The best parts of my life have come when I was brave: getting married, having children, embarking on a career. The worst parts of my life have been mitigated by being brave: losing friends and relatives, dealing with illness and disability among family members. A huge part of raising my son who has autism was helping him to be brave. I've always admired brave people. Not daring or reckless, but truly brave. I've found that all the great stories include an element of bravery! I wrote my picture book as a way to help young children navigate the path to courage and resilience. I’m also the co-founder of National Be Brave Day.
Some books are pretty straightforward: this is one of them. I like it because it covers a lot of ground and includes lots of diverse kids. Sometimes you want a sweet story, and sometimes you want something more practical. I love that this book gives concrete examples about being brave, strong, and resilient. My son has autism, and when he was small he preferred concept books to stories. This would have been perfect for him—as he took things very literally. It’s a best-seller and comes in a Spanish version.
What kids tell themselves matters! It becomes their inner voice. It can help them connect with their power within.
Mindful affirmations can help children tune out the streams of messages they get about how they should be in the world so they can listen to their own inner voice. Children can learn to tap into their inner strength and find the encouragement they need.
I Can Do Hard Things reflects the beautiful diversity and connection in our world. A wonderful addition to your home or school library.
Several months before the Covid-19 pandemic upended the world as we knew it, my life was turned upside-down by reports of suicide rates and attempted suicides doubling for Black children. In fact, during late Fall 2019, Congress established an Emergency Task Force on Youth Suicide and Mental Health. I’d already been reading accounts of Black children ending their lives on social media, and as a writer, decided to leave a legacy of books that helped armor Black children with love as they navigated spaces that would not always welcome their brilliance and beauty. I wanted to help encourage them to embrace life’s joys and to love themselves, always.
Trish Cooke uses cumulative storytelling to show just how much a baby is loved when extended family members – Auntie and Uncle and Nannie and Gran-Gran and cousins – come to visit. This story is such fun to read, and was enjoyed many, many times with the young ones in my life. Young and old can bask in this baby’s utter adoration and vicariously experience so much love.
2
authors picked
So Much!
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
3,
4,
5, and
6.
What is this book about?
A special 25th anniversary edition of a modern classic, this is a tender, exuberant celebration of modern family life.
Mum and baby are home alone when - DING DONG! - Auntie and then Uncle and Nannie and Gran-Gran and the cousins come to visit. And they all want to hug and kiss and squeeze and eat the baby right up ... because everybody loves the baby SO MUCH!
A special 25th anniversary edition of a multiple award-winning story, So Much is a celebration of family life. Helen Oxenbury's characteristically warm, funny illustrations, paired with Trish Cooke's rhythmic, cumulative story capture…
As a Children’s Librarian for over 30 years, my passion has been for the sound of language. I want children to hear rhythmic, joyful language that will make them fall in love with words. My own career as a storyteller and author continues this same love of language. I try to write my own picture books in such a way that any adult who picks them up will read them out with the same kind of verve and joy that I put into them.
“Mommy, buy me a China Doll, Do, Mommy Do,” but, “What could I buy it with, Eliza Lou?” Eliza Lou has many suggestions…trade our Daddy’s feather bed…"Then where would Daddy sleep”…He could sleep in the horsey’s bed. “Then where would horsey sleep”…and on and on until Eliza ends up asleep herself…on Mommy’s lap. A soothing lullaby with or without the evocative illustrations by the Zemach team.
"When Mommy wonders how to get a china doll for Eliza Lou, Eliza suggests they trade Daddy's featherbed...The ridiculous swapping of sleeping places is aptly portrayed in strong, boldly drawn, colored illustrations which underline the humor and folk quality of the lilting cumulative verses. A deliciously funny picture book for small children."-Booklist
When I started writing children’s stories in 2018, I never would've guessed that my first book would be about rainbow babies. I hadn’t even heard of the term until I miscarried the following year. As I grieved the baby we would never hold, I used writing to work through the mess of emotions I felt: pain, disappointment, sorrow… until the words “Dear Rainbow Baby” appeared. My husband and I didn’t know if we could or would have a rainbow baby, yet, writing a letter filled me with hope that one day she would come. We recently celebrated our daughter’s second birthday, and the publication of my first picture book Dear Rainbow Baby.
I love all of Nancy Tillman’s picture books. I love her imaginative illustrations, depicting children living their wildest dreams, befriending animals, and romping through nature. This book is a sweet, sentimental reminder of how amazing it is to have a child. This book is sure to touch the hearts of all parents, especially at the end when the author reminds us that “the reverse is true—I also belong to you.”
