Candace Fleming

Eric Rohmann

A series of animals falls into a deep hole, only to be saved at last by a very large rescuer.

Oh, No!

My Friend Rabbit

Marla Frazee

Gordon Korman

Kwame Alexander

Tom Angleberger

Grace Lin

Brian Selznick

Rita Williams-Garcia

Alex Gino

Gail Carson Levine

Linda Sue Park

Thanhha Lai

Elissa Brent Weissman

R. J. Palacio

Chris Grabenstein

Peter Lerangis

Kathi Appelt

Dan Santat

Chris Gall

Tim Federle

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Ashley Bryan

Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Yuyi Morales

From award-winning author Elissa Brent Weissman comes a collection of quirky, smart, and vulnerable childhood works by some of today’s foremost children’s authors and illustrators—revealing young talent, the storytellers they would one day become, and the creativity they inspire today. Everyone’s story begins somewhere… For Linda Sue Park, it was a trip to the ocean, a brand-new typewriter, and a little creative license. For Jarrett J. Krosoczka, it was a third grade writing assignment that ignited a creative fire in a kid who liked to draw. For Kwame Alexander, it was a loving poem composed for Mother’s Day—and perfected through draft after discarded draft. For others, it was a teacher, a parent, a beloved book, a word of encouragement. It was trying, and failing, and trying again. It was a love of words, and pictures, and stories. Your story is beginning, too. Where will it go?

Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring, and Occasionally Ridiculous Things They Wrote and Drew as Kids

Our Story Begins

A Kitten Tale

As four kittens who have never seen winter watch the seasons pass, three of them declare the reasons they will dislike snow when it arrives, while the fourth cannot wait to experience it for himself.

From the creator of the Caldecott Honor winner Time Flies, here’s a little boy’s journey to a tropical dream world. Magnificent oil paintings and rhyming text bring to life a mysterious island where cinder-eyed cats move like shadows, boats float above the ocean, whales fly across the dawn sky, and a parade of fish dances in the light of a campfire.

The Cinder-Eyed Cats

A boy makes a magical trip to a tropical island where he and five cinder-eyed cats watch as various sea creatures emerge from the ocean to dance by their campfire, in a richly illustrated picture book from the author of Time Flies. Reprint.

Four kittens have never seen the snow. The first three kittens are wary--snow is cold, it's wet, it covers everything. This unknown thing called snow is a little bit. . . scary. As the seasons pass and winter begins to loom, the three skittish kittens worry. But the fourth kitten takes a different view. The fourth kitten is getting excited. Snow will cover everything?! "I can't wait!" Caldecott Medal winner Eric Rohmann gives us a charming, gentle story that both respectfully acknowledges a child's fear of the unknown and celebrates the power of a positive outlook. Deceptively simple and quietly profound.

Otho was born with a pumpkin for a head. And despite what one might think, he was not seen as a curiosity by his family. So begins this brilliantly droll tale of a very unusual boy. Otho loses his pumpkin head–quite literally–when a bat decides it would make a good home. And despite what one might think, this is not the end for Otho, but the beginning of a great adventure. Is Otho’s story a parable? A cautionary tale? A celebration of the individual? A head trip? That is something each reader (and Otho) will have to decide. . . . .

Pumpkinhead

Eric Rohmann

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