Here are 100 books that A River fans have personally recommended if you like
A River.
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I'm a Belgian illustrator and author of children's books. My mother works in a library so I was constantly in contact with books, especially children's books. Stories with beautiful pictures were always a big fascination of mine. Drawing keeps me looking for stories and stories keep me drawing. Everything is an inspiration: a funny moment, a good conversation, or just life. In my university, I renewed my passion for children's books thanks to my teacher Kris, also a children's book illustrator. In my final school years I got the chance to work with one of the best publishers in Belgium: De Eenhoorn (the unicorn) they gave me the chance to grow and...tell stories.
I'm always attracted to drawings first. So a book with only drawings and your imagination is a plus for me.
It's about a little black dog that finds a red umbrella that takes it around the world. With enoughdrawings designed to reel you in.
A little dog finds an umbrella in the garden on a windy day. The moment the dog picks up the umbrella, it catches the wind and pulls the dog skywards. This is the start to fantastic journey around the world. The wind carries the umbrellas and the dog all over the world, from the desert to the sea, from the jungle to the north pole.
I'm a Belgian illustrator and author of children's books. My mother works in a library so I was constantly in contact with books, especially children's books. Stories with beautiful pictures were always a big fascination of mine. Drawing keeps me looking for stories and stories keep me drawing. Everything is an inspiration: a funny moment, a good conversation, or just life. In my university, I renewed my passion for children's books thanks to my teacher Kris, also a children's book illustrator. In my final school years I got the chance to work with one of the best publishers in Belgium: De Eenhoorn (the unicorn) they gave me the chance to grow and...tell stories.
I always write a humour story next to my more adult or serious topics. If people ask me what's a funny one it's my top pic.
One day a mole wakes up, sticks his head out of the ground and get a pile of poo on it's head. The journey to find the culprit is hilarious and makes me laugh every single time.
The outrageous bestseller is back - now in a hilarious pop-up edition! Who did their business on the mole's head? Join the intrepid mole as he sets out to find the culprit and exact his revenge in his own little way. "The Story of the Little Mole" is a favourite story loved by children and their parents all around the world with over a million copies sold! And now, you play along with compelling pop-ups, tabs to pull and flaps to lift!
I'm a Belgian illustrator and author of children's books. My mother works in a library so I was constantly in contact with books, especially children's books. Stories with beautiful pictures were always a big fascination of mine. Drawing keeps me looking for stories and stories keep me drawing. Everything is an inspiration: a funny moment, a good conversation, or just life. In my university, I renewed my passion for children's books thanks to my teacher Kris, also a children's book illustrator. In my final school years I got the chance to work with one of the best publishers in Belgium: De Eenhoorn (the unicorn) they gave me the chance to grow and...tell stories.
If you're small you have to prove yourself even more. I am 1.94m tall. My wife is 1.5. So I have first-hand experience. But like in real life, you don't need to prove anything. Being small or the smallest doesn't matter to the people who love you.
It's hard being a little monkey in a big troop, in an even bigger jungle - and this little monkey has had enough of always missing out! She's off to climb to the top of the tallest tree in the jungle and she's going to do it all on her own!
Except that there's someone following close behind. Someone with claws and stripes and rather sharp teeth . . .
Little Monkey is a beautiful, funny and empowering picture book from renowned author/illustrator, Marta Altes. Little Monkey shows us that the world is a big, wild and wonderful place where…
I'm a Belgian illustrator and author of children's books. My mother works in a library so I was constantly in contact with books, especially children's books. Stories with beautiful pictures were always a big fascination of mine. Drawing keeps me looking for stories and stories keep me drawing. Everything is an inspiration: a funny moment, a good conversation, or just life. In my university, I renewed my passion for children's books thanks to my teacher Kris, also a children's book illustrator. In my final school years I got the chance to work with one of the best publishers in Belgium: De Eenhoorn (the unicorn) they gave me the chance to grow and...tell stories.
A dear colleague of mine, a few years back he decided to just go for it. He used all his experience and did stuff he never did before. The result, an explosion of colour and beautiful use of different techniques.
These pictures just keep on giving and giving. Every time you'll spot something new.
