Our Newest Favorite Author

Wow, it's been two weeks since I posted any book-related happiness. And I haven't really read anything either. That is so sad. I'm sad for myself for not getting more reading done in the last two weeks! We had family come to town and I went out of town so there's a good reason, but no reading is still something worthy to mourn.

Despite my lack of reading (falling asleep in the middle of a great read last night doesn't count), I have found an awesome new children's book author for my kids. I've discovered a handful of websites/blogs that feature children's authors and illustrators and from that I find new books to seek out at the library for my kids. Melanie Watt writes and illustrates a few books that we discovered that I cannot help but exude excitement when I think of them. The first book we happened upon is called "Chester" and is about a cat who takes over the story as it's being written. It's supposed to be about a cute little mouse, but Chester wants it to be about him. He even ridicules Melanie Watt for trying to write about anything but him. My girls loved it. The mouse gets exasperated, the cat walks all over him, but in the end, Melanie gets her revenge. Absolute fun.

The other two books by Ms. Watt feature a squirrel named Scaredy. "Scaredy Squirrel" and "Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend" are about the slightly obsessive compulsive germ phobic habits of a garden variety squirrel. I don't know about you, but it makes sense to me to make squirrels so neurotic. We used to have a yard full of them and they are twitchy and paranoid. Scaredy would love to go out into the world a bit more than he does, but there's the danger of germs and being bitten by bunnies or Godzilla. Scaredy is hilarious and the way the books are written and illustrated are absolutely a hoot. We will be anxiously looking for more Melanie Watt books in the future. She's just getting a start, but she has illustrated other books in the past. We just want the ones where she does both.

I might just sneak in a few minutes reading now that my kids are outside and my laundry is drying. The book I'm on now is awesome, so I'll be writing about that soon. If you don't have kids, borrow some and read them "Scaredy Squirrel". It'll make your neuroses seem tame in comparison.