1. Creepy Pair of Underwear!, by Aaron Reynolds, Peter Brown (Illus.), Simon & Schuster (BYR)
2. She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World, by Chelsea Clinton, Alexandra Boiger (Illus.), Philomel
3. Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper
4. The Mermaid, by Jan Brett, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
5. Uni the Unicorn and the Dream Come True, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Brigette Barrager (Illus.), Random House
6. Dragons Love Tacos, by Adam Rubin, Daniel Salmieri (Illus.), Dial
7. Princesses Wear Pants, by Savannah Guthrie, Allison Oppenheim, Eva Byrne (Illus.), Abrams
8. Room on the Broom, by Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler (Illus.), Puffin
9. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle, Putnam
10. It Takes a Village: Picture Book Edition, by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Marla Frazee (Illus.), Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
11. Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel, by Adam Rubin, Daniel Salmieri (Illus.), Dial
12. The Antlered Ship, by Dashka Slater, Terry Fan (Illus.), Eric Fan (Illus.), Beach Lane Books
13. Sarabella's Thinking Cap, by Judy Schachner, Dial
14. Spooky Pookie, by Sandra Boynton, Little Simon
15. Pete the Cat: Trick or Pete, by James Dean, HarperFestival
Mark Sappenfield
Dear Reader,
About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:
“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”
If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.
But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.
The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.
We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”
If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
