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. 

Children's Author Highlight: Karma Wilson

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Karma Wilson's first book (and possibly her most well-known book), Bear Snores On was published in 2002.  Since that time, Wilson has published more than 30 children's books.  Karma Wilson prefers to write in poetry form, and relies on others to do the artwork for her stories.Wilson lives with her husband, three children, and several animals on a small ranch in Montana.  More complete biographical information can be read here.

Karma Wilson's collection of children's books include 4 books about Pip the Penguin, 4 books about Calico the Cat, 8 books about Bear and his friends, 5 books with a spiritual emphasis, and 18 books with various characters and themes.  A complete list of titles can be seen here.

Admittedly, we have only read a few books by Karma Wilson, but we have enjoyed the ones we have read.  We will be looking for more Wilson books on our next trip to the library.  This week we recommend the following titles:

• Bear Snores On
• Bear Says Thanks
• Bear Feels Scared
• Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip

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 10 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.

Children's Author Highlight: Dr. Seuss

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How could we do a series on children's authors and not include Theodor Geisel (or more commonly known as Dr. Seuss)?  Much has been written about Dr. Seuss, and can be read in good detail here.  I do want to share with you some of the fascinating facts about Ted.

Did you know?

• Seuss worked for 30 years in advertising (creating ads for companies like NBC, General Electric, and Ford).
• Of the 66 books Seuss wrote, illustrated, or were published posthumously, only 5 were written in prose.
• He began his children's book career because it was one of the only genres not banned in his advertising contract with Standard Oil.
• Seuss and his first wife, Helen Palmer (author of an Albright favorite A Fish Out of Water), could not have children, so Seuss talked of their imaginary children, even dedicating The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins to his imaginary daughter, Chrysanthemum-Pearl.
• The Cat in the Hat contains 236 different words, and was written for the purpose of helping children become better readers.
• Green Eggs and Ham (Seuss's best-selling title) was written in answer to a bet from a publisher that Seuss couldn't write a book with no more than 50 different words in it.

The website found here contains hours of educational activities and games featuring all things Seuss.  Also found on this website is a Seuss book list and links for both educators and parents.

Some of our Dr. Seuss Day Activities

Dr. Seuss books can be great for inspiring activities for children.  We have enjoyed making oobleck (recipes can be found here) after reading Bartholomew and the Oobleck, had a breakfast of green eggs and ham after reading Green Eggs and Ham, and built tall towers with building blocks after reading Yertle the Turtle.  Have you enjoyed similar activities inspired by a Dr. Seuss book?  Let us know about it!

Obviously, with 66 titles to choose from, this recommended list is limited but represents our favorites:

• Yertle the Turtle
• Green Eggs and Ham
•  Sneetches
• Horton Hatches the Egg
• The Cat in the Hat
• Bartholomew and the Oobleck

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 9 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.

Children's Author Highlight: Judi Barrett

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For an occasional flavor of the crazy, absurd, or silly in a children's book, I would like to recommend the author Judi Barrett.  In searching for more information about Judi Barrett and her works I have discovered many titles that I have not read (though will be checking out from the library soon).  Barrett writes wildly imaginative stories, which are illustrated by others.

Perhaps Barrett's most popular book is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (having been recently made into a movie).  My children seem enthralled by the town of Chewandswallow and the notion that fried chicken and cherry pie can fall from the sky like rain.  I would recommend this book for 4-8 year olds.

Our most recent Judi Barrett favorite is called Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing.  My children and I thoroughly enjoy reading this book.  We all laugh at the hilarious illustrations of a moose caught up in suspenders, opossums wearing clothes upside down, and a giraffe wearing 12 neckties.  This book is a great read with preschoolers. 

We have also enjoyed Never Take a Shark to the Dentist - another silly book of animals doing "human things" and the ridiculous consequences of doing so.  For example, never take a centipede shopping for shoes, or never give a moth a sweater.

