As a mom and a literacy consultant, there are few things sweeter than stumbling across a new author. Amy Krause Rosenthal is one of those authors I would love to meet. I just think I would like her as both a person and as a writer. She clearly writes for  the child and the adult who is lucky enough to read with that  child.

At the library the other day, we checked out Little Pea.

and loved it. After all, who wouldn’t love the story of a pea who has to eat his dinner of candy before he can go on to enjoy his dessert of spinach. Both of my girls (ages 4 and 7) asked to read Little Pea again and again and again. When this happens, I know we’re on to something. Instead of sighing and saying, “All right, I’ll read it one more time.” as we tired moms are often temped to do, I kept reading while trying to figure out what was captivating to the girls. More than the clever illustrations and the funny message, the girls seemed to be enjoying the author’s voice. I heard two words in my head, “Author Study!”

Author studies are frequently completed in classrooms but there is no reason not to have author studies right in the comfort of our homes. I went to library and checked out every title I could find by Amy Krause Rosenthal.  Along the way, I discovered that we actually already had a few of Rosenthal’s titles in our home library.

We had laughed out loud while reading Bedtime For Mommy,

discussed sibling rivalry while reading It’s Not Fair

and created our own ‘wonder poems’ after reading The Wonder Book.

With my library bag full to overflowing with such titles as Spoon,

and Yes Day

and It’s One of Those Days,

I headed home to an afternoon full of reading, re-reading, discussion and book writing as part of our super informal author study. We talked about what made Rosenthal’s writing funny, why we thought she chose different illustrators for different  books and what kinds of questions we might ask her if we were lucky enough to meet her one day.

My list is now growing and growing as I think of all our future author studies. I’ll be sure to share here so check back often…