As if there weren’t enough reasons to love Oliver Jeffers (author + illustrator of some of our favorite books of all time), I have just discovered THIS. It’s a fascinating 3 minute movie on how he comes up with his book ideas. This is one creative (and cute) Irishman. In college, I spent a semester…
Books
Holiday Gift Guide 2012
As you all may know by now, I’m not as much into “stuff” as I am into “make”. But I thought I would share my own holiday wish list for my kids. Santa always brings books, that is a given. Clothes are necessary for growing kids – why not make them cute? Art supplies are…
Drawing Books for Kids
Children love to draw. At a very early age, mark-making is one of the first things a toddler will do with a pencil or marker. And this mark-making is the pre-cursor for drawing and writing. When they become preschoolers, they begin to draw their own face and start to notice details that make up all…
A September 11 Story
A friend gave me Fireboat over the summer. I was prepared to fall in love with it right away since it was written and illustrated by Maira Kalman!!! I idolize her. Her art is so colorful and full of life. Not realizing it was a September 11 story, I dove right in and read it…
Favorite Back-to-school Books
Tomorrow, my son will be starting first grade in a new school. He says he’s nervous. I told him, so am I. He was surprised I said this and asked me why? I said that I always feel butterflies on the first day back to school. But that it was more of a nervous excitement….
Operation Alphabet
Note: Since first writing this post in 2012, the Ministry of Letters is no longer around. But I just loved the clever concept of a singing alphabet, so I left this post up as creative inspiration. You can still buy their book! Have you discovered the Ministry of Letters yet? There is a secret world that not…
Maurice Sendak
Today we lost beloved children’s book author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak. He was a man who accepted and embraced vulnerability. He understood the fear of the unknown and saw the complexities of mankind, both good and bad. By penning one of the most influential children’s books of the 20th Century, Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak encouraged…
Bread + Jam
This morning, my little guy asked me for toast with jam, one of his faves. Halfway through, as his lips were smacking and jam was already spreading out onto his cheeks, he said, “Mom! Remember? Bread and Jam for Frances!” Ahhh…our most beloved book. If you haven’t had a chance to pick this up from…
Alphabet Book
Graphic artist Paul Thurlby started posting each of these retro-modern alphabet letters online, one at a time, during a slow period in his career. Soon, word spread via artists and blogs. A literary agent noticed and…voila! With its kitschy humor, pop imagery and millennial vocabulary, his new Alphabet Book will grab young imaginations! Thanks, internet, for…
