Children’s Books Guide

Another in a seemingly endless line of successful picture books by famed illustrator David Wiesner, “Sector 7″ is the story of a group of school age children who are apparently on a field trip that has found them within the walls and glass of the observatory in New York City’s iconic Empire State Building.  The [...]

Originally written by the rather prolific childrens books author Leo Lionni in 1969, “Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse” was reissued nearly forty years later in 2006 to delight a brand new generation of young readers. Before his death in 1999, Lionni was the proud recipient of four Caldecott Awards for the illustrations in his [...]

With a fresh new version  on book store shelves around the country, “April’s Kittens” – childrens books that were first published more than fifty years ago – is finding a brand new generation of fans.  When young April’s pet cat Sheba gives birth to three beautiful kittens she is ecstatic.  That is until her father [...]

On the surface, the story behind “Henry’s Freedom Box” may not seem like the best subject matter for  childrens books, yet in this beautiful and award winning book, author Ellen Levine and illustrator Kadir Nelson skillfully tell the astonishing true story of Henry Brown, a slave who literally mailed himself into freedom.  Henry’s young life [...]

The delightful  “Hondo and Fabian” was written and illustrated by Peter McCarty, author of such other childrens books as “T is for Terrible”, “Little Bunny on the Move” and  “Baby Steps”.  In “Hondo and Fabian”, for which he won a Caldecott picture books award, McCarty features his distinctive style of pencil drawing, complemented by  warm [...]

Some Dr. Seuss books are well-known and much loved. Others, however, fade away into a quiet part of the library or book store, until they’re rediscovered to become loved stories. When it comes to childrens books, most parents know that Dr. Seuss has got the formula right, and this same thing holds true when it [...]

The off the wall story of “There Was an old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” is not new by any stretch of the imagination, but illustrator Simms Taback truly gives this story  a new look in his Caldecott Medal winning version of the old classic folk story.   In Taback’s version, the old lady so named [...]

Everyone has experienced the story of  “The Ugly Duckling” at some point in their lives.  It is hard to believe that a story first published by Hans Christian Andersen in 1843 would still be as phenomenally well received as it is among childrens books today, but this is truly a timeless classic of childrens literature.  [...]

Bright colors abound in Donald Crews’ brilliant and award-winning ” Freight Train Board Book”, a title that earned him one of his two Caldecott Honors in 1979 (the other, incidentally was “Truck”).  One of the most beloved picture books, as the young readers turn the pages, a colorful train is making its way along a [...]

In the story  “Outside Over There” by Maurice Sendak,  the phenomenally talented illustrator of “Where the Wild Things Are” and other childrens books, has his main character Ida descend into a mystical and magical world in search of her lost sister and while searching for her, finds things about both herself and those she cares [...]