As part of the ongoing 5th Anniversary celebrations, I’m super excited to introduce a new column today. Since children’s books have always played such a big role here at Design Mom, once a month, I’ll be featuring an interview with an excellent children’s book author. The very first one is coming up shortly. I think you’re going to love it!
Do you have a favorite children’s author that you’d like me to interview? Please let me know in the comments.
P.S. — Here’s my list of Top 50 Picture Books. I’m working on a toddler book list next. Yippee!
{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
I hope Mo Willems is on your list. My kids are huge fans of his Pigeon books.
great one. We love the pigeon books too!
I’ll bet that would be such a fun interview!
Lois Ehlert! I just love her. Excited about your new series.
Linley Dodd!
Love the idea of interviewing illustrators! So looking forward to reading all of them! Pascale Estellon makes beautiful activity books for kids. Maybe you can track him down? We have ‘Everybody’s Activity Book’ and I’ve since run out to buy a copy for every kid we know. Also, Leo Timmers is an incredible illustrator. My son gets lost in his drawings. ‘Who’s driving’ is a particular favorite in our house.
I’ve never heard of Pascale Estellon, but I’ll be sure to look up the books!
Yes! I do! My twin sister Martha Day Zschock! She is the author and illustrator of 2 series of children’s books featuring different U.S. cities around location. One is “Journey Around (Boston, New York, Chicago, San Fran, Cape Cod, Maine, etc) featuring beautiful watercolor illustrations. And, the other newer series are the “Hello (Boston, Maine, Vermont, Washington DC, etc) for younger children. Google her name, and take a peek…or e-mail me for more info!
wow…I have been searching for an e-mail for Martha Day Zschock for weeks. Just to simply say ‘THANK YOU’ for writing such amazing children’s books. I received a number of books when my daughter was born, and frankly most of them were terrible. I was in shock that someone evey agreed to publish them. Then, we went to Maine for my daughters 1st birthday. My aunt gave my daughter ‘Hello, Maine’. It has been her favorite (and mine) ever since. I have just ordered a handful more of the ‘journey around’ series. She is really just a fantastic children’s books writer. Not only does it enable my child to learn about different places, it is so well written. Again, please say THANK YOU:)
Oliver Jeffers!!
Fabulous idea, cant wait!
Wonderful! I second the request for Oliver Jeffers and would also add Kevin Henkes, a favorite in our house.
We love Mo Willems. I hope you have an interview with him. We’d love to find out if Trixie and her pen pal (the baby who got Knuffle Bunny) are still in touch.
David Wiesner – I just love his books and I know you do too!
Judy Blume. Though her stuff is more for 3rd grade and above, I would die a little if you interviewed her and then I could say that I am friends with someone who once spoke to Judy Blume. Do it for me, Gabby!
How fun! I’m seconding the suggestion for Mo Willems. Every one of us at our house is a big, big fan of his books. :)
Julia Donaldson (Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Snail and the Whale) – especially since you’re on the far side of the pond. She is huge in the UK, but really underappreciated here in the States. We LOVE everything we’ve read of hers.
Other favorites are Shirley Hughes (our favorite is Dogger) and Michael Bond (Paddington).
This is such a great idea!
My suggestions: Adam Rex, Cynthia Rylant, Laura Ljungkvist, Elisa Kleven, Marie-Louise Gay, Tao Nyeu, and Deborah Underwood and Renata Liwska (The Quiet Book).
robert munsch is the best!!!!!
Definitely Mo Willems. My kids are huge fans of the pigeon books!
this is such an awesome thing you are doing for parents! Patricia polacco…is a always a favorite of my students…it shows how even though she struggled to read, she later became a successful author….beating the odds and having dreams! Thank You, Mr Faulkner is a classic
Mo Willems
Lauren Child
Sujean Rim
Katharine Holabird
Ian Falconer
Hi! I already commented above and I do think you’d really like Estellon’s books. So much fun! My son just picked a book off the shelf for me to read and I thought of your post. Allison Murray’s ‘Apple Pie ABC’ is very charming and it’s already made us bake FIVE apple pies since owning it (we bought it in June…) So watch out! I know we’d love to find out what else Ms. Murray has in the works – hope we get to see an interview with her:)
Kevin Henkes, we love his books!
Mo Willems, Robert Munsch, Sheree Fitch, Judy Blume, Barbara Parks!
Karma Wilson…. “The Bear” books!
Mo Willems, Julia Donaldson(!) and I’d suggest Brenda Ponnay (http://secret-agent-josephine.com) if you want to interview someone just starting her career as an author/illustrator but will prove to be a force to be reckoned with soon enough.
OOOH, what fun! In our house we’ve got too many favorites to list! Some different names might include Iza Trapani, Doreen Cronin, Audrey and Don Wood, Jan Brett, and Laura Numeroff. Looking forward to this series!
Kevin Henkes and Barbara Park!
What a wonderful idea! Books are a big element in our house as well, so this will be really interesting. And the list is great!
Sandra Boynton! We love her books. My son always cracks up at Moo, Baah, Lalala!
What a brilliant idea. If you need any help talking to the authors…it would satisfy all of my childhood fantasies (especially if Judy Blume and Francine Pascal are involved!)
LAUREN CHILD!!!! or Polly Dunbar. Both UK based :)
Try Marie-Louise Gay of Montreal – she writes and illustrates Stella and Sam : Stella Star of the Sea, Stella Fairy of the Forest; What are you doing Sam? Her books are available in english, some in french and also some in Spanish.
Her pencil crayon/watercolour drawings are so gorgeous.
Don or Audrey Wood would be great. I find something new each time I look at the pictures for King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub.
Great idea on the new series!
I’ve been keeping your top 50 books as a resource when choosing library books online lately. Couldn’t be easier to find great books for my 3 year old in a snap. Thanks for doing all the work!
So glad the list has been helpful, Eva! I love putting it together.
I also thought you might like to know that Blexbolex has another book out:
http://www.amazon.com/People-Blexbolex/dp/1592701108
I’m smitten by their artistic style and might copy the idea from one of your commentors who framed a bunch of their pages and hung them up as art.
Great suggestions, everybody! I hope you’ll keep them coming. : )
Emily Jenkins (great picture book author!)
Peter Brown (Curious Garden – inspired by the high line in manhattan)
Emily Bearn (Tumtum & Nutmeg series)
Cynthia Rylant – has written SO many great kids series
This is such a great idea. We have a globally inspired children’s book publishing company. Each book is written by local authors who has either lived in the country or were born in the country. Our first two books allows children to “travel” to the Philippians and to India. They would be great authors to interview.
I forgot to share the website. It’s http://www.hartlynkids.com.
david melling!
please!
pretty please!
Ian Falconer!
Dan Yaccarino, too!
Sheree Fitch please!
Calef Brown, Amy Rosenthal, Laurie Keller, Sharon Werner!