3 wonderful new picture books about African American heroes, all written by authors of color
As a strong proponent of bookshelves filled with diverse books — in our libraries, our schools, and certainly at home — I’ve become much more aware of not seeking out books featuring heroes of color, but ensuring that a diverse group of authors and...
5 books about Haiti for kids that celebrate its beauty, resilience and culture.
It’s become devastatingly clear that not everyone recognizes Haiti as the naturally beautiful, culturally rich, nation that it is. Not to mention a resilient one, as we commemorate the 8-year anniversary today of the massive Port-au-Prince earthquake that struck...
The best children’s books of 2017 to read in 2018: All the year-end lists, all in one place.
This is my favorite recurring post every year on Cool Mom Picks, in which we collect all the best children’s books of 2017 lists from all over the internet — from big publications like the New York Times to our favorite indie bloggers with great taste in...
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls Vol. 2 | Editors Top 10 of the Year
The truth is, we want to give a shout out to the many wonderful children’s authors this year who dedicated their energies to supporting, uplifting, and empowering girls — and to those publishers who gave them the opportunity. But the one that really steals...
The Little Feminist book subscription box delivers monthly empowerment for kids.
If you’ve followed us for any length of time, you know that we’re big fans of children’s books that reflect real-life diversity. The percentage of books that deliver on this is getting better, but still not nearly high enough. But we’ve...
The year’s best Christmas books for kids (that parents will actually want to read too)
Our local bookstore has a kids’ section that’s a swath of red and green right now. But books like Clifford’s Christmas or It’s a SpongeBob Christmas are not my first choices. (You guys, I totally just made up those titles in my head,...
3 great new middle-grade novels your kids (and you!) should be reading right now.
Over the last few months I’ve received a stack of advance review novels that’s now literally taller than I am. But from the pile of books, three great middle-grade novels in particular have caught my attention. Each explores themes of justice, activism,...
Our President Was Called Barack: Inspiring kids to be their best selves
I’m not going to pull punches here; like a lot of parents, I’m concerned about so many American kids growing up in an age where the normalization of a lot of really awful stuff — hatred, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, mass shootings — is part...
Help your kids navigate the hell of middle school with the new graphic novel from the author of Roller Girl.
Let’s be honest, middle school sucks in more ways than we can count. Which is probably why so many of us relate to the plight of outsider-turned-insider-turned-outsider-again heroines like Cady Haron of Mean Girls, Heathers‘ Veronica Sawyer, or Laney Boggs...
Beyond Waldo: 6 gorgeously artful look-and-find books for kids
I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to the opportunity to preview countless kids’ books each year. But admittedly, it often feels like a neverending stream of the same-old. However recently, I’ve noticed a trend of well-designed, beautifully...
The 2017 National Book Award finalists that YA lovers will want to get their hands on now.
The 2017 National Book Awards have just been announced, in time for those crisp autumn nights cuddling up with a good book. And while you should check out all the finalists in the fiction and nonfiction categories, we’re sharing the Young People’s...Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz!
We started Cool Mom Picks in 2006 to help make life cooler, easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun for parents of all kinds.
Trivia: It was called Cool Mom Sh*t for the first two days. (Yeah, we rethought that.)
We had no idea our site would grow to become a major lifestyle network, that we'd end up sharing our finds with the TODAY Show and Martha Stewart, that we'd be able to make a real difference for so many small businesses and women-run companies, or that we'd end up with an incredible community of the coolest readers on the planet. (If we do say so ourselves).
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Our Low-Pressure, Online Book Club
Raising Activist Kids: 2 books by Marley Dias and Caroline Paul
Atomic Habits by James Clear :Oct 1
No More Mean Girls, by Katie Hurley
The Yes Brain, by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
How to Break Up with Your Phone, by Christine Price
The New Childhood, by Jordan Shapiro
How to Be a Happier Parent by KJ Dell'Antonia
Raising Empowered Daughters by Mike Adamick
Radical Kindness by Angela Santomero
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