what we're reading Archives

Fun Stories For Kids

2015/08 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

I remember shopping for books when my nieces were little, navigating the children’s book section of the bookstore was like navigating a war zone without a map. I had no idea what to buy, other than books I remembered from my own childhood and the books featured prominently within the section (publishers are genius about that kind of marketing, by the way). Even when I managed merchandising for a bookstore, I hated the chaos and confusion of the children’s section, so I handed off the merch responsibilities to our resident children’s book specialist.

Then, I found myself working for one of the top (if not THE top) children’s publishers in the world, and was thrown into the world of children’s books headfirst. Educating myself on a HUGE backlist catalog was definitely a challenge, but it came in time. Eventually, I found myself serving as the go-to person for children’s book recommendations — I had come a long way!

I’ve been out of the children’s publishing world for three years now, but still have a pretty good grasp on what’s hot in the children’s book publishing world with a little help from my son. I was thrilled to get this topic from Care.com, and I knew just the people to consult for the best children’s books picks — my former colleagues and clients!

Knowing that the children’s book world can be daunting for many, I had children’s book industry experts give me their best picks — fun stories that will breathe new life into your reading routine (we all need a break from reading the same books 500 times over) and continue to instill a love of reading in your kiddo. With selections ranging from birth to grade school, there’s something here for everyone!

Click here to discover 17 Fun Stories for Kids on Care.com

Curious to know what we’re reading almost EVERY DAY right now? See below:

Wordless Picture Books To Inspire Reading

2015/07 By Lauren B. Stevens 1 Comment

I’ve shared how I amassed a large children’s library on a budget, and even attempted to share our current favorite reads (not enough time to keep up with, I’m afraid), but I’ve not really compiled any suggestions for children’s books, apart from an odd book here and there.

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved to read. I studied English in college and even got my MA in English. My studies in English helped me build an impressive library, stocked full of titles that were more fun than work to read for classes. I loved to analyze great works of literature and I also read “fluff” as well. I distinctly remember a semester where I had four Literature courses, but still had a hankering to read something for myself. For the first time in my life I found myself reading romance novels, not for great storylines or deep characters, but because a.) I didn’t own a TV, b.) I had a coworker who had Rubbermaid tubs FULL of romances, and c.) I needed to give my brain a break from required reading every now and then.

I still use reading as a “brain break” in addition to entertainment. When I’ve been writing a lot and my brain feels fried, I pick up a book and give my brain a break from creating words by reading the words of others. In fact, I read every night before bed, at the very least. I love using my nap time break to read in the quiet of the house — a little mid day break from work and being a mom.

I found myself working in bookstores after graduating, and even while pursuing my Master’s full time. There’s something comforting about the shelves and shelves of books, the quiet, muffled sounds of people shopping, and the smell of coffee brewing. I’ve moved often in my life, and my books have always been the first things I unpack, as they are what make new digs home for me.

Imagine my delight when I began working for a major publisher, selling children’s books to independent bookstores. I loved the strong lineup of authors we had each season, the wide range of books we published, and most of all, I loved that I was paid to read books and essentially talk to booksellers about them.

Working in children’s publishing gives you insight into reading statistics pertaining to children, statistics that were as important in my conversations with booksellers as they were for my memory bank. Ironically, I worked in children’s publishing before having children, so I had yet to test my picks on a kiddo.

Despite being childless, I amassed a library for my someday child, hoping against hope that that child would develop a love of reading similar to my own. While my son is only three years old, he already has a passion for books (and bookstores), preferring books over toys. When my son excitedly opens a book, I come alive inside, hoping that he will maintain his love of reading. The statistics say that it’s very likely that D. will lose interest in reading in later elementary school, but I’ve already built a library to help keep him interested, with popular series and multiple genres represented.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to consult some of my former clients and colleagues for a Care.com article listing books to inspire young readers. More importantly, this list is comprised solely of wordless picture books, so readers of all ages, levels and abilities will be able to enjoy the adventures and illustrations inside.

You can read my article on Care.com: 13 Wordless Picture Books to Inspire Your Child

If you’re wondering what I’ve been reading this past month, here are my favorites (I’ve been in a Sci-fi/Dystopian/Fantasy phase):

8 Ways to Build a Children’s Home Library On a Budget

2015/07 By Lauren B. Stevens 2 Comments

Books hold great importance in our family of avid readers, so creating a children’s home library was a given when I found out I was pregnant with my son.

Over the years I’ve discovered ways to support my voracious reading habit and build a nice book collection without putting a major dent in my wallet. Before I was pregnant with my first child, I began building a library of children’s picture books that I envisioned decorating the nursery and playroom (it helped that I had worked in bookstores and in children’s publishing). Some of my earliest and fondest memories involve the wonderful characters and worlds I visited through books. For my family, books make a house a home.

