Thời thơ ấu của các đại văn hào - Chuyện thật chưa kể

Kid Legends

by David Stabler, Doogie Horner (Illustrator), Nguyên Hương (Translator)

Hãy quên đi danh mục sách bán chạy, các chuyến quảng bá sách cháy vé cùng đám đông người hâm mộ chen nhau xin chữ kí. Trong quá trình trưởng thành của những văn hào được yêu mến nhất thế giới, họ cũng gặp các vấn đề như bất cứ đứa trẻ nào, chẳng khác gì bạn. Gia đình của Laura Ingalls Wilder chẳng bao giờ dừng chân tại một chỗ đủ lâu để cô kết giao bạn bè. Langston Hughes phải đối mặt với việc cha mẹ chia tay và những nhọc nhằn của mẹ để kiếm sống. Còn J. K. Rowling nhút nhát tới mức bị bắt nạt ở trường học. THỜI THƠ ẤU CỦA CÁC ĐẠI VĂN HÀO kể cho bạn nghe những câu chuyện về họ với hình ảnh minh họa trên hầu hết mọi trang sách.
Hãy cùng tìm hiểu cuộc sống thời trẻ của Stan Lee, Jeff Kinney, Sherman Alexie, Jules Verne, Zora Neale Hurston, J. R. R. Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain và Roald Dahl nhé.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Middle Grade, Childrens, Writing, Biography Memoir, History

200 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2017

Reviews

[Lucy Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Accessible, fun and very addictive to read!

I originally got this for myself (despite being 35 years old), but my 8 year old son swiftly nabbed it off me and devoured it in a few sittings. So, this review is based on my opinions of the chapters that I did get to read (about half), plus my son's very enthusiastic review.

It's an absolutely lovely idea for a book - approaching authors in an entirely different way, and exploring their childhood, rather than their adult years. There were so many fascinating bits of information here, with links made to their later writing, plus some amazing illustrations that really made my son laugh.

A brilliant book - can't recommend highly enough.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kid Authors provides many wonderful anecdotes from some of the most beloved authors’ childhoods. A few of the authors include J.K. Rowling, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Ronald Dahl, and Judy Blume, to name a few. These stories relate how their childhood experiences shaped their lives and their fiction. A recurrent theme found in the book is that most of these authors had to deal with bullies and overcome problems like shyness and family difficulties and still persevered. The histories were very detailed, and I loved the fabulous illustrations. Many thanks to Quirk Books for my free ARC.

[Kayra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu kitap yazarların çocukluklarını anlatıyor. Kitapta yazarlar hakkında bir sürü ilginç bilgi vardı. Kitaplarını sevdiğim yazarların çocukluklarını öğrenmek bana çok ilginç geldi. Mesela Harry Potter serisinin yazarı J.K. Rowling’in karakterleri oluştururken esinlenme şekli beni şaşırttı. Kitabı elimden bırakamadım. Herkese tavsiye ediyorum.

[Lisa Straubinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kid Authors is a collection of short biographies on a wide array of authors. Each biography includes a few unique facts about the author's childhood, people who were important to the author and ways in which the author was connected to reading and writing. The passages were just enough to tease the reader and give a little background, but could leave the reader wanting more. The one thing that stood out to me was the vast variety of authors included in the book making this a title that didn't focus on one particular age group. The authors ranged from J.R.R. Tolkien and Mark Twain to Jeff Kinney and Beverly Cleary. This wide range makes me hesitant to order this book for my K-4 library. At the end there were some random facts about authors that weren't included in the book. Again the range of authors was a curious one. My elementary students will not be reading anything by Alice Walker or Virginia Woolf any time soon. It may have been helpful to have two versions of this book. One for elementary students and one for middle/high school students.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you love to hear the backstories of people? Do you like to find out about the stories in people's lives that other biographies leave out? Are you a person who likes to see the human side of celebrities?

That's me. And this is the book for you.

Kid Authors shares stories about the divorce of the parents of poet Langston Hughes, Sherman Alexie's hydrocephalus, and Roald Dahl's love affair with candy. All the stories you didn't know you wanted to know.

[Bryony Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book with such insightful stories about the authors we all know and love. This would be a fantastic gift for my sister!

