Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts
Hooray for a book about a girl who's an inventor! Curious and creative Rosie dreams of becoming an engineer – constantly creating new gizmos and gadgets – until her latest invention is a flop. Her great great Aunt Rose (aka Rosie the Riveter) teachers her that failures are part of the process – and that the only real failure is giving up. It's written in the same quirky rhyming style as our other favorite, Iggy Peck Architect, by the same author. Rosie ultimately keeps trying – and we hope inspires lots of little future engineers.
The Mighty Lalouche by Matthew Olshan and Sophie Blackall
Set in Paris in the early 1900s, a humble postman named Lalouche lost his job when the postal service starting using electric cars. He starts an unexpectedly successful boxing career, to support himself and his beloved pet finch, Genevieve. Just when he's declared champion, he's asked to come back to his postal job. (Those electric cars proved problematic on garret stairs.) It's an inspiring story of an underdog -- and of jobs that can't be replaced by technology. Beware that your kids will undoubtedly imitate the boxing moves. But the beautiful illustrations are well worth it.
Check out some of our fave kids' reads. Have one that we missed? Tell us and we'll send a free download code for one of our interactive story book apps.
Fortunately, by Remy Charlip
Our kids get a kick out of following Ned on an adventure where has good luck, then bad luck, then good luck, then bad luck, and so on. "Fortunately, Ned was invited to a surprise party. Unfortunately, the party was a thousand miles away." Increasingly silly circumstances. beautiful illustrations, and a surprise ending make it a fun read for all of us. And for better or worse, our 3-year-old keeps starting sentences with "Fortunately… " (in extra-dramatic voice).
Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
We loved Shel Silverstein's poetry as kids – the quirky characters like Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (who refused to take the garbage out), the imaginative little Peggy Ann McKay (who didn't want to go to school one day), and the inspiring folksy sweetness of "I will not play at tug o' war. I'd rather play at hug o' war." Now we're starting to share these poems with our own kids – and getting lots of giggles. Where the Sidewalk Ends, Silverstein's first compilation that revolutionized the previously kinda boring world of children's poetry back in 1974, is a perfect place to start.
What's Inside, by OKIDO
"What's Inside?" is the best kids' book of the past year, and one of our favorites of all-time. It teaches curious kids about science in a brilliantly engaging way. When you hold a page up to the light, you can see through it to the page behind, magically revealing what's inside a whole bunch of things – like a brain inside a head, an engine inside a car, and a bear inside a cave. It's one of those rare books that sparks conversations, laughs and learning when we read it with our kids – and that they love to discover solo, too. Thanks, talented team at OKIDO.
Gluey: A Snail Tale, by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold
This is a wonderfully peculiar story with a fantastically charming illustrations about Celerina the bunny and Gluey the carpenter snail. When Celerina moves into a beautiful empty house, she doesn't realize that Gluey lives there too, keeping the house's cracks fixed. When Celerina shatters a vase, she's shocked to find it repaired the next morning. Not knowing that Gluey is behind it, she attributes the fix to magic (as you would). As she prepares to throw a party for her friends to show off her magical home, she comes across Gluey – and disgustedly flicks the little snail into the meadow. Of course, without Gluey, the party is a disaster – and the house ends up collapsing to the ground. But in the end, the truth comes out, Gluey is saved, Celerina is sorry, the house is rebuilt, and everyone becomes friends. We love this book.
Welcome To Momoko by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski
Our 3-year-olds have spent countless hours exploring these beautifully illustrated pages. Instead of using words, its packed with tons of visual storylines. We pick one from dozens of funny characters and then follow their adventures through to the end – and then start over, picking another character to follow, for a completely different experience. The kind of book that never gets old, it's going to become one of our go-to gifts for pre-readers.