This week's light-hearted book recommendations by Judi Barrett are:

• Cloudy with a Change of Meatballs
• Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing
• Never Take a Shark to the Dentist

What other Judi Barrett books have you enjoyed?

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 8 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.

Children's Author Highlight: Robert McCloskey

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Robert McCloskey is one of my childhood favorite children's authors.  I have fond memories of pouring over the illustrations in Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal with my mom and brothers.  While most children's books are full of colorful illustrations, McCloskey's beautifully intricate drawings are monochromatic (sketched in one color).  Not only did McCloskey use monochromatic sketching in his books, but also he used the world around him as the setting of his sketches/stories.  Many of his books are set in Maine, capturing the beauty of the coast and ocean.  The quality of McCloskey's work is validated by the number of times his books won either the Caldecott medal (annual award for best illustrations in a children's book) or was runner up for the Caldecott medal.

Illustration in the front cover of
Blueberries for Sal

Blueberries for Sal is a story about a mother and daughter (supposedly McCloskey's wife and daughter were the models for the illustrations) who go out blueberry picking.  On the other side of the hill a momma bear and cub are also eating blueberries.  In the course of events the bear cub and the little girl switch places and their mothers are quite surprised to discover they are being followed through the blueberry patches by the wrong offspring.

Make Way for Ducklings is set in the city of Boston.  The illustrations depict many of the old buildings in Boston that are still standing today.  The story is about how a mother and father duck choose to raise their little tribe of ducklings in the middle of the city of Boston.  My children are delighted by this clever story and really like the police officer that comes to the aid of the duck family trying to cross a busy city street.

Does this illustration not cause
you to want to read this book?

One more of our favorite McCloskey books is Homer Price.  This book makes a great read aloud to elementary aged kids (and older).  Homer Price is a collection of hilarious stories that we have laughed about together a few times.


This week's author highlight books to look for at the library include:

• Blueberries for Sal
• Make Way for Ducklings
• Homer Price

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 7 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.

Children's Author Highlight: Eric Carle

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This week's author highlight has illustrated more than 70 books - most of which he authored himself!  The Very Hungry Caterpillar, published in 1969, is perhaps Eric Carle's best known book, having been translated into 50 different languages.  Eric Carle's website, found here, includes a more extensive biography, a complete book list, pictorial explanations of his artwork, links to his blog, and more.

Photo Credit

His Life:  Eric Carle was born in 1929 in New York; but as a 6 year old moved with his family to Germany, where he spent the rest of his childhood.  In 1952, Carle returned to New York and worked for the New York Times as a graphic artist.  He was first asked to illustrate Bill Martin's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? in 1967, which launched his career as a children's book illustrator.  The next two years Carle published 1,2,3 to the Zoo, and The Hungry Caterpillar, both of which he authored and illustrated.  These still-popular works were just the beginning of a very successful writing/illustrating career.

Our Eric Carle Illustrations

His Art: Eric Carle's artwork is easily recognizable in his unique approach to creating illustrations.  Carle first paints large sheets of white tissue paper a variety of colors.  Once the papers are dry, Carle cuts different shapes out of the painted tissue papers, and creates vibrant pictures to illustrate his stories.  You can click here to learn more about how Eric Carle creates his illustrations.  This style of illustrations is easily duplicated at home (or in the classroom).  My children (the younger and older ones) LOVED making "Eric Carle" pictures a couple of weeks ago.

Photo Credit

His Books: Another quality about Eric Carle's books that I appreciate is that the main theme of each of his books teaches a specific concept.  The following is a short list of Carle's books with the concepts they each teach:

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar* (Metamorphosis)
• The Tiny Seed (Life Cycle of Plants)
• Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me (Phases of the Moon)
• A House for Hermit Crab (A Simple Introduction to Marine Biology)
• Today is Monday* (The Days of the Week)
• Hello, Red Fox (The Color Wheel)

In addition to the books listed above, I also recommend the following books by Eric Carle:

• 1,2,3 to the Zoo* (another wordless book - take note of the train across the bottom of the page)
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?* (written by Bill Martin)
• The Mixed-Up Chameleon
• Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?*
• The Grouchy Ladybug
• The Very Busy Spider
• The Very Quiet Cricket
• The Very Clumsy Click Beetle
• The Very Lonely Firefly
• From Head to Toe*
• 10 Little Rubber Ducks*

* These books are ideal for the younger child (2-3 years)

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 6 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.

