Uncommon books for uncommon kids.
That’s why I created this blog. I’m not here to share the daily triumphs and tribulations of life as a parent of two adorable, brilliant little ones. (Phew!)
Instead, I’ll combine my expertise in children’s literature with my experience as an opinionated, always-reading mother to recommend the crème de la crème of kid’s books.
These books will reach out and grab kids of every background and reading level and, hopefully, make them lifelong readers. They’ll also provide one of the vital ingredients in the secret sauce that makes children creative thinkers and strong writers: a broad-based education that goes way beyond the “required reading list” and the creative, inventive and lively minds that reading widely creates.
In other words, “literacy” goes way beyond knowing how to read. Literate children — and adults — make connections between and across genres and art forms, through history and science too. A literate child will get that Peter Pan is named for the Greek god Pan, son of the trickster Hermes; that Mr. Tumnus (Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe) is also modeled after the same Pan and that the word ‘panic’ comes from Pan’s ability to inspire fear in lonely places.
It does not take an exorbitant private school tuition to help your child become a modern-day Renaissance (wo)man. Nor does it take force-feeding Serious tomes with Heavy Messages. Those books have their place in formal education. But unless you’re homeschooling too, the greatest gift we as parents can help our schools give our children is the secret that learning new things is exciting. And life-changing.
So I hereby promise to only include titles so fascinating, funny, or suspenseful that young readers might even forget about the TV, Gameboy or texting for a little while.
And you might be surprised. Read along — or listen to some of the many audio books I’ll also include — and you’ll discover many of the greatest writers are those who toil away in relative obscurity, for very little money, writing for our youngest readers.
A little about my background: I started covering children’s books — writing reviews, interviewing authors and following the industry — in 2001 for USA Today and USA Weekend. I’ve interviewed hundreds of authors and read thousands of children’s books. My own children have a library that is enviable, but we rely on our public library and independent bookstores too. And I’m always looking for new authors — whether newly published, out of print or just shoved in the back of a dusty shelf in the used bookstore.
— Ayesha Court
