Two years ago I shared the question – What would happen if you did a read a day with your kids? I feel so strongly that even just one read aloud a day can make a huge impact on a child’s life.
It can show them all that books have to offer.
It can help create a bond between the child and the reader.
It can expand vocabulary – still the biggest predictor of later academic success.
And so many of you agreed! So many of you joined me in reading at least one book every day to your kids.
What grew out of that was a community. A children’s book loving and sharing community. I love checking the hashtag on Instagram to see your book recommendations and cozy reading pictures and awesome bookish activities. I love hearing how you’re using books at the library and in your classroom and at home. I love discovering new favorite books and sharing ours.
In the past our #aReadaDay reading has centered around themes. (You can find all of the past ones in our archives). This is definitely natural for me. My kids tend to dive deep into passions and fixate on little else and giving them a stack of books that relates is something I’ve been doing since they were two and first discovered a love of trains.
Something new for 2020.
This year I thought we’d do something new. This isn’t really replacing #aReadaDay – it’s an addition or a shift in focus. I still encourage you to read every day (we will be!) and to share what you’re reading at #aReadaDay – but our themes will be guided by authors.
Each month we will have one author that we’re focusing on – studying. These authors for the most part lend themselves well to the season or a theme (winter, transportation, picture book biographies, etc) that will be our #aReadaDay theme for a month. I really hope you’ll join us!
Join us in reading authors…
New authors.
Favorite authors.
Non fiction authors.
Funny authors.
#2020authorstudies.
For 2020, we are going to focus on one children’s book author each month. My hope is that you’ll discover some new favorite authors because while finding great books is good, having a trusted author you can turn to, count on, look forward to is a wonderful thing. I’ll share a book list each month although with some fun activity ideas to go with their books or to learn more about the author.
Excited? I am!
Curious who we’ll be reading? That was SO hard to decide.
Below is the list of 2020 Children’s Book Authors we will be exploring. This is NOT a comprehensive list of authors you should know (You can find 50 Children’s Book Authors I think everyone should know here and that’s just the tip of the amazing writer iceberg.) There are too many amazing children’s book authors to truly make such a list.
Below I will share the list of 12 Authors that Create Amazing Children’s Books that:
- have written at least 4 books – at least one for each week of a month was my minimum.
- do NOT appear on every best author’s list. I avoided people like Mo Willems and Eric Carle who I adore but who I feel like most people are aware of – however there are some likely familiar names, some award winners and some people with lengthy careers included.
- attempt to span the range of gender, age, and ethnicity. This was hard – especially with my 4 books rule (which speaks once again to the need for more diverse voices in publishing!) but I did my best to consider these things to make the list well rounded.
- appeal to multiple ages. There are some authors who write a span of ages. There are some more geared more towards board books or picture books. I tried to offer a variety so some months may work better for you than others.
- represent a variety of genres and types of books – nonfiction, picture book biographies, stories about animals, funny books, etc.
I am sure that many of you will read this list and immediately have more ideas of authors that should have / could have been included – tell me about them in the comments! That way we’ll all leave with a growing list of authors to discover and who knows, if we do this again next year, they might appear on another list in the future!
My hope is that this year you will discover at least a couple new-to-you authors to love. Authors that when a new book pops up you say ‘YES! I can’t wait to read that!’ Because you know the author like an old friend and trust that their newest book will be a great fit for you too.
Download Printable Author Study List
What do you need to do?
Simple – download the list above and starting hunting down books written by the first author. If you’re joining us later in the year, just skip to the current month.
In January look for a post of books and activity ideas to hit your email. I’ll share on Instagram as well! And start sharing all of your related ideas to #2020AuthorStudies or tag me on Facebook at @mystorytimecorner.
If you don’t want to share that’s completely fine too! Feel free to just download the free list and read with your kiddos. At the end of the day that’s all this is about – reading every day with kids!
2020 Author Study List
Jan Brett: January
Salina Yoon : February
Andrea Davis Pinkney : March
Upcoming
This list was put on hold due to the Covid19 Pandemic and Libraries closing. If you want more author ideas, start with this post: Place to Start if You Want to Expand Your Bookshelves to Include More People of Color for an extensive list of incredible authors!
We will try again in 2021 – here is a link to that challenge.
Download Printable Author Study List
General Author Study Resources:
- Preschool Author Study Printable Pack from My Storytime Corner
- Book Based Unit Study with Free Printables from Homeschool Resource Room
- Why Author Studies are a Must for Elementary from Comprehension Connection
Other Author Studies