Once my son arrived, I realized that he needed an array of different books to keep his attention, as well as board books that he could handle (without the fear of him destroying them). I’ve built a children’s home library, comprised of 200+ titles, without spending a fortune and you can too. Here are 8 ways to build a children’s home library on a budget:

Baby Shower
If you’re expecting, a great way to get a start on a fabulous children’s picture book collection is to add a few to your registry or, better yet, have people give children’s books in lieu of cards. Birthdays and holidays are also great times to suggest books as gifts (instead of toys).

Used Book Stores
This is a given, but I wanted to point out that you can find great deals on children’s books at used book stores. I am lucky enough to live near a used book distributor, who does the majority of its business online, that has small retail space set up in its warehouse. I’m able to grab children’s books for $1 each, and if I buy five, I get one free. You never know what you’ll find; I picked up a signed copy of Skippyjon Jones for one dollar!

Library Sales
Most public libraries have a small section devoted to selling used books to raise funds year round, in addition to annual and semiannual large sales/book fairs. I scored big last year when my local library was selling used children’s books for $.25. Even if you’re not looking for anything in particular, it never hurts to browse the section while you’re visiting the library, you may just find a gem or two.

Ebay and half.com
I’ve been able to find some of my favorite childhood titles (Carolyn Haywood’s Betsy books) on eBay. And just this past Christmas, after checking out Merry Christmas, Maisy from the library, my son fell in love. Out of renewals, and with a 17-month-old asking for “Maisy!” all day, we searched everywhere for this book! Local bookstores didn’t carry it, so we checked online retailers – all were on backorder. In a bit of a panic, I finally found several used copies on half.com and, after a mix-up, we now own TWO copies of Merry Christmas, Maisy (for the price of one new)!

Yard Sales
Garage/yard sales may be one of the cheapest places to buy children’s books. People are looking to get rid of unused items and books often aren’t big sellers (trust me, I’ve tried selling mine at yard sales!). Because books aren’t big sellers, people price them to move at yard sales, which often means you can grab children’s books for a quarter or less. This isn’t the best way to buy children’s books if you have specific titles in mind, but you may come across an unexpected find.

Thrift Stores
Thrift stores are a great place to buy children’s books, as you never know what you’ll find! I’ve had great luck finding children’s holiday titles (Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving) at highly discounted rates. I LOVE holiday books because they are packed away for most of the year, which makes them special reads. Unpacking holiday decorations, and unearthing the holiday books, helps to build excitement for the season (some of my fondest holiday memories). I was able to pick up a few Halloween and Christmas titles last fall for $.10 each at my local thrift store.

And, my husband recently found a couple of vintage Star Wars board books to give to my son when he’s a little older; not only were they fun for my husband and myself to reminisce about, but they’ll make great books for my husband and son to bond over.

Bargain Book Sections
Most bookstores have a section for what are called bargain books. Bargain books are a combination of publisher overruns/overprints and budget publishing titles. These titles will be a little more expensive than the above options, and the selection not as great (budget publishing titles are definitely not award winners), but they’re new/unused books and it never hurts to take a look at what they have. If you care more about the story than the illustrations, then bargain book sections are a great place to find classic children’s stories.

Children’s Consignment Sales
The larger the sale, the better the selection. I’ve found many great books for our home library at biannual children’s consignment sales. If you’re super thrifty (like me), you grab your favorite/most sought after titles during the regular sale and then come back to browse the selection during the half-off sale time. Like a yard sale, people tend to price books to sell at these sales, often bagging multiple titles together (as books, again, aren’t typically highly sought after items) and offering an inexpensive price; I’ve typically purchased bags of four to six board books for $5 or less.

For our family, having an engaging and varied children’s home library is more important than toys. In fact, my son reaches for books before he reaches for toys! Building a nice children’s home library doesn’t have to cost a fortune, as long as you’re okay with used books and diving into mismatched bins and shelves from time to time. Toys come and go, but books create memories that last a lifetime.

What are some of your favorite ways/placed to find deals on children’s books?

When a Book Inspires You [Into Action]

2014/08 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

I am an avid reader, so it’s not uncommon for me to come across books that have me up late at night, and waking in the wee hours of the morning, devouring every word and gliding through the pages. What’s more uncommon, however, is finding a book that’s so good that I pace myself, allowing only a chapter a day so that I can fully appreciate each word, thought, and experience conveyed; Ava Chin’s Eating Wildly is one of those books. [Read more…]

Farmer George’s Busy Morning

2014/05 By Lauren B. Stevens 1 Comment

Reading is a very important part of my family’s daily life, and we take every opportunity we can to find new books [adventures] to explore. I’ve tried to write about what children’s books we’re reading, in order to suggest some favorites, but I can never keep up! Allow me to introduce one of Declan’s favorite books at the moment: Farmer George’s Busy Morning.

