Children's Author Highlight: Peggy Rathmann

Photo Credit

This week's author highlight is short and sweet.  Peggy Rathmann, both an illustrator and an author, has published 6 children's books, seen here.  Rathmann lives on a ranch in  California with her husband, John Wick.  The story lines of Rathmann's books point back to great childhood memories explained here.

Officer Buckle and Gloria is a delightful story of a dog, who upstages Officer Buckle, a school safety officer.  This book won the Caldecott medal (award for the best illustrations in a children's book) in 1996.  My children laugh at the antics of the main character, Gloria.

Goodnight Gorilla has become one of my favorite books for toddlers.  The story contains very few words, but the illustrations, and the details in the illustrations tell a great story.  In this story several zoo animals follow a zookeeper home after a gorilla steals the cage keys and lets the animals out.  While enjoying the main story line ingeniously communicated through the illustrations, take note of the mouse, the banana, and the balloon on every page.

This week's library trip recommended reads by Peggy Rathmann:

• Officer Buckle and Gloria (for preschoolers-early elementary)
• Goodnight Gorilla (for toddlers-preschoolers)

Disclaimer: Our recommendation of the books mentioned in this post is not a complete endorsement of the author, illustrator, or their other works.  Please use discernment in selecting books by any given author.

This is part 5 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.