Here are 54 books that Larky Mavis fans have personally recommended if you like
Larky Mavis.
Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I decided at the age of 5 that I wanted to write and illustrate books for children. That is exactly what I have been doing the last 40 years of my adult life. I find that I walk around seeing and hearing the world as potential stories. It’s fun! I can not imagine doing anything else for a living! I recommended the 5 books that I did because they are a little strange and curious and thought-provoking. The art, as well. Therefore, they feel like they emerged from the author/illustrator from that place within, way down deep, where only authentic expression of self can be found.
Leon and his mom are new to town. His dad is in the army. Leon shares his new room with his imaginary friend, Bob. Their friendship is as important as it is real, to Leon. A tender and loving relationship. A boy moves in next door. Read the book to see how sweet this deceivingly simple story is. The words are sparse and well-chosen. The artwork is loose and expressive ink linework. Beautiful watercolor washes. The imaginary friend theme is treated in a fresh way. I am always touched by the portrayal of little boys’ natural sweetness - as they really are when allowed to be.
A touching urban tale about a boy and his imaginary friend, from a multi-award-winning picture-book creator.
Bob is Leon's best friend. He shares Leon's room. Everywhere Leon goes, Bob goes too. Then one day a boy moves in next door. But when Leon goes to ask his new neighbour to go to the park with him, he discovers Bob has gone...
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
I’m the author of nearly thirty books for children, ranging from board books to young adult novels. This list combines two of my great loves: animals and early readers. I love animals because they are funny, amazing, and mysterious, and they have brought me so much joy throughout my life. I love early readers because they are small books about big feelings—big problems, big dramas, big adventures. The words may be simple, but there is nothing simple about the emotions in these stories. For beginning readers, these first, short chapter books are the gateway to a lifetime of literary pleasures. Below are a few of my favorites, old and new.
The Little Bear series is my all-time favorite of the early reader genre; Minarik’s wisdom about childhood worries and pleasures shines on every page, and Sendak’s rich, delicate drawings gorgeously render an entire world. In this gentle tale of friendship, Little Bear meets a human girl, Emily, who is lost in the woods. He helps her find her family, and soon they are fast friends, playing games, helping Duck baby-sit, and even attending a party at Owl’s house. When Emily’s doll Lucy breaks her arm, only Little Bear knows what to do. But when the summer ends, will Little Bear ever see Emily again?
Little Bear makes a new friend but misses her when summer ends.
One summer Little Bear makes friends with a girl named Emily and her doll Lucy. But when summer ends, Emily must leave. Little Bear is sad—until he finds a way to stay close to his new friend even when she is far away.
Little Bear's Friend is among the beloved classic Little Bear books from Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak. The first, Little Bear, launched the I Can Read early reader series in 1957.
In the Little Bear stories, we meet Little Bear, whose adventures are filled…
I decided at the age of 5 that I wanted to write and illustrate books for children. That is exactly what I have been doing the last 40 years of my adult life. I find that I walk around seeing and hearing the world as potential stories. It’s fun! I can not imagine doing anything else for a living! I recommended the 5 books that I did because they are a little strange and curious and thought-provoking. The art, as well. Therefore, they feel like they emerged from the author/illustrator from that place within, way down deep, where only authentic expression of self can be found.
This Is David Small’s very first book that he both wrote and illustrated. I came upon this book in my mid-twenties. I have cherished it ever since. Great artwork with a limited palette due to the archaic 4-color printing process used back then. With this book, it works! Beautiful artwork and humorous wording. Mother Lumps and her baby daughter, Eulalia, are frogs. A mother’s favorite thing happens - Mother Lumps encounters another mother claiming her children are perfect and, therefore, she is perfect as a mother. Grrrrr. Walking along, they encounter a doll left behind at a picnic. They think the doll is a real child. Mother Lumps sees her as abandoned and takes her home. It is so adorable how the story unfolds. I tear up every time. A lovely message is conveyed.
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
I decided at the age of 5 that I wanted to write and illustrate books for children. That is exactly what I have been doing the last 40 years of my adult life. I find that I walk around seeing and hearing the world as potential stories. It’s fun! I can not imagine doing anything else for a living! I recommended the 5 books that I did because they are a little strange and curious and thought-provoking. The art, as well. Therefore, they feel like they emerged from the author/illustrator from that place within, way down deep, where only authentic expression of self can be found.