Clare Bickers, co-author of Farmer George’s Busy Morning, sent us a copy to review for you. I love the premise behind this book; not only is Farmer George a fun, educational book that provides children with a behind-the-scenes look at farm life, but the profits from books sales are then reinvested into long and short term green projects: an example of social entrepreneurship. Therefore, with each book purchase, you are enriching your own children’s lives through reading and education, supporting small business and entrepreneurship, and helping the reforestation effort; all of that in just one purchase!

So, what about the book itself? From the moment I opened the package, Declan has been captivated by Farmer George’s bright colors, lovable characters, and farming duties. Farmer George is a real person; his farm is real, and his lovable sidekicks Evie and Lilly are also real (Declan is taken with these Jack Russell pups). Farmer George’s farm is in Western Australia, and features a varied collection of animals: cows, goats, sheep, alpacas, and…Jack Russell Terriers.

The vividly colored illustrations, varied farm animals, and heavy cardstock paper make this a perfect read for my almost two-year-old. I love that Farmer George’s trusty companions, Evie and Lilly, make appearances throughout the book, as Declan is truly taken with them, always eager to see what antics or helpful things they’re up to next! The end pages at the back of the book are a collage made from a collection of photos of the real Farmer George, Evie, Lilly, and farm animals; Declan likes to take his time looking at the photos each time we finish the story.

If you’re looking to add another title to your home library, or if you’re looking for a green cause to support, pick up a copy of Farmer George’s Busy Morning. You can purchase a copy through Amazon HERE. To find out the latest news from Farmer George, you can connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Want to win a copy of your own? FarmtimeStories.com is giving away (1) copy of Farmer George’s Busy Morning AND a $15 Amazon gift card to one lucky reader! Click HERE to enter.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Baby Talk

2013/10 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

No, really, that’s what we’re currently reading, Baby Talk by Dawn Sirett & Victoria Blackie. Except in our house, it’s currently known as baby! baby! baby! I just picked this book up last week because, as I explained in my previous What We’re Reading post, Declan is really into books with photographs (and babies) right now. But, I didn’t just pick this book out for it’s photos — it’s a great teaching tool.

The 6 spreads cover expressions, actions, feelings, and/or emotions. Each spread begins with a photograph of a baby and an introduction to a feeling: This little baby is hungry, followed by a baby with a bowl and spoon and the caption “yum-yum!”. Another spread says, This little baby is sad, followed by a photo of a baby with tears and the caption “boo-hoo!”. I’m beginning to think that D’s a sadist, as he always giggles at this particular spread (but it’s likely the sound of my saying “boo-hoo” that’s making him giggle).

While Declan truly enjoys this book, and will ask to read it over and over…and over again, I like it too. Not only does this book have photos of babies expressing different feelings and emotions, it clearly shows the relation and then follows with effect and verbal expression: This little baby wants her mommy…Mama! It’s this type of subtlety that I really appreciate in children’s books that are artful teaching tools. Feelings and emotions are complex things for even adults to understand, and Baby Talk does a wonderful job with showing the basics.

What are some of your favorite books for toddlers?

Baby’s First Word Book(s)

2013/09 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

I’ve not had a “What We’re Reading” post in quite some time, and for good reason. Books have really been hit-or-miss the past month or two with Declan, with lift-a-flaps and touch-n-feels grabbing his attention the most. More often than not, however, our reading has resembled a rousing game of musical chairs, each book experienced for a snippet, with our options continually narrowing down. Thankfully, Declan recently experienced a language explosion, and “First..” books, with photographs of objects, have been an absolute hit!

We’re having great success with two books: DK’s My First Phonics Book, and Armadillo’s Baby’s First Word Book. While they don’t necessarily read like books, it doesn’t make it any less entertaining. Declan loves using his new vocabulary at every chance (even when the opportunity doesn’t present itself), and loves pointing to objects in the books and naming them. Declan definitely has a long way to go towards English language mastery, as his approach to naming things is rather categorical.

With D’s approach, all things with wheels are cars, including, but not limited to trucks, bicycles, wagons, strollers, and even robots (?). Anything round is a ball, but if it’s an item near and dear to his heart, he definitely gets it correct; a random block of swiss is most definitely cheese, and a bowl of popcorn is corn. Small furry animals are mostly cat, and sometimes dog; furry animals with long legs are neigh-neigh. Baby is a favorite, and they seem to appear everywhere in these books, popping out when you least expect them. Shoes are everywhere, whether on people’s feet or on their own, and this category also includes socks, pictures of feet (there’s a cognitive relation there that I’m proud of), and boots. Lastly, hats can be found everywhere: on people’s heads, or fashioned out of anything (such as a lampshade). Hat is one of D’s favorite words right now, and I had a proud albeit hysterical moment when he started putting bananas (at breakfast) and lunchmeat (at lunch the same day) on his head and calling it a hat. The banana stuck to Declan’s forehead, with him pointing and saying hat! is one of those moments that will never be forgotten!

