Two Books – One old and one new, both featured in this review!

Here is a classic(Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood) and in my opinion a soon to be a classic(Wild One by Jane Whittingham). Both books explore the wonderful variety of traits and personalities a child can have all at the same time.

I was introduced to Quick as a Cricket by long before I ever thought of writing for children but many years after the book was published. As a young mother of boys, I read everything I could find about how to raise a boy. Although I grew up with brothers and babysat boys these boys were my responsibility! Some resources were very academic and textbook like, others not so much but on one of our many visits to our favorite book store the owner asked if she could help me. I explained that we were just looking for a good book about boys and their personalities. I guess I was a little boy focused at the time because I should have asked for a book about children’s personalities. Anyway, she asked me if I had heard of Audrey and Don Wood’s Quick as a Cricket. Published in 1982. 1982! Of course not. I was busy with college and not really thinking of children’s books or even writing for children. So, in 1993(11 years after it was published) we bought the book and it quickly became one of our favorites. Flash forward to 2018 and not only do I buy Quick as a Cricket for children quite often I am also now a writer of children’s picture books! In order to write for children, I find myself studying current, published picture books. In one of my many trips to the library, I came across one of my new favorites Wild One published in 2017. Jane Whittingham does an excellent job using active verbs to describe a child and how she plays. The pen and water color illustrations by Noel Tuazon are perfectly paired with the text. I would definitely request them from your library but if you can get a copy to keep- you should.