5 Children's Books You Really Oughta Read

I love reading almost as much as I love writing. And I love writing almost as much as I love reading. Depends on the day. One never truly trumps the other. Gotta have both.

These are 5 children's books I've read within the past 2 years that gave me that turn-page feeling, that friends-with-the-characters feeling, that weepy-when-it's-over-feeling. I dare you to read one and I triple-dog-dare you to leave a comment below telling me a story that's given YOU them sort of feelings.

#5--Flotsam by David Wiesner. If you're not much of a reader (or for your loved ones who can't read at all!) check this one out. It's a whimsical wordless picture book that entertains your curiosities of what truly lies at the bottom of the sea while simultaneously indulges hopes of finding something truly awesome washed up on the shores of a summer destination spot.

#4--Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan. With three main characters, three plot lines from WWII era, music literature, and fantasy elements to boot, this novel is a true masterpiece with cliffhangers galore. But careful--you'll certainly have cravings for learning to play the harmonica by the time you're through.

#3--Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles. A story about a little girl that grows up in a funeral home and writes a column for the local newspaper. As I read this novel I transformed with Comfort from being the strong friend in grief to becoming the person needing comfort.

#2--The Wanderer by Sharon Creech. First off, Sharon Creech stole my reader's heart more than 13 years ago in her novel Walk Two Moons, so it was so easy to fall in love with another of her stories (eh, see what I did there? I snuck a 6th book you oughta read into this post, bwahahaha!). This novel details the journey of a tween girl as she ventures off with her uncles and boy cousins on a sailing journey across the Atlantic.  My entire life of also being surrounded by brothers and uncles made Sophie an automatic soul sister. But Sophie's soul touched mine more deeply as she taught me about facing my fears after traumatic experiences. And she calls her grandpa "Bompie." What's not to love in that?

#1--Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool. Clare Vanderpool is a total rockstar and my author hero of the world. There's so much to be celebrated in this book, but my favorite element is that the character Early believes that the number Pi tells a story. Like Echo, this novel blends so many elements, it's truly a bonafide masterpiece. To name a few of its strands of theme: A boat named "Sweetie Pie." A boarding school. Astronomy. Historical setting in the 1940s. Loss & healing. This book allowed me to contemplate the complexities of my own story and to realize that no genre of thought and experience is truly totally separate from another.

(Per Kevin's request, I've included another pretty rad book. We found it at D.I. once)

THE GRUFFALO by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

(And Kevin asked for me to include another book. He read it to Charlie the other night and busted up laughing. And I sort of love him. So...Here's another)