Children's Author Highlight: Marjorie Flack

Marjorie Flack, born in 1897, published more than 15 children's books, one of which (The  Boats on the River) won the Caldecott Award (given annually to a children's book for its illustrations).  While Flack did the artwork in many of her books, other artists illustrated many of her books.

We have enjoyed The Story of Ping many times over.  Ping is a little duck on the Yangtze River that gets separated from his aunts, uncles, and cousins for a day, but is happily reunited with them at the end of the story.  We also stumbled on Ask Mr. Bear at the library about a year ago, and have borrowed it several times since then.  The little boy in the story is at a loss for what to give his mother for her birthday, and after consulting several different animals, is inspired by Mr. Bear to give his mom a big hug for her birthday.

Marjorie Flack also enjoyed writing stories about a little scottish

terrier named Angus (inspired by her own scottish terrier).  Over the course of her writing career, Flack published five different books about Angus.

This week's recommended books are:

• The Story of Ping
• Ask Mr. Bear
• Angus and the Ducks
• Angus and the Cat
• Angus Lost
• Angus and the Wagtail Bess
• Angus and Topsy

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 4 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.

Children's Author Highlight: Jan Brett

See below for photo credit

I was introduced to today's author highlight while in college taking a children's literature class.  Since that time, Jan Brett has become a favorite author-illustrator.  Jan Brett is a contemporary author, currently writing, painting, and publishing.  Brett's fantastic artwork is what drew me to her books.  Every book is full of beautiful color and detail. 

See below for photo credit

The following are facts about Jan Brett and her books that I find fascinating:

• Jan Brett's husband, Joe,  is a string bass player in the Boston Symphony Orchestra (and he was the inspiration for Brett's book, Berlioz the Bear).
• Jan Brett loves to travel world wide.  She not only gets inspiration for her books from the countries (and their traditions) she visits, but also studies architecture and costumes to incorporate into her artwork.
• Jan Brett incorporates lots of animals into her books, but her favorite animal is a hedgehog.  Many of her books have hedgehogs included somewhere in the artwork (for example, in her book, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the bed posts of the bears' beds have hedgehogs carved into them).
• The border art in many of Brett's books include glimpses into what is coming next in the story.  In The Mitten, different wild animals happen upon the same mitten, one at a time.  The border art throughout this book includes the animal that is coming next.  I love how this detail helps a child's prediction skills as we read these books.

Jan Brett's website is a treasure for teachers (or mothers who love children's literature).  Click here to get access to free coloring pages, a master book list, stories behind Brett's books, videos of Jan Brett, a tutorial on how to draw a hedgehog, more information about Jan Brett, and much more!

This link is a complete book list of books by Jan Brett, and includes the setting of each book.  The books I would like to recommend this week are:

• The Hat (Notice the animals in the border art predicting what is coming next)
• The Mitten (Notice the animals int he border art predicting what is coming next)
• Berlioz the Bear (Notice the happenings in the border art at the top of the page as the village prepares for Berlioz's arrival)
• Hedgie's Surprise (A fun story featuring Jan Brett's favorite animal)
• Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? (We really enjoy reading this one every year around Chrismtas time)
• Christmas Trolls (Notice the border art at the bottom of the page to see what is happening to all of the Christmas decorations)
• Armadillo Rodeo (A fun story about an armadillo that gets a smattering of decorated cowboy boots confused with his family)

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 3 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.

Photo of Jan Brett was found on Jan Brett's website here.
Photo of Hedgie was found here.

