has enough light and...  No, this book will do.

See what I mean???

http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/13/wild-ideas-kelsey-kim/

Brain Pickings - KU2015

Someday blogging is SO easy.  My inbox delivered this post from Brain Pickings about 15 picture book biographies.  The illustrations for the Pablo Neruda biography are so vibrant.  Check the post here.


AND - tada - you can look at my KU2015 book list here.  The Kutztown University Children's Literature Conference was wonderful yesterday.  I love talking about books with other readers and authors.

Stories CAN Change Us

Much thanks to storyteller, Robin Reichert, for bringing this to my attention.

Over on Brain Pickings, Maria Popova highlights experiments done by Paul Zak, a neuroeconomics engineer.  (And, no, I don't know what a neuroeconomics engineer is.  It sounds a little scary, though.) These experiments showed how listening to a story effected brain chemistry and changed test subjects behavior.

You can watch the video and read Popova's article here.

 It's nice to have empirical data that confirms what we storytellers have known all along.  Stories change us.  So, be careful what you tell.  Stories are not just for entertainment - and they never have been.