Bestselling author/artist Nancy Tillman celebrates the lifelong bond between parent and child. Not just about newborns, Because You're Mine stands as a testament to a parent's protection and support of their child through all ages and stages.
The clouds can blow, the wind can call, the snow can come, the rain can fall- but they’ll just have to wait in line . . .
Because you’re mine. Because you’re mine.
Like Love You Forever, this is sure to be an evergreen gift and a new classic.
Wade Bradford is the author of several picture books, including There’s a Dinosaur on the 13th Floor and Papa Bear’s Page Fright. He has written over forty plays for young performers, and one middle-grade novel: Camp Omigosh.
A child and his crayon bring a world to life. I can’t think of a better example of the power of the imagination. I was a slow reader throughout elementary school. I preferred books with lots of pictures instead of a lot of words. So, it’s no surprise that I fell in love with Harold and his purple crayon. This book inspired me to create drawings of my own… and eventually just as Johnson does in this classic picture book, I began to combine my drawings with words. I began telling stories.
From beloved children’s book creator Crockett Johnson comes the timeless classic Harold and the Purple Crayon! This imagination-sparking picture book belongs on every child's bookshelf, and this board book edition features sturdy pages and is just the right size for young dreamers.
One evening Harold decides to go for a walk in the moonlight. Armed only with an oversize purple crayon, young Harold draws himself a landscape full of wonder and excitement.
Harold and his trusty crayon travel through woods and across seas and past dragons before returning to bed, safe and sound. Full of funny twists and surprises, this…
I grew up in rural Missouri, where my best friends were horses, dogs, cats, ducks, and an occasional squirrel or injured bird. I developed rhyming and rhythm at an early age, and I got my first newspaper byline with a rhyming opinion piece. When I grew up, I became a writer. Then, when I had kids, I discovered the joy of writing children’s books, starting with rhyming board books and animals. To date, I’ve had over 500 books published, with at least one rhyming book annually for the past 40 years. The joy comes from writing my heart—my love for animals, rhyme, children, and God (not in that order).
I think I was born rhyming, and it was all my dad’s fault. He could turn anything into a rhyme, which is probably why I’ve always championed Dr. Seuss. Add in animals, like this book, and you’ve got one of my favorite children’s books.
Parents and teachers who have read the book out loud can’t help but be caught up in the joyful rhythm and inventive rhyme. I love the flights of imagination and wild, crazy animals in this delightful zoo. Little listeners smile all the way through, and when the book ends, their imaginations will continue to soar.
This is a picture book created to help children learn how to determine Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, in countries where the summer sun remains high in the sky.
Tova travels with her mother to Alaska during the summer solstice. In the Land of the Midnight Sun, she is uncertain how…
It was disappointing comparing the rich diversity of animals on colorful book pages to the reality of forests, where I could only see trees. But as I learned about plants and I became a plant ecologist, I realized that plants have to be extremely tough because they can’t run away from dangers or animals who want to eat them. I studied plants in coastal habitats in California, Central America and Florida, and in forests in the Midwest. I love seeing how they change throughout the season and how they interact. I wish everyone would read as many books about trees as construction trucks!
I love how detailed this book is, bursting with species to learn about. Nature can be a beast. What happens when a hurricane hits and ocean animals have their home turned upside down? I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen to the animals. I love that the book shows how mangroves are trees that form a refuge in a storm.
This book is illustrated with intricate details of mangrove plants and the animals they host, making me want to grab my mask and snorkel and catch the next flight to the Caribbean to see them. Full disclosure: I studied mangroves for over 10 years, so I am biased, but they are really awesome trees.
A look into a unique ecosystem, one that is endangered in many places
A seed is jostled from a branch of a mangrove tree and floats to a lagoon in the Caribbean Sea. It takes root, sprouts leaves, and slowly begins to grow. Over many years, the mangrove will provide a home and nourishment for numerous creatures of land and sea. Among its roots come to live fiddler crabs and shrimp; in its branches dwell lizards and hummingbirds. Soon the tree is dropping seeds of its own, and other mangroves are growing, creating a tangle whose benefits extend even to…
Several months before the Covid-19 pandemic upended the world as we knew it, my life was turned upside-down by reports of suicide rates and attempted suicides doubling for Black children. In fact, during late Fall 2019, Congress established an Emergency Task Force on Youth Suicide and Mental Health. I’d already been reading accounts of Black children ending their lives on social media, and as a writer, decided to leave a legacy of books that helped armor Black children with love as they navigated spaces that would not always welcome their brilliance and beauty. I wanted to help encourage them to embrace life’s joys and to love themselves, always.
Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James are the award-winning team behind Crown: Ode to a Fresh Cut. Barnes is also the author ofThe King of Kindergarten and The Queen of Kindergarten. I Am Every Good Thing is a powerful counterpunch to the negative societal messaging Black boys receive throughout their lives. This book celebrates the chi of Black boys; affirms the beauty, spirit, and vulnerability of Black boyhood, and helps create children proud of everything they are: human.
I am a nonstop ball of energy. Powerful and full of light. I am a go-getter. A difference maker. A leader.
The confident Black narrator of this book is proud of everything that makes him who he is. He's got big plans, and no doubt he'll see them through - as he's creative, adventurous, smart, funny, and a good friend. Sometimes he falls, but he always gets back up. And other times he's afraid, because he's so often misunderstood and called what he is not. So slow down and really look and listen, when somebody tells you - and shows…
If you want to live your best life, you’ll need to face some fears. I’ve faced a lot of my fears: great white sharks, sky-diving, caves, spiders, meat sauces. I’m still scared, but what else can I do? Stay in bed my whole life? I love writing and illustrating for kids. It’s how I’ve spent the last twenty years. I’ve written and/or illustrated almost fifty books. The scariest part is figuring out how to start. Thinking of an ending is scary too. Then there’s all that stuff in the middle. Ugh! My first books about facing fears were Hippo and Rabbit. Now, Scaredy Cats. Fear gives me ideas!
I feel like I lived this story as a kid. I’ll bet a lot of kids do. A young boy overcomes his fear of the high dive.
Step by step, Gaia Cornwall takes us through Jabari’s jump. Jabari starts by telling his dad he’s not scared at all. He clearly is. He delays, makes excuses. Dad never pushes. He wants this to be Jabari’s decision, Jabari’s victory. It’s so relatable, the perspective even changes to first person once Jabari is high above the pool.
Everything rings true. It’s exactly what a scared kid would say and do. It’s exactly what I said and did when I was Jabari’s age trying to summon my own courage on the high dive. Except when I hit the water, my swim trunks fell off.
Working up the courage to take a big, important leap is hard, but Jabari is almost absolutely ready to make a giant splash.
In a sweet tale of overcoming your fears, debut author-illustrator Gaia Cornwall captures a moment at the swimming pool between a patient and encouraging father and a determined little boy you can't help but root for. Jabari is definitely ready to jump off the diving board. He's finished his swimming lessons and passed his swimming test, and he's a great jumper, so he's not scared at all. "Looks easy," says Jabari, watching the other kids take their…
What is the most important thing to remember about stargazing? When to do it, who to do it with, what to look for? It’s none of those! This picture book’s spare, lyrical text offers many suggestions for enjoying stargazing – but there’s really only ONE thing you need to remember,…
From my work as a playwright and breakbeat poet, Artistic Director of Seattle Children’s Theatre, and full-time co-parent, I've dedicated my career to crafting engaging narratives that resonate across generations. With over sixty original plays to my name, I've honed a unique approach that intertwines hip-hop rhythms with rich storytelling. My debut picture book is a testament to this approach—inviting children and parents to discover the boundless creativity that can be found in everyday spaces. It’s my hope that this book inspires families to explore their homes with fresh eyes and open hearts, turning reading into an adventure of imagination.
The rhythm and rhyme are masterfully tight, making it a perfect read-aloud that captures children's attention from start to finish. Jon Agee's words and images marry harmoniously and perfectly, propelling the quirky storyline.
As someone who appreciates the impactful harmony of words and visuals from my theater and hip-hop background, I find this book a delightful example of storytelling that both children and adults can enjoy.
'The Wimbledons were sleeping. It was very, very late, When Wilma heard a spooky sound, Which made her sit up straight. "That's very odd," said Walter. "I don't recognize the tune..." "It's only Stanley," Walter said. "He's howling at the moon."' Whoever heard of a dog who can sing, cook and do DIY around the house? He makes a lot of noise and mess, but he's forgiven as does mend the TV. Not until the very end do we, or the hapless Wimbledon family, see just exactly what Stanley the dog has been planning all along!
