It’s that time of year again: where I try to convince you to buy books for every child you know this holiday season.
This is my fourth year putting together this list (!!!). It’s always a lot of fun to look back at what I read over the year – like revisiting old friends. I hope you will find some new friends on this list.
I’ve added some codes to help identify particular types of books:
NF = Nonfiction
H = Humor
Memoir
S = Series
And if you somehow don’t find a book on this list, check out the extra lists at the bottom of the post.
Lockwood and Company: The Screaming Staircase S (Note: this book is sometimes classed as Young Adult but, besides some creepy ghosts, does not contain mature content that would be inappropriate for tweens.)
Earlier this month, I Pray Today, my second book for babies and toddler was published. Today is the last day of the blog tour to celebrate.
I’ve been working on book reviews all year, though. Each month I gather up a few books I love and share them with my readers. I call it Kidlit Karma. This month I’m sharing some of my favorite books for babies and toddlers. I’m also going to dive into child development to explain why these books work.
Simple Art
Babies can’t see that well. Newborns’ vision is hazy – they like high contrast because it’s easy to see. You’ll often find the youngest babies staring at, say, a black object against a white background. Or a dark ceiling fan moving against a white ceiling.
By a few months old, babies vision has improved a lot but they often have a hard time understanding 2-D representations of objects.
So, books for babies and toddler often have high-contrast, easy-to-interpret pictures. For the youngest, single images on white backgrounds can be a good choice.
Babies love “baby talk” and it’s good for them. Forget what Great Aunt Bertha told you about only talking to your baby like a grown-up. Baby talk exaggerates the sounds of speech which makes it easier for babies to figure out the sounds they’re hearing and put those together into words. So go ahead and talk to babies in whatever way feels natural to you.
The sing-songy cadence of many rhyming books, help capitalize on this tendency. (Writers: be aware that babies are not less discerning than adults. If you write in rhyme, it needs to have PERFECT rhyme and meter.)
Babies love repetition. They drop the same toy over and over to see if dad will still pick it up, they never tire of peekaboo, and they will gladly have you read the same book over and over and over. While at times it’s infuriating (like the 5th time the bowl of oatmeal gets dropped to the floor), it has an important purpose: babies and toddlers learn best through repetition. Like little scientists, they’re testing if the oatmeal really drops every time. They’re also learning social information: “Will dad pick it up every time?” “Why is his mood changing as I keep dropping this?”
So many books use some kind of repetition: like the repeated phrase “Ciao!”
Speaking of actions, getting a toddler to sit still is a lost cause. They’re busy little beings. It’s easy to read with an immobile baby – harder to keep a toddler still and focused. So many books for toddlers include some kind invitation to action to help keep them engaged with the book.
That could be an action built right into the page, such as lifting a flap or holes designed for little fingers to poke into.
Babies will put pretty much everything into their mouth. It’s a way for them to explore the world by adding the sense of taste and touch (lips and tongues are very sensitive).
Babies and toddlers are also still working on fine motor skills – such as the ability to grasp and flip a book page without tearing. They need to explore the world and practice these fine motor skills – but it can be murder on a book.
So most baby and toddler books are board books – those chunky cardboard-style book pages that can withstand chewing, banging, other forms of baby love. They even have rounded corners to prevent an eye or mouth from being poked.
Photo courtesy of Summer Kinard at https://summerkinard.com/2016/11/02/goodnight-jesus-board-book-review/
Adults Have to Like Them Too
Since your baby will be asking to reread the same book 10,000 times (and they will), books also have to please the adult doing the reading. A newer trend is to write book series’ that focus on topics of interest to a parent (like science, great literature, etc.), but at a level simplistic enough for a baby. No, your toddler won’t be doing astrophysics calculations in their crib. They’re in it for the baby faces and birdies, but the parent can appreciate the science.
a repeated action (kissing) that little readers can do
sturdy pages
I Pray Today has:
beautiful, simple art
faces on every page
sing-songy rhymes
a repeated phrase (Lord have mercy.)
which can be an invitation to a repeated action (saying the prayer and making a cross)
sturdy pages
And like a baby book on astrophysics, both of mine have bigger ideas at their core. That gives them a long lifespan for little readers and makes it interesting for the adult readers.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s book tour! I’ve had fun writing on a lot of different topics on a lot of different blogs. If you missed them, you can still find them here:
Big news! A couple of weeks ago my second book, I Pray Today, was published by Ancient Faith Press. And next week I’m celebrating with a blog tour. I’ll be visiting blogs of fellow Orthodox writers and bloggers and covering a wide variety of topics:
There aren’t really words to convey how I feel, so today’s post is brought to you by gifs.