While I am loving this language explosion and seeing Declan name the world around him, the habitual use of [for him, two] words can make for some tiresome moments: carcarcarcarcarcarcarcarcarcarcarcarcar and hathathathathathathathathathathathat are a couple of words I’d love to never hear again. Have you ever realized how many commercials, car commercials or not, have CARS in them? Me either, until now…

Lift-a-Flaps, Touch-and-Feels, Pop-ups and Pull-Tabs

2013/06 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

Declan is extremely active these days, only stopping moving for naps and bedtime, so it stands to reason that his preference in books is interactive right now too! His current top pick, and a book he’s had me read to him 3 times today, is actually a sample from my days as a children’s book sales rep:

I’ll be honest and tell you that I had a hard time selling this book because I thought it was just too, well, simple! Bosco’s Busy Morning, by Chuck Murphy, has cast a spell over Declan, primarily because of the many pop-ups, lift-a-flaps and pull-tabs it has. There’s some text, but it’s really nothing to talk about because it’s the paper construction that makes this a hit:

This touch-and-feel is a close second with Declan, again, another sample:

The little pink book, by Renee Khatami, was one that I did enjoy selling, and Declan enjoys interacting with. His favorite spread? One featuring a pig with a little tuft of faux fur that he’s reached to pet since he was 5-6 months old — it never gets old!

As you can guess, the book features items that are pink: piglets, seashells, a rose, etc. I liked this one because the text has a gentle rhyme scheme that guides you through, and a lot of different textures for little hands to feel.

This last pick is my personal favorite, because I love the design:

Dwell Studio’s Touch & Feel FARM is aesthetically pleasing for me, but Declan can take it or leave it. I really like the simple text, soft color palette and clean lines of the illustrations — obviously created with a mind for graphic design. The book contains a great variety of textures in large, easy to find areas in the spreads, so I would definitely recommend this one as a starter book for babies.

What are your favorite Lift-a-flap, touch-and-feel, pull-tab and pop-up books? I’d love to find some more fun interactive titles to add to our library!

* This post contains affiliate links.

World Snacks Series by Amy Wilson Sanger

2013/05 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

While I was working in publishing, my company acquired a wonderful Berkely-based publisher called Tricycle Press. Tricycle books are a wonderful mix of cultural, historical, natural and veggie titles – great for natural parenting folks! It was then that I became acquainted with Amy Wilson Sanger’s World Snacks board books.

My husband is a foodie, and we have tried to expose D to as many different foods as possible, so these books were perfect for us. I had a copy of First Book of Sushi, leftover from my days in publishing, and we quickly fell in love with the mixed media artwork and fun food rhymes:

Egg tamago and

shrimp ebi

dipped in soy sauce

(not a lot).

Pink pickled ginger

cools my tongue,

wasabi–

hot, hot, HOT!

In the early days, I read D the same 3-4 books every night (not sure why, now that I think back to it) and we were itching for something different.

Along came A Little Bit of Soul Food and Chaat and Sweets (my personal favorite as both D & I LOVE spicy Indian food). And, because I am not one to put a limit on the books in our library, Let’s Nosh and Yum Yum Dim Sum were soon to follow:

There are even more titles in this series (we’ve not yet added them to our collection): Hola! Jalepeno & Mangia! Mangia!.

I love that these books expose little ones to different cultures, foods, and words! If you’re looking to add a little spice to your home library, check out the World Snacks books! You can get them here through Amazon (affiliate links):

David Books by David Shannon

2013/05 By Lauren B. Stevens Leave a Comment

Books and reading are a huge part of my life, and I’m working to make them an important part of Declan’s life as well. I started building my ‘future children’s’ library many years ago, and had a boost to the collection when I worked for a major children’s book publisher.

Now that I have a child, and no longer work in children’s publishing, I have to be creative in finding ways to add to my library (I like to buy books. A lot of books). What we’re currently reading, and is eliciting giggles from D, are a trio of David Shannon board books that I purchased at a recent consignment sale.

If you have a son, precocious or not, you have to check out No, David!, a Caldecott honor book by David Shannon. At just under 10 months old, D is already showing signs of being a mischievous little monkey…and David Shannon’s David books are perfect for him! With simple text and wonderful illustrations, Shannon has rambunctious little boys down to a tee. I’m starting D out with the Diaper David board book collection, and plan to work up to No, David! by the time Declan is a preschooler. If you haven’t already, check them out! You can order them through Amazon here (this is an affiliate link):