Ruby is new to school as she enters Miss Hart’s class. Ruby’s desk is right behind Angela’s. Angela seems to be a self-possessed, lovely young girl and, right away, Ruby is quite taken with Angela. She wants to be her friend. Perhaps Ruby wants to be noticed and equally admired by this potential new friend, and so she imitates Angela in every way. It gets old fast. Miss Hart handles the situation admirably well, with utmost respect and sensitivity. (I wish I had encountered more teachers like that as a kid.) Rathmann captures kids’ innocent foibles, well. The artwork is adorable and expressive and loose. Great humor. Full of humanity.
Let the Scholastic Bookshelf be your guide through the whole range of your child's experiences--laugh with them, learn with them, read with them!
It's the first day of school, and Ruby is new. When her classmate Angela wears a red bow in her hair, Ruby comes back from lunch wearing a red bow, too. When Angela wears a flowered dress, suddenly Ruby's wearing one, too. Fortunately, Ruby's teacher knows a better way to help Ruby fit in--by showing how much fun it is to be herself!
I have published over 50 books, including award-winning and bestselling titles. I am also a publishing executive and editor with 20+ years of professional experience. My latest The Twins of Auschwitz: The Inspiring True Story of Young Girl Surviving Mengele’s Hell, with Eva Kor, got a stellar review by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and is an international bestseller. As well as spearheading four publishing startups, I have run my own business, Editorial Services of L.A. I was Editorial/Publishing Director for Golden Books, Price Stern Sloan, Intervisual Books, Hooked on Phonics, and more. I am also the Publisher & Editor in Chief of NY Journal Of Books, the premier online-only book review site.
This old standby is one of the most memorable picture board books; I still recall reading it when I was four. Illustrating babies in all spaces and of all colors, Fujikawa makes the reader yearn to play with them. Fujikawa (1908–1998), designed many books for the Walt Disney Company, including promotional work on the movie Fantasia. But her work in Babies is not so cartoony as much as illustrated pen and ink. A keeper.
As a journalist, WSJ book critic, and mother of five, I‘ve been perfectly placed to witness the astounding effects of reading aloud. For decades I've been reading to my children (and to my husband, too) every night, often for a solid hour or more. Storytime has been the central civilizing joy of our family life: We’ve bonded emotionally, gone on shared imaginative adventures, and filled our heads with pictures and words. Long ago I knew something big was happening to us, and I felt sure my children were benefitting, but it wasn’t until I began digging around into the behavioral and brain science that I learned just how consequential reading aloud can be. In my book, I lay it all out.
This brilliant and surprisingly sophisticated book has a satisfying rhyming pace that breaks every other page, both visually and aurally, into a“Peek-a-Boo!” Tracing one day in the life of a baby boy in wartime London, it’s full of cues for parents to engage in questions and answers. For instance, the baby in the book goes to the park; the scene contains, inter alia, two perambulators, a double-decker bus, a picket fence, a zeppelin, a church spire, pink flowers, children fishing in a shallow pond, a policeman, boys with a toy boat, a gentleman carrying a walking stick and a rolled-up newspaper…. you get the idea.
I joined the anti-bullying crusade late in life. After writing my first book, entities were contacting me and asking if I would share their anti-bullying messages on my website. I learned so much about the increasing problem of bullying and how its tentacles reach out to other social issues such as teen suicide, school shootings, and drug use. I thought that Special Ed and the Bull-ies would be my only book but decided that it was important to make it into a series. With each book I can focus on a different aspect of this growing problem and hopefully make a difference in this world.
I have always enjoyed poetry and this book introduces simple couplets to children while telling a sweet story of loving Asian parents who welcome a new child. Geared to very young children, the artwork can tell the story without someone reading it to them, but the lyrical words just add to the beauty of the message.
I’m a clinical and developmental psychologist, a parenting researcher at the University of Queensland, and a mother. My research is focused on applying and commitment therapy (ACT) to parenting including the parenting of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. I wrote Becoming Mum while becoming a mother for the first time. In fact, much of the book was written while I cuddled my new baby, my laptop propped up on my knees so I could write! I am also the first author of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy the Clinician’s Guide to Supporting Parents. It is the first clinical manual on using ACT with parents.