This is how it feels to be an author on your book birthday:
Book birthdays are exciting.
Authors feel a bit too excited.
But you also know you wouldn’t have gotten here without help. A LOT of help. So you’re feeling a bit misty about all the supportive family members, critique partners, beta readers, editors, illustrators, art directors, and marketing people who made this happen.
So you spend the whole day just wanting to hug the universe and thank them that this amazing thing happened.
And at some point, someone will say something nice about your book. “Cute cover!” “Congrats!” “Can’t wait to read it!” Whatever it is, you feel overwhelmed that people care about a thing you made.
But if you write for kids, the best days are still to come. Every single time a parent tells you that their kid loves your book. Or shares a picture of a kid reading it. Or leaves a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Every. Single. Time, your heart will well up bigger than the Grinch.
I love reviewing connecting people with books almost as much as I love reading them. That’s one reason I review so many books here on my blog. And since I’ve started doing my Kidlit Karma project, I’m doing a lot more reviews.
Just one problem: it’s not that easy to find things here on the old blog.
So if you need, say, a nonfiction book for a tween – sure I’ve got it. …Somewhere… Something had to be done.
Now I’ve created a master page for all my book reviews. Yay!
It’s sorted in two ways:
Ages and stages – this includes age ranges like baby, child, tween, teen, and adult. It also includes stages like early reading.
Topics – Jump here to get a collected list of all STEM, nonfiction, diverse books, and books for writers. Within each topic they’re sorted by age to make things easy.
In two months, my second book for children, I PRAY TODAY, will be published by Ancient Faith Press. When I did this the first time with GOODNIGHT JESUS, there were things that surprised me about the process.
I wrote the first draft of GOODNIGHT JESUS when my oldest daughter was a year old. By the time it was published, she was six. That’s not uncommon.
I wasn’t totally unprepared for this. Before I started writing for children, I was an PhD student. Academic publishing is notoriously slow. When I submitted research papers for review, I had to wait 6 to 9 months for a response.
Then I was a freelance writer working with textbook publishers. Even though I wasn’t writing the textbook, I got an idea of how involved the process is. I dealt with editors, copyeditors, the person who checks copyrights, the contractors drawing the diagrams, the fact checkers, the authors, … The lists goes on.
In the children’s book market, two years from acceptance to published book is a good turn around. GOODNIGHT JESUS was around 2.5 years from acceptance to publication. I PRAY TODAY will be 1.5 years. Understand that it takes time for everyone to do their jobs at every step of the process. No, that doesn’t make it any easier to be patient.
Also, if you ask me how the book is going, don’t be surprised if I have no idea.
2. YOU DON’T GET TO PICK THE ILLUSTRATOR – AND THAT’S OK
One thing that consistently surprises people is that children’s book author’s don’t pick their illustrator. Not every publishing house or every editor does things the same, but this is consistent. Someone at the publishing house – an editor or art director usually – picks the illustrator.
The author also doesn’t get a lot of say over what the images will look like. So if the editor thinks your story is best told with space aliens instead of the bunnies you envisioned, then you get aliens. Maybe you had pictured your story taking place in a big house in the country, but the illustrator draws it as a big city apartment.
Editors also get cranky if you include too many art notes (notes specify what the illustration should look like on a page). So unless you need a specific image for the text to make sense, leave out the art notes. In GOODNIGHT JESUS there was just one art note. The line “A kiss for George – reach higher!” doesn’t make much sense without the art note: “Child is too short to reach the icon.” That’s it. The only art note in the whole thing. Yes really.
Most writers cringe at the thought of losing control of their story like this. And most readers are flabbergasted as to how you get a coherent story that way. But believe me when I say that 999 times out of 1000, it works out.
Here’s the thing: editors, art directors, and illustrators are really good at their jobs. They can envision artwork that will not just compliment your story but actually make it better. When I envisioned GOODNIGHT JESUS, I imagined a child interacting with static icons. One of the other brilliant people came up with the idea to put the baby right there in Jesus’s arms. It makes these people alive and engaging. It’s also a powerful statement of faith and child-like perception. And it’s something I never would have thought of.
As hard as it is for authors to give up the control, it frees the illustrator and art director to come up with their own vision. Would they have thought of this if I had laid out my vision in explicit detail? Probably not.
