r/childrensbooks

Hi all–I'm looking for books for my ~2-year-old daughter about famous women throughout history, and many of them understandably include themes like women being told they couldn’t do something, or families/societies limiting them because they were girls. While we will definitely be introducing the truth about women's history to our daughter as she gets older, at this age, we’re hoping to focus on books that simply celebrate amazing women and what they accomplished in their fields—without also introducing the idea that girls or women “can’t” do certain things. Right now, she wants to be an astronaut queen of Venus, so as far as she's concerned, the sky is the limit, and we want to keep it that way. Any faves for toddlers on your bookshelves? Thanks in advance!

Books we've loved include:
Dragon Bones: The Fantastic Fossil Discoveries of Mary Anning
Jackie and the Mona Lisa by Debbie Rovin Murphy
The Little Naturalists series (Jane Goodall, Beatrix Potter, Georgia O'Keefe)
Women in Science Who Changed the World

I had been writing and illustrating books for almost 5 decades and was only selling books on local bookstores until most of them closed during the pandemic..Im from Baltimore, Maryland.. Most of my books has been sitting on my basement until my caregiver suggested to start my own website.. Surprisingly it was not that hard to start a website with the help of Wix website builder...Now im planning to start a Youtube live sessions as well to talk and interact with readers..

So far im enjoying this website thing and would be so happy to ask fellow authors and readers what else can I do to improve my website..

My website is www.thenancypatzbookshop.com ..

My youtube is Nancy Patz which I just started few months ago.

We keep hearing the same thing from authors and illustrators:

Writing the book is hard. Publishing it is hard. But figuring out how to actually get the book in front of readers, families, schools, libraries, and bookstores can feel like a whole different job.

That is one of the reasons we created The Storytellers Marketing Mastery Summit, a live online event for children’s book authors and illustrators.

The summit is June 12–14 and will focus on practical book marketing topics like visibility, outreach, social media, newsletters, websites, school/library connections, and reaching the right audience for kidlit.

I’d love to hear from other children’s book creators:

What part of marketing has felt the most confusing or overwhelming for you?

Hey!

I’m looking for recommendations for touchy feely/texture books that specifically have large targets.

We have a couple, but my 8 month old only has coordination for a select few of the pages with big targets, she loves those pages though, and we just skip the others. Any books where the textures take up a significant portion of the page?

We have:
Perfect Pets
That’s not my piglet

A Picture Book That Hands Children a Language for Their Feelings

Terry Bean’s Abracadabra is a quiet story about big emotions — and a tool parents can return to long after the last page. A young girl runs from her front porch in tears. Behind her, her parents are still arguing. She runs until the only sound is her boots on the dirt road, and she stops at her favorite spot by a lake. She picks up a branch that looks like a wand. The water is cold against her toes. And then her reflection looks back up at her and starts to speak. That is the first quiet movement of Terry Bean’s Abracadabra, a picture book that does something many stories for young children attempt and few actually pull off: it gives a
child the words for what they feel before a parent has to ask.

A Safe Way Into Big Feelings

Children often don’t have language for sadness, fear, or worry. The feelings come out
sideways — as silence, as irritability, as running away. Dani is overwhelmed and crying,
and her reflection doesn’t fix her, doesn’t rush her, doesn’t tell her to be happy. It just
notices.
“Dani, you look sad.”

That single line is the foundation of the book. Before a feeling can be worked through, it
has to be acknowledged. Before a child can pause, choose, or self-regulate, they need
to hear from someone — even themselves, in a reflection — that what they’re feeling is
real and allowed. When the reflection tells Dani, “It’s OK to feel sad,” Terry Bean is
handing parents a phrase. The kind of phrase that, used in a kitchen or a car ride a
week later, becomes a small shortcut to a bigger conversation.

Read it Twice

Abracadabra has earned a 5-Star review from Reader’s Favorite. One reviewer
described her daughter applying the Wizard’s question to small everyday choices —
pausing to ask which option will feel better afterward before deciding whether to finish a
chore or run off to play. That kind of real-world transfer is exactly what the book is
hoping for.

“A favorite in our home for both reading and conversation.”— Asher Syed, Reader’s Favorite

Terry Bean wrote Abracadabra for the moment after the door slams. Read it the first
time for the story. Read it the second time as a conversation. Then leave it on the shelf
where a child can pull it down on a hard day on her own — which is, in the end, the kind
of magic the book is actually about.

Why This Book Exists Now

Terry Bean wrote Abracadabra more than a decade ago and let it sit. She returned to it
now, after four decades in a different professional life, because she wanted to spend
this next chapter helping children find what most of us spend adulthood searching for:
enough trust in themselves to make their own choices.
Terry is certified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and uses those tools with adult
clients navigating hard conversations. Abracadabra is, in a sense, the same work
translated for someone half a child’s height — a way of teaching, early, that what you
pay attention to shapes what you feel, and what you feel can guide what you choose.

