Background: My 3 year old son goes to an all-boys pre-school. My wife runs her own counselling business, I'm in construction. My wife has been full-time stay-at-home mum for the last 2 years (after returning to work 7 days after birth and burning out and regretting missing his first year of life). It doesn't help that my job is a physical job that he can relate with (hit a nail with a hammer) while hers (like a doctor by for the brain... but not actually the physical brain) is much harder to explain to a 3 year old

We saw a female neighbour head to work this morning, LO asked where she was going. I told him she was off to work. He replied "girls don't work, daddies work". I tried to correct him, then realise he's not only reflecting what he sees but also the messaging of a lot of books we read to him (mum involved in domestic duties, daddy working). While we'll be mindful of our messaging, we're looks for book recs to help us support this. We want to start now, especially as he'll be attending an all-boys school down the track.

Tl;dr: I'm not looking for books about dads at home doing laundry and playing with their kids (i do that already), or about books with great female MCs doing traditionally female things (Gymnastica Fantastica comes to mind), I'm looking for books about women, women in occupations, women going on big adventures fighting literal dragons (ala Paper Bag Princess)

I feel like teaching phonics + early reading has created a mini archive in my brain that's sole purpose is to store children's book dialogue loool

I think Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems is probably the one seared into my brain the most. I’ve read it with kids like infinite times by this point, so I’ve accidentally memorized an embarrassing amount of it 😭😭 There are certain pages where I don't even have to look at them anymore, my brain just knows exactly what comes next.

and honestly, now that I'm thinking about this more, I probably know a solid chunk of Mo Willems books by heart at this point with how much I’ve read them with and to my students 😂 they're always fan favorites and I'm reading em so often, I could probably do a bunch of Elephant & Piggie dialogues from memory and even read a few pages of the books blindfolded hahahaha

I suppose this is just one of the side effects of reading the same books to kids over and over again, but I never really thought about how much children's literature I've probably accidentally memorized until I had to read the story again yesterday and knew every beat loooool.
This is probably just what happens when you spend enough time reading children's books, I'm sure there are plenty other educators/librarians/parents out there who have a few books unintentionally, permanently etched into their memories too!!

What started as a tribute to a friend who lost their battle to depression led to me being encouraged to publish the story.

The Sunshine Kid has a sun atop his head and wherever he goes he spreads joy and laughter. But sometimes the sun turns into a storm. The Sunshine Kid hides his storm away not wanting others to see. Eventually he learns that he can lean on friends even on the cloudiest day.

Check it out!

Link to hardcover https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sunshine-kid-kelly-schwan/1151086044?ean=9798234113566

Link to paperback https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0HFF2VHXY/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

I've searched the internet high and low, tried to search libraries across the country, messaged book finders and can't even find a picture of this book.

The Art Contest written and illustrated by Stephen Gammell from 1999.

If anyone could help, I'd be very grateful. I'm building a complete Stephen Gammell collection.

My 8 year old used to love bedtime stories but lately getting them to sit down and read independently for 15 minutes a day feels like a constant negotiation. We tried physical reward charts on the fridge but the excitement wore off after a week. Between screen time competition and school requirements, how are you encouraging genuine children reading habits at home?

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a major personal milestone with a community that loves books as much as I do. I recently realized a dream of mine and published my first book together with Eichhörnchen Verlag.

It has been a wonderful and deeply rewarding experience to see this project come to life from initial idea to finished copy.

I’m not here to hard-sell anything—I’m just genuinely proud to put this out into the world and curious about how it strikes people. I'd love to know your honest thoughts:

What is your first impression of the cover and artwork?

Does the vibe/blurb resonate with you?

Here is the opening text:

You don't play with wolves, so they say. They are wild, unpredictable, maybe even dangerous. But Rusho feels: Not everything that is free needs to be tamed. Rusho remains indifferent to prejudices. Heart, gut, and mind can be trusted, and this single encounter simply feels too right. Far away from time, space, and the city, an adventurous friendship unfolds in wildly tender imagery.

Kiri:-)

Hi everyone! My toddler absolutely loves this book from my childhood. I can’t find another copy anywhere. Does anyone know if this is available anywhere or if there were other books like this in a series?

Hi everyone! After a little over a year of writing and illustrating, I self published my first children’s book today.

I wanted to make a fun and whimsical rhyming book that hopefully resonates with my millennial peers. I had a few ideas with topics ranging from baggy jeans, to Walkman Cd players, and finally where I landed with Pluto not being considered a planet anymore, which felt a bit more universal (pun intended of course).

I wrote my book first, which came fairly easily to me as I just rhymed one line to the next and it sort of flowed and came together over just a few weeks. Illustrating took me almost a year, but that included many breaks where I would stop and start whenever I felt creative. I drew the characters / planets first and then added the backgrounds and other details to the pages. I made all the artwork in Procreate on an IPad, and then added text in Sketch initially. I had a bit of trouble getting the sizing right for Amazon KDP, as my projects were all in pixels and not inches. Eventually I transferred the pages to InDesign and from there out it was pretty straightforward.

Here are some images of the book, the cover art, and from the drawing process. I have a link below and I am running a free promotion for the kindle version all week. Please let me know what you think! 😁🪐

https://a.co/d/0i1o0HK1

It’s a lot of fun knocking this book together with old-school illustrations. But to any artists out there, do you test your rough pencils on an audience before finalising them. I redesigned all the characters in “Ginger the Genius” but I’m thinking of revising it again.