So I’ve learned to sit back and watch in awe as these people work their magic. And I feel super appreciative that they are making my work look so good.
3. HOW MUCH WORK I HAD AFTER THE MANUSCRIPT WAS ACCEPTED
My manuscript was accepted! Time to sip wine and wait for the checks to roll in, right?
No.
Not at all.
No matter how perfectly polished you think your story is, something will need to change.
Look back at the inforgraphic in #1. See how many times it says that the author is doing something. Yeah.
For awhile your manuscript will disappear into the publishing black hole as it works it’s way through the invisible stages of publishing. But soon enough, they’ll be putting you to work. First comes the editor’s take: a marked-up version of your manuscript with notes about unclear passages, weak words, and bumpy meter, for instance. Even in my super sort manuscripts, there were changes to be made. Once I finished the edits, it went back into the black hole for a bit longer.
Because GOODNIGHT JESUS and I PRAY TODAY are both board books, they’re very short and had few edits to make. (I still find it weird to submit a “book” that’s shorter than some of my grocery lists. But I digress.)
Eventually, it lands on the desk of the copyeditor who inevitably finds a whole pile of missed commas, punctuation errors, and other silly mistakes. They send me a corrected version and ask me to look over it. I cringe at my mistakes and thank all of creation that someone caught them before I got to look like a fool in print. And I work as an editor – it happens to the best of us.
And then the early illustrations are done and they ask for feedback. And then the proofs need to be looked over (digital copies of the pages as they will appear in print). And then… you get the idea.
The exact amount of back and forth depends on the publishing house, but there are always edits to be made and things to do. Instead of feeling defensive when other’s find errors, I think about how awesome it is to have so many people working so hard to make my work the best it can be.
This may just be me, but every sneak peek at the artwork makes me super excited. I just want to shout out to the rooftops “I WROTE A THING AND SOMEONE MADE REALLY PRETTY PICTURES FOR IT!” And then I would hold them hostage while I make them look at all the pretty pictures. It’s a little like having a new baby – you have to show everyone just how darn cute it is.
But there’s also this thing called copyright. And marketing plans. And other adult things I’m forgetting that also mean it’s a bad idea for me to post everything on the internet.
So instead I post when I can and save my intense enthusiasm and forced photo appreciation for my immediate family. You’re welcome.
5. HOW MUCH WORK THERE IS AFTER THE BOOK IS PUBLISHED
Ok, so my two-ish years are nearly up! The illustrator and all the people at the publishing house have done their magic to make my book as wonderful as possible. It’s being printed out and will soon be a real book!
So now can I sip wine and wait for the checks to roll in?
Uhm, no.
Once upon a few decades ago, a publisher could put out a book and people would just buy it. There are a lot more books being published these days (yay!) which means that there is a lot more competition (boo!). So unless you’re already a household name, expect to spend some time on marketing your new book – a website so your readers can find you, social media so you can keep in touch, connecting with readers through school visits and speaking engagements, … None of these things are strictly required, but they do help potential readers connect with your work. I happen to enjoy such work, so expect to see website changes and social media posts about I PRAY TODAY in the near future.
But hey, soon I can go full fan-girl over this fabulous thing I made. (Or is that just me?)
With two months left before I PRAY TODAY is fully birthed into the world, I’m still having to keep my enthusiasm to myself. But expect to hear a lot more soon.
It’s that time again! Time for me to gush about some of the books I read this year in the hopes you will buy some.
Lucky for you, that makes gift giving easy. Books make great gifts for kids and with so many new and classic books, you can find something for every kid.
You can also check out the lists for 2015 and 2016.
BOOKS FOR BABIES AND EXPECTANT PARENTS
No one is too young for a book! Nothing says love more than cuddling up in the lap of a grownup and listening to a story. And since reading to children is the number one best thing you can do to promote school success, you’re also making an investment in their future success. These books have stiff, durable pages perfect for the littlest readers.
These picture books are perfect for kids that are ready to graduate from board books. They have shorter texts (to match short attention spans) but big humor. These are a great fit for preschool through lower elementary.
READ ALOUD CHAPTER BOOKS FOR PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN
Kids can begin listening to chapter books as young as preschool or kindergarten. These books have short chapters and pictures can help ease the transition. They’re also free of mature or scary content.
These books are great for kids that are still learning to read. These are arranged from easiest to hardest. Choose the one that seems just right or a little ahead of where your reader is currently.
