books
Corner: Big birthdays for two children's classics
Two children's classics celebrate birthdays this year. "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" turns 70, while "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is 40.
Here's a closer look at these books and how they came to be:
Comics: Vertigo Crime Line's debut is arrestingly good
I was working the night shift when two gorgeous lookers appeared at my desk. They looked like trouble, but as Sam Spade said, "I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble."
Corner: Adventure series for kids
Many kids love series because they can follow a familiar, much-loved character into a new adventure, book after book.
Here's a look at some new series books:
Comics: Revisit segregated South via eerie 'Bayou'
If you crossed "To Kill a Mockingbird" with "Alice in Wonderland," you'd get something similar to the remarkable graphic novel "Bayou" ($14.99).
Caldecott-winning artists picture lively new stories
Caldecott Medal-winning artists have produced a wonderful crop of new picture books this season:
Comics: DC mines treasure troves for old characters
It's the golden age of reprints at DC Comics. But which titles are hidden gems -- and which should just remain hidden? Here are some quick picks:
Corner Books: Tales from the librarians' convention
Neil Gaiman surveyed the audience of hundreds of librarians, publishers and other children's literature lovers and confided that winning the 2009 Newbery Medal for his novel "The Graveyard Book" had "made me cool to my children."
"That's as good as it gets," Gaiman said, adding: "It is a glorious, if improbable, thing to be cool to your children."
Life's lessons, by the book
Sure, your parents did a great job. But what percentage of life lessons did the average young teen in the 1970s learn from them, compared with the Judy Blume books? Fifty-fifty? Seventy-thirty?
Comics: Writer Straczynski to revive The Shield
One of the most popular writers in fiction will bring the very first patriotic superhero to DC Comics -- and no, the character isn't who you think it is, and he's not coming alone.
Comics: 'Green Lama' an early step in march for civil rights
A lot of comics from the past are offensive to modern sensibilities, reflecting as they do the derogatory racial stereotypes prevalent at the times. Not so "Green Lama," a 1940s character being reprinted by Dark Horse.

