I love this picture book:     By Jim Tobin; illustrations by Dave Coverly   It is so cleverly done.  The reader sings along to the tune of Old MacDonald had a farm, singing “Sue MacDonald had a book, AEIOU.”  It is a great way to introduce children to vowels.  I love how each vowel [...]

Authors, like everyone else, thrive on positive feedback. Perhaps the greatest compliment of all is when a reader who loves one of their books, shares it with others. Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One has been in print for 19 years, and it stills garners fans. Aunt Isabel, with the help of her niece Penelope, [...]

My eight year son received at least six books for the holidays this year. He also received a DS. With the DS came a letter from Santa with general guidelines (parental approval of chores) and some rules (twenty min max at a time). His parents bend the rules slightly when convenient, such as a long [...]

I’ve just been reading about “Daddy and Me,” a small project at Rikers Island prison designed to encourage male inmates to read to their kids on family visit days. It’s not an easy task – the fathers often have to take a literacy class beforehand to learn how to read aloud to a child: nice [...]

Projections for the opening weekend of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows indicate that the Harry Potter movies will soon surpass Star Wars as the highest grossing film franchise. Reactions from children’s book authors will most likely be mixed. While some may fear that time and money spent in movie theaters means less spent reading [...]

On October 8, the New York Times printed a front-page article describing the decline of picture books in favor of chapter books. My first reaction to this news was sorrow, not because yet another body-blow had been dealt to the wounded children’s book industry, but because the reason given was so short-sighted. It seems that [...]