Is That Wise Pig? and Jan Thomas’s other books are always a big hit with my kids.
Comics and graphic novels have been the gateway to reading for many kids. Apparently, I didn’t read many graphic novels this year, but what I lack in numbers I make up for with quality. I love all the books in this series (and stalk Drew Brockington’s twitter to find out when there will be more).
The one category where I read significantly more than in any previous year: middle grade. Middle grade is the term for upper elementary to middle school readers. I tried to thin down this list. I really did. But…. I can’t. #sorrynotsorry To help you sort through, I’ve added the genre of each but these should be taken with a (large) grain of salt.
There is only one book on this list, but it was the most powerful book I read all year. If you’re only going to read one YA novel all year, let it be this one.
It’s a great time for people that love nonfiction. There is some terrific nonfiction out there right now. This list was just as hard to thin down as the middle grade novels. After each book, I’ve listed the age category. PB = picture book and can range from preschool to upper elementary. MG = middle elementary to middle school. YA = middle school to teen.
Last week I signed the contract for my second children’s book with Ancient Faith Publishing. I bought a fountain pen to mark the occasion.
When I signed my first contract 3.5 years ago, they warned me that the next slot in the production cycle was a few years away. I had an inkling of how slow publishing could be. I started my writing career working with textbook publishers. I saw first hand how many people and how many hours go into each book. In the end, it took 2.5 years for that contract to become Goodnight Jesus.
Writing can be an intense business. Even big-name authors still get rejections.
On rejection: You only lose if you stop playing. You never get published if the mss. is in the drawer. Rewrite, make it better, send it out!
You have to hold onto the successes like a buoy when your inbox is nothing but a lightning storm of rejection. I got a rejection the very day I signed this new contract. Zap.
Eventually, contracts become books, and you have a solid reminder of the victory. But two and a half years is a long time to hold onto the excitement of a signature.
A pen is a physical reminder. A small joy that I can use every day to remind me that one day I’ll get to sign a book with that pen.
Today I’m sharing something I’m really excited about. Lesson plans and activities based on Goodnight Jesus for older children.
Wait, you’re thinking, isn’t this a book for little kids?
Yes, it is. But it’s also for older kids, too.
When I wrote Goodnight Jesus, I had the youngest children in mind. My inspiration came from watching my own toddling daughter kiss icons every night. So I wrote the text to be short and sweet – just right for a cuddle before bed.
But I also wrote it to introduce children to the depth of our faith. It’s a foot in the door and an invitation to dive deeper. As children get older they are able to explore more and more of that depth.
These lesson plans will help you do just that.
There are several lesson plans for a variety of ages. They’re perfect for Church school classes, homeschoolers, or parents to use at home.
I’ve written before with book recommendations for the gift-buying holiday season. Funny thing, though, they keep publishing new books. Also there are still existing books out there that I’ve never read. (Amazing, I know.) Which means, this year I can write a whole new list!
Without further ado, the 2016 BIG LIST OF BOOKS TO GIVE TO KIDS
Board book for expectant parents and little babies
Babies love books. What’s better than cuddling up with a favorite grownup to read a book? These books have stiff, durable pages and short texts for baby bookworms.
Goodnight Jesus (You just knew this was going to be in there, didn’t you?)
I tried keeping this list short. (Really!) It’s not my fault so many awesome books were published this year. For kids with longer attention spans, these books are just plain brilliant
Read aloud chapter books for preschool and kindergarten
When your child is ready for something a little meatier, try these classic books. They’re also free of scary or mature content that wouldn’t be appropriate for young listeners.
Hi! Fly Guy and the rest of the Fly Guy series. This series is more advanced than simple easy readers. Great for kids that aren’t quite ready to jump into reading chapter books.
Short chapter books for less new readers
Kids that are ready to read longer books but aren’t ready for novels will love these shorter chapter books.
Most teachers (and authors!) believe that kids that don’t like to read just haven’t met the right book yet. Some kids also get stuck because the books at their reading level just don’t appeal to them. Do you know what almost all kids love? Comics. Know what’s easy to read? Comics. Know what builds reading skills? Reading comics.
If you’ve got a bigger kid that’s comfortably reading bigger novels, these are the books for you. These books have more adventure and scarier villains suitable to bigger kids.
Last week I signed the contract for my second children’s book with Ancient Faith Publishing. I bought a fountain pen to mark the occasion.