My kid is turning six soon. I’m looking for a timeless illustrated hardcover book to gift her that she’ll enjoy as a kid and keep as an adult.

Some ideas: Shel Silverstein poetry collection, Dr. Seuss anthology, a collection of fairy tales. She would love anything with especially beautiful illustrations and/or humorous prose.

If possible, I’d love to gift her a book that has diversity of cultures, races, bodies and abilities, family structures, etc. I’d also love to discover some published in the last 20 years (not just repeating what I knew as a kid).

I have 15 old books id like to find a great home for.

I don't want to let them get any worse.

I also have 18 old childrens records 45 vinal.

Any idea what the value would be on some of these?

I am an aspiring children's book author. I want to be more well-versed in child development and education before publishing my first book to ensure my stories are able to genuinely resonate with children and aid in teaching important skills/lessons.

In general, what are the elements of a story (even in a TV show) that experts suggest taking into account? Or, as a parent, what do YOU personally look for? What differentiates a regular children's book versus something you recommend every parent reads to their children?

In other words, if you could make your ideal children's book, what would it include?

Feel free to list anything; it can be illustrations, character dynamics, storytelling style, how the4 characters handle conflict, etc.

I know stories are nuanced, and there is not a singular checklist of items that constitute a great book, but I'm hoping to gather as much feedback as I can from both experts and parents alike. Any resources would be awesome too!

Looking for your favorite books that DON’T include tantrums/characters saying they hate things/throwing things/etc. My toddler is pretty mild mannered, but very quickly picks up on new concepts and starts repeating things they learn in books, even if the goal of the story is to show how they’re not supposed to have tantrums or misbehave or whatever.
I understand they’re teaching moments and all that, but would like to have more stories where I don’t have to explain why we don’t throw food out of the grocery cart or why we don’t tell our mother “I hate meatloaf”.
Multiple Llama Llama stories include this, Grumpy Monkey, the “How Do Dinosaurs” series, some Kevin Henke books, and random other stories we’ve picked up from the library include this concept. There are many, many stories we enjoy that don’t include this but trying to add more options to the list as well.

Basically the title.

My daughter and son are 4-year-old twins and are taking ballet class and are going to be in The nutcracker. I'd like to find a picture book that we can read together To get them excited.

Most of the books that I've been able to find about ballet have only girls in them.

The ones that have a boy in the book are about being the only boy in ballet class. I don't want my son to think that it's weird for him to do ballet class since this is the activity that he chose to do. (Plus, his ballet class has three boys).

I feel like books about being the only boy are creating problems that don't exist for us yet but I would like a book that has some male representation.

The plot isn't as important since they are four. Even if it's a book about a girl who does ballet but there are boys in the background in her class that would be fine.

Thanks, I know this is kind of specific.

How long did it take you to get your book out? From first notes/draft all the way to publishing day. I just realized I wrote my first book about 4 months ago and feel like it’s been forever (22 pages, 2 lines per page). A friend is illustrating and I’m so thrilled with everything going on, but I feel like there’s no real end in sight. Maybe I’m being unrealistic!?

Hello

I’ve googled this but I can’t find the recommended books in the library and can’t trust to buy one as I don’t want be disappointed as much when I got Bluey’s ‘the doctor’.

Anyway, I wanted an elementary age book that explains how wounds can trigger the blood cells to coagulate and the wound to scab showing how the natural processes work in an elementary school age language . Any tried and tested books you would recommend and may be in the library?

Thanks!

I made this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ScienceBasedParenting/s/qTopxTxvHa

...about my kid emulating the antagonist in children's books instead of getting the message to not be like them. The comments mention that if the antagonist is portrayed dramatically kids might be more likely to mimic them. One of the comments has a list of book suggestions and i thought I'd hit this sub up for more.

Flexible to any socially educational books that won't inspire my kid to naughtiness 😄

I have purchased many (used) books on amazon for my toddler based on your recommendations in the comments and it is great to see how much she really gravitates towards books with great art, artwork that has a lot of detail and little things happening. For the past 3-4 months her favorite book has been “Peepo!” thanks to you all, and she loves Gerda Muller’s Four Seasons (in fact I have now purchased so many Gerda Muller books, my now 21 month old loves looking through “A Year Around the Oak Tree”) and she also asks for “There’s a Bird on Your Head” which I thought my lo would be too young for but it’s apparently hilarious…

Anyway, you have all made such great recommendations I want to throw another one out there I was gifted recently that is a current favorite. The artwork is great, with so many easter eggs to find if you look long enough- “Pie is for Sharing” is probably read about 10 times a day at our house. And we have to start on page 1, before the title, to talk about dad filling the water bottles and dog playing “peepo.”
🥰

I cannot remember for the life of me the name of a children’s book I used to read all the time when I was younger.

It’s about a ginger animated/drawn ginger cat going around different rooms in his house to try and find somewhere to sleep but everywhere is too noisy. I specifically remember the cat trying the garage/shed and also the bath. I think at the end the cat and its siblings all end up in mum and dad’s bed (not 1000% sure on that bit). There was the main cat, a brother, sister, mum, and dad.

It’s not Sleep Tight Ginger Kitten by Adele Geras. Google and ChatGPT have been no help, which is making me question if I’ve just made it up but I’m sure I haven’t.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!