Once again wordless, but children necessarily don't need words to understand a story.
Dive into an enchantingly watery world full of surprises!
Shipwreck! A father, daughter and their dog wash up on a small island. Little do the castaways know that the island isn't what it seems at all.
The island shows the family the wonders of life at sea. Colourful fish dart in the waves and birds swoop in the sky. Island life is full of the unexpected. The island protects the family against all kinds of dangers, from tropical storms to arctic snow. Menacing animals lurk underwater, and the island has its own secret, too. Eventually, the family is rescued, and…
As an educator and author with more than 35 years of experience in outdoor education, I’ve come to realize that children need nature more than ever. I wonder if children are more lonely today because they feel disconnected from the very life systems that nourish us all. There are rising levels of anxiety, depression, and mental health concerns. At the same time, more studies are showing the tremendous health benefits of time spent outside. I hope that all of us take the time to connect to our “neighbourwood,” and that we come to recognize that our community is more than the buildings, houses, and streets and also consists of plants, animals, insects, birds, water, and air. Let us create spaces where both people and nature can thrive so we can create a greener, healthier tomorrow.
Our kids need nature as part of a healthy childhood. In this groundbreaking book, Louv describes the consequences of the indoor child, how spending time within the confines of four walls can be a kind of prison, removing children from active outdoor play and nature connection.
He coined the phrase “Nature Deficit Disorder” to illustrate the human costs of being disconnected from nature, a rise in anxiety, more obesity, less resiliency, and, in the end, less healthy children for a progressively less healthy world.
“I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are,” reports a fourth grader. But it’s not only computers, television, and video games that are keeping kids inside. It’s also their parents’ fears of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus; their schools’ emphasis on more and more homework; their structured schedules; and their lack of access to natural areas. Local governments, neighborhood associations, and even organizations devoted to the outdoors…
After life-threatening postpartum depression in the 1980s, I became a pioneer of maternal mental health in the U.S. I’ve helped moms and moms-to-be finally receive the support they deserve. Between masters’ degrees, Ph.D., teaching credentials, and becoming licensed as a clinical psychologist, I wrote four books and enjoy interviews on radio and TV. Training health professionals and my clients to develop a wellness strategy for motherhood has been my life’s passion. A few years ago I realized that during this movement, dads’ experiences had been disregarded and minimized, and my mission then shifted to parental mental health. Dad’s worries and needs are important too.
I found this book enlightening. After all, great dads are leaders and coaches – they use motivation, direction, care, mentoring, and discipline. This parenting expert author gathers together and incorporates the wisdom and knowledge of some of the most famous sports coaches of all time and artfully applies it directly to fatherhood.
This gift book for dads collects together 100 of the best quotes from the greatest coaches of all time, including John Wooden, Vince Lombardi, Tommy Lasorda, Phil Jackson, and many more, and then applies the lessons to fatherhood. Illustrated throughout with photos of famous coaches, with a foreword by Steve Young.
In 2012 I started a minimalist journey, inspired by my 1,500 square foot house that could no longer comfortably contain the possessions belonging to me, my partner, and our then 2-year-old triplets. I was a full-time working mom with little time to declutter, yet I knew that if I didn’t change our home, the stress of our stuff would rob us of valuable space and time to enjoy our young family. Over a period of eight months, I let go of about 70% of our possessions, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve since taught hundreds of thousands of busy parents how to do the same through my blog, book, TEDx, keynotes, classes, and coaching.
This was one of the first books I turned to when I wanted to simplify my working-mom-of triplets life! The hardest thing about simplifying my children’s lives was that I had to go against societal norms. Society tells us that kids need more toys, more activities, etc. This book (written by a family counselor and based on thorough research) gave me the confidence to say no to giving my kids a childhood of excess and yes to a childhood with plenty of open space, downtime, and room to create. My triplets are now 12 and I still refer to the lessons I learned from reading this book when they were toddlers. I’m 100% certain that reading this book helped me give my kids a more meaningful childhood!
