Raising two voracious but sometimes picky readers, I've learned that there are a few factors that go into a guaranteed successful kids' board book : Simple concepts, not too many words on each page, and ideally, anything a kid can touch/…
I thought I knew what hip hop was, but after picking up the kids' CD-and-book set Hip Hop Speaks to Children , I have a whole new appreciation for this diverse and often moving art form of "poetry with a beat." Edited by poet, writer and…
I don't know about you, but I can only reprise the entire Annie soundtrack for so long without wishing for amazing tricks to keep my daughter motivated to scrub. And now, I can. By whipping up amazing dinosaurs (yes, dinosaurs) with Jura…
When The Daring Book for Girls came out, I bought copies not just for my own girls, but for their friends. If I could have afforded it, I would have gone around handing out the book like a missionary. Authors Andrea Buchanan and Miriam P…
Every kid needs a Nicholas in his life. That is, the endearing French storybook by René Gosciny (of Asterix and Obelix fame) with charming illustrations by the beloved New Yorker cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé. The series was an instant h…
If you're a fan of graphic-novel superstar Neil Gaiman, then you'll be doubly excited that he's teamed up with mixed-media god Dave McKeen in the children's book, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish . But even if you've never heard…
This St. Patrick's Day, instead of wearing the green plastic crap my quarter-Irish mother insists on sending us in the mail every year, we're celebrating by hauling out the wonderful children's book, Fiona's Luck . The story by Teresa Ba…
We made a trip to the emergency room recently with the wee one (everything is fine). She was scared, we were scared, and only maudlin humor would do. Fortunately, we had along Fiona Bayrock's Bubble Homes and Fish Farts , an entire nonfi…
When I go to teacher conferences, the thing I hear the most about my son-- always said with great reverence-- is, Wow, he sure likes to read ! I come from an entire family of readers, so this doesn't seem odd to me... but it is odd, beca…
I'm a woman without singing ability. Also, my sense of rhythm is limited to 4/4 time. But when my daughter developed an interest in scat after hearing about it on a kids' television show, it was time for some musical research. No need fo…
We admit it, we're a sucker for the annual American Library Association awards which help us navigate the thousands of virtual bookstore shelves when picking out great reads for our kids . Last week the 2009 ALA winners were announced an…
Kids and dogs go together like red and Valentines Day, which is why I think the story book Mo Smells Red is such a cute gift for your little sweetheart . Not only will preschoolers love hearing about the adventures of Mo, a real life res…
My daughters draw the cutest things: Stick-figure women in triangle dresses, bulgy-eyed cats and larger-than-life flowers. Nothing could improve on what they dream up which is why I love artist Carla Sonheim's new coloring book simply ca…
I picked out Bear Feels Scared by Karma Wilson from the library after my daughter started complaining she didn't want to go to school again. She missed us during the day. She wasn't sure about the bigger kids. Her teacher was on vacation…
As you're looking for an inexpensive one-size-fits-all baby gift for all those friends of yours having kids this year, consider The Year of the Ox , the fourth children's book in the wonderful Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series by Oliv…
We hosted 16 relatives (seven in our house) over the long Thanksgiving weekend. My job, besides cooking some stuff, was to read to the four little children in my daughter's room each night before bed. And each night we read The Sign of t…
With my husband-the-pilot's schedule always up in the air (literally) I'm often RSVPing to our neighborhood parties and kid's gatherings at the last minute. Still, I don't want to show up empty-handed. So when I find a great holiday gift…
It's always nice cracking open some children's books to get your kids into the spirit of the holidays, but not every parent is looking to do it through biblical tales or the Santa story. A cool alternative: Positive Spin Press offers thr…
While I submit that no one in their right mind gives a kid a harmonica--even with a how-to book--I got the chance to poke around the Klutz site recently and there are definitely some cool new options from one of my favorite childhood mai…
As I read my own childhood picture books to my daughter, I also read the handwritten dedication penned on the first page of most of them. To Rita, on her third birthday, from Mommy and Daddy. To Rita, from Grandma and Grandpa. But of cou…
I used to collect books the way other people collect whatever it is they collect, but since having kids, my book-buying budget has been re-allocated to board books, and a trip to the library means sitting in a circle for story time. Then…
Like it's not cool enough that she's married to Christopher Guest and has started in A Fish Called Wanda , and exemplifies the phrase "hot mama"--now Jamie Lee Curtis has an entire children's book library to her name, and they're all ter…
It's really nice to see a different kind of illustrator lend her talents to childrens clothes--one that seems more suited to a Caldecott winning book than a local flea market with the table between the funnel cakes and the guy with the b…
Giving the gift of bibliophilia just became effortless--certainly more effortless than spelling bibliophilia. Left to my own devices, I'd pick an assortment of books for a kid and wrap it up and call it good. GiftLit definitely makes it …