Children's Author Highlight: Hans and Margret Rey

see photo credit below

Among the most popular characters in children's literature is Curious George - a good little monkey, but always very curious.  PBS Kids television version of Curious George has helped the popularity of this little monkey among thousands of children, including my own.  However, a popular kids TV series, a movie, and a gazillion George adventure stories seems to have cast a shadow on the real deal Curious George.  Did you know that there are only 7 original Curious George books written by the Reys?  The shelf at our public library is full of Curious George books, but most of them are not from the original collection.  The ones that say "H.A. Rey's Curious George" have borrowed the character George, but are not part of the original 7, and have been authored by other individuals.  While these short tales are cute adventures, they fall short of the originals, in my opinion.

The Reys worked together to develop the Curious George stories with Hans primarily doing the artwork and Margret writing the stories.  I highly recommend clicking here to read about H.A. Rey, and his wife Margret (who co-authored many of Rey's works), how they came to the United States as Jewish refugees during WWII, details about Curious George, and where the Rey's got their ideas for the George books.

This week I recommend the original 7 Curious George books:

• Curious George (1941)
• Curious George Takes a Job (1947)
• Curious George Rides a Bike (1952)
• Curious George Gets a Medal (1957)
• Curious George Flies a Kite (1958)
• Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963)
• Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)

I also recommend Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys (1939), the Rey's first children's book which debuts the character George, and Katy No-Pocket (1973), a cute story about a kangaroo and  illustrated by H.A. Rey.

Let us know if there are other H.A. Rey stories that you enjoy.

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 2 in the Children's Author Highlight Series.  Click here for more children's author recommendations.

Photo found here with the following credit: Margret and H. A. Rey, United States, late 1940s. H. A. & Margret Rey Papers, de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi.

Children's Author Highlight: Helen Lester

Helen Lester *

Helen Lester writes fascinating stories with animals as the characters.  Lynn Musinger has done the artwork in most of Lester's books. The combination of beautiful illustrations and creative stories found in Helen Lester's books will delight your children over and over.

For more information on this author, you can click here to listen to an interview with Helen Lester, view a few photos of the author, and see a complete book list.

We were introduced to Tacky the Penguin several years ago when we checked out an audio version from the library.  The audio was so well done, that we all fell in love with Tacky, an odd bird.  We have read Tacky the Penguin so often that we can mostly quote this fun book.  There are several other books about Tacky and his other adventures (like Three Cheers for Tacky, Tackylocks, and Tacky in Trouble) but the original Tacky the Penguin remains our favorite.

We have recently discovered another character of Helen Lester's that my children adore, Wodney Wat, (AKA: Rodney Rat, but he cannot pronounce his r's). In Hooway for Wodney Wat the timid rat becomes the hero because of his poor speech and gains confidence and popularity.  There are currently two books about Wodney Wat, Hooway for Wodney Wat and Wodney Wat's Wobot, both of which we have enjoyed several times in the last few weeks.

Our recommended reads by Helen Lester this week include:

• Tacky the Penguin 
• Hooway for Wodney Wat
• Wodney Wat's Wobot
• It Wasn't My Fault
• A Porcupine Named Fluffy

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.

* Photo found here.

Children's Author Highlight Series

(c) Microsoft

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." -- Emily Buchwald

I have seen this quote floating around Pinterest lately, and it has gotten me thinking about how much time we spend reading in our home, and how we could step it up in this area.  I plan to saturate our summer with books - of all sorts!  I have built into our summer schedule time for Bible reading, picture book reading, chapter book reading, fiction reading, non-fiction reading, silent reading, solo reading, group reading ... you get the idea. :)

I plan to highlight one of our favorite children's authors every Monday here at the Sisterhood - and hopefully this might inspire some of you to read more with your children, frequent your local public library this summer, create great memories with your children, and develop great readers in your own home.

Watch Monday for the first Children's Author Highlight - one of our current favorites!