Kwame Alexander, an award-winning poet and author, writes picture books for children and cross-genre books for teens. The Crossover — his basketball-concrete poetry-hiphop mashup — was awarded the 2015 Newbery Medal. Alexander is also the creator of the in-school Book-in-a-Day writing and publishing workshop.
Lane Smith recently described his artwork as a mixture between his fine arts background and low-brow influences like Monty Python and Mad magazine. He has tried making children’s books that are sweet and cute, but inevitably they take a turn toward the edgy. “I try to do serious stuff,” he explains, “but it just comes out screwy.” Lane Smith’s unconventional approach has resulted in many fans, numerous bestsellers, and a prestigious Caldecott Honor. Smith has collaborated with author Jon Scieszka on many favorites, including Math Curse, Science Verse, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.
Long before your child enters school, you can do many things to help him or her develop language. When young children are provided with opportunities to listen to and use language constantly, they can begin to acquire the essential building blocks for learning how to read.
