2023 CLEL Bell “SING” Nominations pt. 1

Nominations for the CLEL Bell Book Awards have begun! Let’s celebrate the first nominations in the “Sing” category, with more coming soon. These are books published after November 16, 2021 that model or support the practice of singing with young children and babies. Many nominations come from title suggestions from members like you! The CLEL …

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2023 CLEL Bell “READ” Nominations pt. 1

Nominations for the CLEL Bell Book Awards have begun! Here are the first nominations in the “Read” category, with many more coming soon. These are books published after November 16, 2021 that model or support the practice of reading with young children and babies. Many nominations come from title suggestions from members like you! The …

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2023 CLEL Bell “TALK” Nominations pt. 1

Nominations for the CLEL Bell Book Awards have begun! We are starting this week with the first nominations in the “Talk” category, with many more coming soon. These are books published after November 16, 2021 that model or support the practice of talking with young children and babies. Many nominations come from title suggestions from …

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2022 CLEL Bell Award Winners!

The CLEL Bell Picture Book Awards are an annual recognition of five high-quality picture books that provide excellent support of early literacy skills for young children in each of five categories: read, write, sing, talk, and play. Eligible books were published or distributed in the United States between November 16, 2020 and November 15, 2021. …

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Fred Gets Dressed

by Peter Brown (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) Published May 4, 2021 When Fred’s adults discover him dressed in his mother’s clothes, the whole family takes part in a dress-up session. This is a great example of adults following the child’s lead in play, as well as embracing nontraditional gender expression.

Pillow Places

by Joseph Kuefler (Balzer + Bray) Published June 8, 2021 Two friends spend their sleepover discovering all the things a pillow can do and be. They play until they can’t anymore and forge a bond stronger than a pillow fort.