6 Ways to Explore Children’s Authors and Illustrators

Next week is Children’s Authors and Illustrators Week. Here are 6 ways to celebrate with the children in your life.

Take them to story time. Most libraries have a weekly story time. Others may have special story times you have to sign up for. Ask your local library for information on their story times and what the featured books might be. Other places to find story times include recreation centers, museums, and book stores.

Celebrate a favorite author. Whether it’s Sandra Boynton, Mo Willems or Eric Carle, chances are there’s an author or illustrator that your child adores. Pick an author to “shadow” for the week and read a book by him or her each day. Use his or her preferred medium to create new art to go with the books you read, or to simply create art about something you encountered that day in his or her style. If the author has a corresponding cookbook (such as the Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook), try making some new recipes. If you like, do some research or write a story about your author or illustrator and find out his or her birthday, place of birth, and other interesting facts.

Try an author a day. If you don’t have a favorite—or if you’d simply like to try out some new ones—check out a few books each day by a different author. Along with the prolific ones listed above, depending on your child’s age you may wish to try something by Maurice Sendak, Stan & Jan Berenstain, Judy Blume, Lloyd Alexander, Roald Dahl, Kate DiCamillo, Anne M. Martin, J.K. Rowling, Beverly Cleary, Rick Riordan, Richie Tankersley Cusick, L.J. Smith, Neil Gaiman, or Christopher Pike.

Visit the home of an author. If you live near an author’s museum or birthplace, take a trip there to see what may have inspired that author to write his or her books.

Dress up as an author. My younger sister dressed up as Jane Austen once and it was adorable. Find a picture of your author and use it as a guide, or simply dress as you think he or she might dress.

Be an author or illustrator. Create your own book together. You can bind it with staples, string, ribbon, hole punches or anything you like. Make it on plain paper, construction paper, or a pre-made template. For the illustrations, explore different ways to create picture books. Try watercolor, colored pencils, inks, or collage materials. (Eric Carle, for one, uses watercolors on tissue paper and then cuts shapes out of his big paintings to create animals.)