JUDY FREEMAN is a well-known speaker, consultant, and writer on reading aloud, storytelling, booktalking, librarianship, and all aspects of children's literature. She is an adjunct faculty member at Pratt Institute's School of Information and Library Science in New York City, where she teaches graduate courses on children's literature and storytelling.
After 25 delightful years as a school librarian in New Jersey, in 2000, Judy gave up her day job and took to the road as a children's literature troubadour, though she still spends many days each year working with children, librarians, and teachers to try out scores of new children's books and ideas.
A national seminar presenter for BER (Bureau of Education and Research; www.ber.org, she also gives a variety of workshops and speeches at conferences, schools and libraries throughout the world for teachers, librarians, parents, and children. This past year, she was a preconference presenter at the 13th National AASL (American Association of School Librarian) Conference in Reno, Nevada. Judy served as a member of the Newbery Committee to select the Newbery Award book for the year 2000 (Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis) and the 2008 Sibert Committee, to select the most distinguished informational book for children published in 2007 (The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sís).
Judy Freeman is a children's book reviewer for various publications. Check out her "Wild About Books" column in School Library Media Activities Monthly; articles including the "Desperate Librarians" feature in NoveList , EBSCO'S subscription database, to which your school or public library might already subscribe; and School Library Journal's Curriculum Connections. You can access those reviews from the SLJ website, www.SLJ.com. For the October, 2006 Curriculum Connections magazine, she wrote the article "Books Kids Will Sit Still For: Ten Ways to Recognize a Great Read-Aloud" and, for the October, 2007 issue, "10 Reasons to Befriend a Book." You'll find Judy's bi-monthly book reviews in the Curriculum Connection newsletters, which are also archived on SLJ's excellent website.
Judy's popular "Books Kids Will Sit Still For" series from Libraries Unlimited (http://www.lu.com) now includes Books Kids Will Sit Still For: The Complete Read-Aloud Guide (1990), More Books Kids Will Sit Still For (1995), and the all-new Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3 (2006), all of which are indispensable resources for literature-based classrooms and libraries. You can also order all three hardcovers as a 3-volume set and get a nice discount to boot.
Judy's comprehensive new handbook for her celebrated annual conference, "Winners!: A Closer Look at Judy Freeman's Top-Rated Children's Books of the Year," presented each spring throughout New Jersey (www.LU.com/winners), is available from Libraries Unlimited. An all-new edition comes out every spring to accompany each year's presentation.
Hi Ho Librario!: Songs, Chants and Stories to Keep Kids Humming (Rock Hill Press, 1997; www.rockhillworks.com; click on Products, then Hi Ho Librario) is a book and CD set which Judy wrote and recorded for all book and nonsense-loving children and grown-ups.
You can also download Judy's 24-page teacher's guide and burn onto a CD, for free, the CD of 23 very fun songs Judy wrote and recorded to accompany Rosemary Wells's spectacular book, My Kindergarten, on the Hyperion website at: http://www.hyperionbooksforchildren.com/board/displayBook.asp?id=1296
Also on the Hyperion website (www.hyperion booksforchildren.com), you'll find Judy's popular teacher's guides, which you can print out and share, including:
- Rosemary Wells's My Kindergarten
- Mo Willems's books, including the "Pigeon" books and Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too, and the swell new "Elephant and Piggie" series
- Lane Smith's John, Paul, George & Ben
- Norton Juster's Caldecott Winner, The Hello, Goodbye Window
- Sara Pennington's "Clementine" series, including Clementine, The Talented Clementine, and Clementine's List.
These days, when Judy's not out gallivanting to schools, libraries, and conferences, and recovering from the more than three-year marathon of writing the gargantuan Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3 (which, if you buy two, will be perfect to use as 3 1/2-pound weights for your next aerobic workout), she's up in the attic of her house in scenic Highland Park, New Jersey. Doing what? Reading children's books, of course, procrastinating; and when deadlines threaten, pounding out book reviews on her trusty Mac, while her husband, Izzy, is downstairs, whipping up coq au vin or osso buco, and singing along with Bob Dylan records.