I know we all have favorite books now, but do you remember one you specifically enjoyed as a kid? Mine were Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and then Sally’s Room (that would send my sister and I into hysterics 😝)

Looking for a 10 year old "doer" -- not a particularly strong or motivated reader -- who likes tinkering, investigating, building, etc. I had in mind The Boy who Harnessed the Wind about a resourceful Malawian kid who read independently and on his own initiative brought wind-generated electricity to his community. Wild and memorable story. Can anyone recommend stories with related themes? Thanks

I had been searching for an age-appropriate book about loss/death--even scoured this sub! ("Invisible String" was recommended, which is a good book, but tbh I felt too abstract and not relatable to me for some reason), this book is beautiful in every way: the story and how its conveyed, the art, the flow, the whole vibe... So much so that I felt compelled to tell the internet void bc others must know about this book!

Hi Reddit Community: First Time Poster : )

I am expecting my first child after years of loss and infertility, and part of what I am trying to do to find 'joy' in this pregnancy is building my baby's book library. However, I have been sort of dissapointed in a lot of the children's books I have been reading. I know there are a plethora to choose from, and as such, I am hoping other parents can help me zone in on some favorites. As of right now, I often search online for free PDFs to scope the books out, and when I can, I have been to B&N and sat down to read. *I intend to buy all the books I love, not read them online to my child.

I have been finding that children's books say a whole lot of nothing, they're incredibly short, and/or don't have a meaningful message in the end. I don't know if I'm being too picky, but I am looking for books that will not only work for a baby, but that will be suitable for my child as a toddler as well. Please note that I understand that their attention spans are short at their young age and my baby will have books that are also age appropriate. Examples of books that I loved have been: Night Owl and Early Bird (but I didn't love/buy the original Knight Owl); Feeling Grateful by Kobi Yamada, Noticing by Kobi Yamada; The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson; The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright. Example of books that were raved about but lost me in the end: Stroga Nonna, Ferdinand the Bull, I want my hat back (no hate to these authors though!). Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi! I've been trying to find a book (series?) I read as a child, maybe around 2013-2016. It was a mystery chapter book, with three children being the main characters, I think 2 boys and a girl? I'm like 70% sure one of the boys' names had 3 letters. They solved mysteries around their city, like at a museum or cruise ships. The titles were always structured as The ____ that _______. Thank you!

I love comedy and standup, and I want to share some of that humour with my toddler. I am looking for suggestions.

This is our funny selection from favorite to least funny "don't let the pigeon ride the bus", "Oh no George", "don't push the button!", "Goodnight Gorilla", "the wonky donky".

Edit1: Thank you guys so much for all the suggestions! I will have to make a list and go through it little by little!

Edit2:

Here's the full list, deduplicated:

Most mentioned (multiple comments)

• The Book With No Pictures (BJ Novak)
• I Want My Hat Back / any Jon Klassen
• Elephant and Piggie series (Mo Willems) esp. "Elephants Cannot Dance", "Listen to My Trumpet", "Waiting Is Not Easy", "Pigs Make Me Sneeze", "We Are in a Book"
• The Future Book (Mac Barnett)
• Don't Trust Fish
• Sheep in a Jeep
• James Marshall books (George and Martha, Cut Ups)
• Watermelon Seed (Greg Pizolli)

Single mentions

• Bark, George
• Can You Make a Scary Face?
• Don't Push the Button!
• Ten Minutes til Bedtime
• Blue Hat, Green Hat / Sandra Boynton generally
• The Wrong Book (Drew Daywalt)
• Bathe the Cat!
• Knuffle Bunny
• Click Clack Moo
• Creepy Carrots / Creepy Crayon / Creepy Pair of Underwear (Jasper Rabbit series)
• Interrupting Chicken
• How Dinosaurs Went Extinct
• Grumpy Monkey
• Chez Bob (Bob Shea)
• Z is for Moose
• Zebra and Yak: The Backwards Alphabet Book
• We Are Definitely Human
• Who Stole My Hat? (Jimmy Kimmel goose book)
• The Dog and Pony Show: Dance Pants
• My Pet Feet (Josh Funk)
• We Are the Wibbly
• Giggle Giggle Quack (Betsy Lewin)
• Pig the Pug series
• There's a Monster in My Book (series)
• The Monster at the End of This Book
• David's Father
• Tyrannosaurus Rex vs. Edna the Very First Chicken
• Freddie Two Pants
• Nino!
• Pumpkin Trouble / anything by Jan Thomas
• Comet the Unstoppable Reindeer (Jim Benton)
• Where's My Cow (Terry Pratchett)
• I Eat Poop!!
• I Simply Cannot Wait to Grow a Beard (self-pub, OffRampApproaching)
• Peek-a-Bruce
• Dougie the Dung Beetle
• Pie-Rats!
• Fluffalo Buffalo
• Sleepy Sheepy
• Zip Zap Wickity Wack
• Llama Destroys the World
• Princess and the Pony
• Butt Out (Heath McKenzie)
• Hop on Pop (Dr. Seuss)
• Wacky Wednesday (Dr. Seuss)
• Great Now We've Got Barbarians
• Wolfie the Bunny
• Mother Bruce
• We Don't Eat Our Classmates
• Three Billy Goats Gruff (by Barnett)
• Duck Duck Bruce (Higgins — mentioned as least funny, but still mentioned)
• Hiccuppotomus
• Chimpansneeze