Recommending books is no easy task! There are many writers who have a special category to choose from. They then select the best books from this category as recommendations for their readers. Glenda Millard finds it difficult to recommend children’s books as there are several topics that interest her.
There have been many books that she has read as a child and fallen in love with. However, when she recommends books for children, she makes sure she’s choosing the more recent ones. Glenda does this hoping they’re still in print and the children would truly read them.
Glenda has herself published picture books such as Unplugged, Angel Breath, and Mrs Wiggins’ Watermelons. She also writes novels for young readers and reads widely from all the categories. While recommending books she doesn’t simply review them.
She wants her readers to know what makes these books so special to her. While she has certain recommendations for children at the moment, they may be different in the near future. Here are some of her recommendations in picture books for children:
1. Fox
This picture book by Margaret Wild and Ron Brookes is perfect for children according to Glenda. She admires most of the books written by Margaret Wild. This also makes it difficult for her to choose between those books. One of the reasons why she recommends Fox is because it has stunning artwork created by Ron Brookes.
The warm ocher colors reflect the dry environment in the place where her home is. The font chosen for the text also appears to be something unique. It looks as if it has been scratched with a burn stick over an ocher palette. The story of this picture book is fable-like, folkloric, troubled, and sad.
At the same time, it also sends out a message of courage, perseverance, and hope. Fox would teach children some valuable things about nature. It is also a good book to remind them that their natural world is wild and beautiful.
2. The Man Who Loved Boxes
The Man Who Loves Boxes is quite an old book written by Stephen Michael King. Glenda Millard hadn’t written any of her books when she first came across this picture book. There are several reasons why she was initially attracted to this book. Among them was its strange title and the topic. Every time she read this picture book, she felt extremely moved by the story.
It is about a father who found it difficult to express his love for his son verbally. Yet, he found a unique way of showing his love. All the illustrations by Stephen Michael King in this book are light, whimsical, and loose. They make for excellent companions to his spare text.
3. The Trouble with Dogs
One of the reasons why Glenda recommends this book for children is that she loves dogs. The Trouble with Dogs is the creation of Bob Graham. Glenda has several books of Bob she feels are worth reading. She finds this book extremely funny and this would surprise many of her readers. In fact, there are many who think that she likes only sad books.
She feels that The Trouble with Dogs can make anyone laugh out loud. Glenda says that Bob’s books are wonderful, tender, wise, and insightful. His writing is apparently influenced by his observation and empathy with people in general and children in particular.