NEW Children's Authors / Books

(c) Amazon.com

As a conclusion to our Children's Author Highlight Series, I wanted to contribute a post highlighting a few of the books that my 3-year-old son and I perused this summer. While browsing some books on Amazon one day, I noticed a box in the sidebar called "Best Books of 2013." When I clicked on it, I immediately noted the categories and went right to the "Best Children's Books of 2013" tab. After skimming through the list, I picked out 4 that looked intriguing and then logged onto our library to see if they were available. Fortunately, given the fact that they are all new books (and that we have a great, updated library), I was able to get them all within a week. Brenden and I thoroughly enjoyed reading through these - and our library even allowed him to participate in the summer book reading program with these (side note: His name got picked the next week for one of the prizes - so, YAY for reading programs!). Here's a quick summary then of these recent children's books if you are ready for something new.

Steam Train, Dream Train

by Sherri Duskey Rinker & Tom Lichtenheld

If it has trains, it will be loved - I think any of you with toddler boys know this is a fact. So yes, we loved this book, for its trains, its animals, and its total imagination. It reads just like a kid's dream (ie. it didn't always make sense to me, but it made perfect sense to Brenden). We also loved the pictures - very "soft" looking, but still very defined. I think we are going to have to get the other book by these authors now, called Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. 

The Day the Crayons Quit

by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

While my son loved this book for all of the colors, I thoroughly enjoyed this book for the story - and humor! I was actually laughing out loud at some parts. Duncan's crayons all write him letters, detailing their complaints and how they feel they need to be treated in the future. I was worried at first that this would be some weird social-issues-oriented book - but it's not! If anything, it makes fun of those things. And each of the letters the crayons write sounds just like a 7-year-old wrote them. My favorite part: the letters from Orange and Yellow, with each insisting that HE is the true color of the sun. Adults, this will transport you back to elementary school coloring time (and everyone fighting for the peach crayon, since everyone KNOWS that people can only be drawn with peach). 

The Matchbox Diary

by Paul Fleischman & Bagram Ibatoulline

This one was my absolute favorite by far - and maybe one of my new favorites ever! I LOVED the idea behind this book as well as the gorgeous pictures and the history that was delightfully integrated. A grandfather shares his "matchbox diary" with his granddaughter - with a large box containing all of his little matchboxes, and each matchbox holding some remnant that reminds him of his upbringing. He shares that, as an Italian immigrant to the US, he didn't know how to write or read - but he desperately wanted to have a "diary" like one of his friends. So he decided to do it this way. Moms, your 3-year-olds will probably not appreciate this book very much ... yet. But I do think it's one we're going to add to our collection for when our kids can better appreciate it. 

If You Want to See a Whale

by Julie Fogliano & Erin Stead

"If you want to see a whale, you will need to know what not to look at.

Pink roses, pelicans, possible pirates . . .

If you want to see a whale, you have to keep your eyes on the sea, and wait . . .

and wait . . . and wait . . ."

This was such an enjoyable book for all of us - perfect for younger children as well as older children. The story has just enough "pretend" elements, good pacing (with quiet pauses), and beautifully simple little pencil drawings that kids will love. This was also my husband's favorite to read to Brenden. So for those of you who prefer not to go out into the ocean in small boats on choppy waters, you can probably get your glimpse through your local library. 

Enjoy some more reading with the kids in your life (even if they are all heading back to school these days). Who knows? Maybe you can give their teachers some fun, new ideas. We'd also love to hear about any other new authors you've found and read too!

Megan, for The Sisterhood.