The Amazing Infant will take you on a remarkable journey through the current developmental research on babies. You will be amazed by just how much babies can do! Not only is this an unputdownable book, but it is also a fantastic way to cultivate a genuine understanding of the youngest humans. Of course, this is core knowledge if you are or will be parenting one!
Tiffany Field, world renowned infant development scholar, writes an engaging and comprehensive book that collects and reviews the latest findings in the field, exploring cutting edge research and contemporary theories about infant development. * An engaging and accessible book that integrates research, theory, and real life experiences and practices to provide a closer look at how infancy research is conducted. * Features illustrative photos and data graphs covering research from recent years. * Draws on recent advances in neuroscience to examine the progress made in the areas of prenatal and cognitive development.
I am a mom who always dreamed of becoming a writer, but was too scared to try until I met my baby. The overwhelming urge to express my love for her in what I have always considered the most sacred way, through writing, became too much to contain. I wanted to create a meaningful experience not only for my child, but for all children; one where they could be nestled in their parents’ arms, engaged in the most significant pastime, and where they could understand for the first time how much they were loved from the very beginning.
The Good Sleeper was recommended to me by a mom in my neighborhood who instantly noticed that I was struggling with my new role. While my daughter was keeping me up most of the night, her baby was actually sleeping for sustained periods of time in his crib. Sure enough, after reading this book, I was finally able to understand the science behind what was happening with my baby and how I could best meet her needs. I read and reread each chapter as I tried the strategies until I found the right ones for my child. It’s no exaggeration to say that getting sleep changed my world! Pass this book along and give a new parent the gift of sleep.
This is a refreshingly straightforward method for training infants to become great sleepers for life, inspired by clinical psychologist Janet Kennedy's popular psychotherapy practice, NYC Sleep Doctor. Cry it out or co-sleep? Bassinet or swing? White noise machine or Bach? How many hours anyway? For something so important, there's too much conflicting information about how best to get your baby to sleep through the night and nap successfully during the day. This book is a straightforward, no-nonsense answer to one of the biggest challenges new parents face when they welcome a brand new baby home. This book is written for…
Did you know that babies can already hear and remember elements of language during pregnancy? Belly Books were inspired by abundant scientific evidence showing the profound benefits of prenatal reading for family bonding and children’s language and learning. These beautiful board books are uniquely shaped to curve over the growing baby bump, and specially written for expectant parents to bond with their baby in the womb while practicing the art of reading aloud. We are a literacy specialist and an editor who are dedicated to helping parents experience the amazing power of prenatal family storytime. Our blog, The Reading Womb, has been spreading the message everywhere: It’s never too early to read to your baby!
Everyone has heard of Dr. Seuss, but most people don’t realize that he was a prenatal reading enthusiast. As a matter of fact, Dr. Seuss (whose real name was Theodore Geisel) was fascinated by the research that shows that babies can hear and respond to the voices they hear from inside the womb. After his death, author Tish Rabe along with Geisel’s widow Audrey, adapted his popular Oh, the Places You’ll Go to create the first-ever story especially for reading to a baby in the womb. Oh Baby, the Places You’ll Go includes all the fun rhythms, rhymes, and whimsical characters you expect in a Dr. Seuss’s story, but what’s unique about this one is that it invites expectant parents to speak directly to their baby-to-be. Reading this story to the baby bump allows new parents to share their excitement about their little one’s arrival.
An introduction to the world of Dr. Seuss-for babies and babies-to-be!
Artfully adapted almost entirely from Ted Geisel's work, this introduction to the world of Dr. Seuss is a must for expectant parents and new babies! In simple rhymed verse, author Tish Rabe extolls the joys awaiting newborns when they meet the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Yertle the Turtle, the Great Birthday Bird, the Grinch, and twenty-five other beloved Seuss characters. Written to be read aloud to babies and babies-to-be (yes, babies in utero!), the book includes a brief introduction by Mrs. Dr. Seuss-Audrey Geisel-revealing how she…