Today’s busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. Now internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish. Simplicity Parenting offers inspiration, ideas, and a blueprint for change:
• Streamline your home environment. Reduce the amount of toys, books, and clutter—as well as the lights, sounds, and…
Life is busy. We all feel it. As my husband and I have built businesses, published books, traveled the country, and homeschooled our four kids, we’ve worried at times that our schedule is too packed and we’re losing sight of what matters. Seven years ago, we took time to write out a “Family Values List,” which has guided our family’s trajectory. We measure every decision and opportunity up against our core values. This provides a depth of intentionality in our parenting, which has led us to read (and write!) resources around how to make the most of the time we have together as a family. “Do life together” is on our values list, and it’s what we aim to do each day.
I wasn’t sure how an entire book could be written on the topic of reading to my kids. I also thought I knew how to read to my kids. This book took our time together to a new level! The Read-Aloud Family challenged me to make the most of our reading time, equipped me to ask the right questions, and created an incredibly precious space in our days to share together in the delight of stories! Our Read-Aloud time is now my favorite time of the day. This book encouraged me that “Ten minutes matters.” If all I have is ten minutes, it’s worth it to pick up a book and read with my kids. Quickly, that ten minutes turned into one hour a day. This book also includes a very helpful resource guide with lists of suggested reading for each age group.
Discover practical strategies to make reading aloud a meaningful family ritual.
The stories we read--and the conversations we have about them--help shape family traditions, create lifelong memories, and become part of our legacy. Reading aloud not only has the power to change a family--it has the power to change the world.
But we all know that connecting deeply with our families can be difficult in our busy, technology-driven society. Reading aloud is one of the best ways to be fully present with our children, even after they can read themselves, but it isn't always easy to do. Discover how to:…
I'm the mother of three children, ages 6, 3, and 1, and because I tend to write about what interests me, started to investigate the world of parenting when my eldest was born. (Prior to that, I was a food reporter and editor.) As my husband, a tech entrepreneur, kept bringing home pieces of technology that were supposed to make my life easier (spoiler alert: they rarely did), I found myself urgently trying to figure out what was best for my kids, and myself: the boring pile of blocks, or the flashy, sexy iPad? I spent years delving into the fields of neurobiology, psychology, philosophy, and pediatrics to get a better handle on these questions.
Fass is the professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught for thirty-six years, and the author of numerous books on children’s history. This one I found to be particularly illuminating, as she traces the history of American childhood and parenting from the 1700s to today, wrestling with how shifting American notions of independence and success in turn affected how children were viewed, and how parents parented. For any history buff.
The End of American Childhood takes a sweeping look at the history of American childhood and parenting, from the nation's founding to the present day. Renowned historian Paula Fass shows how, since the beginning of the American republic, independence, self-definition, and individual success have informed Americans' attitudes toward children. But as parents today hover over every detail of their children's lives, are the qualities that once made American childhood special still desired or possible? Placing the experiences of children and parents against the backdrop of social, political, and cultural shifts, Fass challenges Americans to reconnect with the beliefs that set…
As an avid reader, I have been fascinated by children’s reading development and began researching this topic with a specific interest in the personal motivation of young readers. I examined children’s reading in various digital formats, including e-books made by families and children themselves. Today, I work as Professor in Norway and the UK and enjoy working across academia and industry. I feel very passionate about communicating research in an accessible way to children’s teachers, caregivers, and policy-makers. The books on my list do this exceptionally well, and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.
Many parents are worried about the amount of time their children spend with screens and look for ways and a deeper understanding of how to best manage children’s use of modern technologies. I loved how Livingstone and Blum-Ross brought together research, deep thinking, and applicable strategies in one coherent book volume. I learnt so much from reading this book, including how algorithms shape children’s games and social conversations. The most important takeaway for me was the vital need to support children’s rights in the digital age.
In the decades it takes to bring up a child, parents face challenges that are both helped and hindered by the fact that they are living through a period of unprecedented digital innovation. In Parenting for a Digital Future, Sonia Livingstone and Alicia Blum-Ross draw on extensive and diverse qualitative and quantitative research with a range of parents in the UK to reveal how digital technologies characterize parenting in late modernity, as parents determine how to forge new territory with little precedent or support. They chart how parents often enact authority and values through digital technologies since "screen time," games,…
