When my son was younger, he'd shuffle around the house balancing a stack of his favorite books in his overloaded arms. I was thrilled to have raised a mini bibliophile, but after seeing countless board books tumbling onto his little toes…
From skateboard and sneaker design to children's picture books, Australian artist Luke Feldman has created quite a cult following of his waif-like illustrated characters known as Skaffs. They hang in the Cartoon Art Museum, they delight …
The wonderful Duck! Rabbit! is the newest book from the prolific Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who you might know for children's books like Little Pea or even her wonderful adult book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life . In this title, she's team…
I recently got a look at Alphabetica: Odes to the Alphabet , Diana Spieker and Krista Skehan's mind-blowing alphabet book filled with multisyllabic metaphors and modern, deep-inked illustrations. This book bursts with detail. Each page c…
I bet you've wondered how we find the great children's books we review here at Cool Mom Picks. Well, we will share one hot tip: Bookmark sites like the brand new One Potato . This children's book site is like literary nirvana for book-lo…
This year for Earth Day, instead of confusing my four year-old son with talk of his "carbon footprint," I plan to mark the day by sharing the four age-appropriate "Green Start" board books from Innovative Kids . The adorable soy-based in…
I completely understand that repetition breeds learning, but seriously, can someone come up with something other than the extremely original A is for Alligator and B is for Bumblebee? Well leave it to the Aussies to shake things up with …
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 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…
I'm all for making sure my kids earn their keep around our house, but I have yet to find a system that we can actually stick with on a consistent basis. That is, until I found The Chore Board . This genius chore chart created by mom Sara…
I think personalized bookplates are just the coolest gift for kids . Grab a set of the beautiful modern bookplates from designer Avis Wampler and pair it with your favorite children's title, for a birthday present that won't end up in th…
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…
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…
How to Build an A is about the most fun you can have with an alphabet book. Because, just as author Sara Midda's title says, kids can actually devote their time to creating letters out of the enclosed EVA foam pieces and not just reading…
Soft books are so great for little kids, but the content generally leaves much to be desired. I'm not even kidding: we have one where the entire book is like, Good night bunny, good night puppy, good night kitty. The end . You can imagin…
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…
I grew up with a redheaded mother and sister, so I was already accustomed to the bizarre reactions of the general public to a redheaded child by the time my own coppertop daughter came along in 2004. Not so much for author Nicole Giladi,…