It’s a Pinkalicious world, but I am not a Pinkalicious girl, and neither is my kid. We’re more into the Cowboy & Octopus thing. Of course there’s nothing wrong with loving the books prominently displayed at big box stores, because, honestly, there’s a good reason they’re popular. But there’s also an underground world of independent kids’ books– forgotten books, rare books, books that march to a different drummer. And now there’s a great and trusted way to find and capture these roguish tomes.
It’s called One Potato, and it’s a lovingly run blog with corresponding shop on Amazon. One Potato is
orchestrated by real people who love books– like, seriously love books. And they want to keep the forgotten classics in circulation.
We’re talking kids’ books that could win a pageant with a killer combination of beauty and brains; the kinds that will touch your heart and mind and woo your eyes, books that your kids will remember and pass on to their kids.
The shop is divided up into categories and colorful subcategories with things you’d expect, like First Books or Numbers, as well as things you don’t expect, like Are You Eating That? Or Recommended for…Penguins. Each book has a lush cover picture and a One Potato-written review. For a perfect example of how wonderful the One Potato writing is, check out the recent blog post about princess books, called Pretty in Beige.
When you see a book you like, just add it to your cart and pay for it through Amazon. See? It’s both independent and easy. We like that.
One Potato takes the literary road less traveled, and that, dear friends, makes all the difference.
Find rare, wacky, beautiful, clever, heart-wrenching and original books for kids at One Potato
this is great, but there is nothing better than your local library. your local librarian is trained in youth development, early literacy, has read nearly every book on the planet, and is just plain fabulous.
most public libraries offer email, or chat, service, and we love matching readers with great books (print or downloadable).
and, best of all, it’s free!
I’m so incredibly happy to hear a plug for public libraries. I can’t imagine life without my library. One of the best memories of my son’s childhood, for both of us, is my reading to him. We’d go to the library for the weekly story hour, pick out some books, then go home and read. It makes me very sad to hear more and more public libraries are closing down due to lack of funding. I believe there are some books you just have to own and I buy books for my grandkids now. I use Amazon primarily as a resource to find good books which I then get from the library. I strongly urge moms to take their kids to the library rather than the bookstore.
In fact, most of the six hundred or so books on this site I discovered at various libraries. Where I live, these are increasingly the only places you can still go to touch and test and read a book; even the Barnes & Noble in my neighborhood closed recently. And I just got back from a Memorial Day soccer tournament in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where the sprawling (and, I gather, regionally famous) mall did not contain a single bookstore of any kind. “Not anymore,” shrugged the guy at the Information counter, like this was a question he’d stopped answering a while back. Still, if there is any advantage to be gained by these passings, maybe everyone will come to their senses and remember what a heavenly bargain libraries – and books – have always been.
I love reading the plug for your local library too. Libraries rule.