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have conflicting feelings about this book. After further deliberation about the book, I decided to give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

While I applaud Stabler's writing style and work as a whole to make these kinds of stories accessible to young children, I'm not quite sure who his target audience is. The publisher's site says 8-12, but the writing may come off as pandering to a 12 year old and many of the authors will be ones an 8-10 year old hasn't read. For example, the first story is about J.R.R Tolkien, whose works are thick and probably too difficult for the average 3rd grader. Other authors I had this particular concern about were:
-Edgar Allan Poe
-Sherman Alexie
-Zora Neale Hurston
-Langston Hughes
-Mark Twain
-Jules Verne

I have questions about the authenticity of some stories and/or author's involvement in the story, as well. J.K. Rowling's story, while ultimately about bullying, comes off like she had some involvement in the story. Compared to some of the other stories, it's longer and more about her positive achievements, which seemed suspicious to me. I also question the choice to include Sherman Alexie. I'm sure he was chosen for Native American representation, however, the book is written in a way to imply certain things happen that are misleading (e.g. He got a scholarship to Gonzaga followed by he was the first in his family to finish college. He didn't graduate from Gonzaga. He dropped out and went someplace else, where he dropped out again 3 credits shy of his degree. He was given a degree by the second college 3 years later). Additionally, it mentions he's won many awards (which is true), but doesn't make mention that he had both his Carnegie Medal and AILA award rescinded due to sexual harassment allegations. I'm not sure that is a choice of author I would include, especially considering his most popular book would be an inappropriate choice for MOST children of the target demographic.

Another small issue I had (although it didn't hinder my enjoyment of this story) was the illustrations for Stan Lee's chapter had him saying "Excelsior!" which he is known for saying, but with no explanation for WHY he says that. If the child reading is unfamiliar with Stan Lee, this may lead to inquiry needs for the child. This is true of a few other similar small details in other chapters, as well. Inquiry is never a bad thing, but it is something a librarian, teacher, or parent may want to be aware of so they are prepared to help the child with that need.

The illustrations are beautiful and add to the story. I found myself really studying and appreciating the illustrations.

Many of the stories had repetitive themes (poverty, academic issues, etc.). In general, though, the sense that "authors are just like you" was very prevalent in this book and may help children to relate better to authors who are seen as legendary.

Lastly, to be a little nitpicky, I would have liked for the diverse choices to be more focused on modern day authors children are more likely to have read. The ones chosen were Langston Hughes, Sherman Alexie, and Zora Neale Hurston. I've already outlined my issues with Alexie as a choice, and while I acknowledge that Hurston and Hughes were both important and incredibly influential, it is unlikely a child this age would have read Their Eyes Were Watching God or many of Hughes' poems. I would have liked to see someone like Jaqueline Woodson or Linda Sue Park highlighted (authors of color who actually write for this demographic).

All in all, I think it is well written, has appealing illustrations, and had a good idea in general. However, I feel this is a bit misguided for the target demographic and that it is perhaps best used as a teacher resource to help introduce certain authors.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot of fun and interesting facts about some popular authors. I also learned stuff about authors I've never heard of before. Great illustrations too!

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read for an adult and cool for kids. I found it will thought out and kind to the research that was entailed. It was a great resource in helping some kids find an author they could think is cool, and it was fun to envision their lives.

[Bookworm LLC · Rating 5 out of 5]

With its easy reading and humorous illustrations, this book is for both children and adults. I learned so much about my favorite authors: their childhood, their inspiration for their stories. David Stabler is a great story teller, I never felt like I was reading a bibliography.

[Ashley Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute stories for young adults about authors when they were young.

[Jelka · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*
Didn't love the selection of authors featured in this.

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was interesting with a lot of different biographies of authors. Here are some authors. J.K.Rowling, Stan Lee, Jeff Kinney, and Roald Dahl. And one of my favourite athors is Roald Dahl cause he likes chocolates (so do I) and he wrote of my favourite books it’s the magic finger.
kids authors surprised me cause I didn’t know a lot of authors but after I read it I know a little bit more about them. If I would change one thing in the book, I would add David Williams cause he’s one of my favourite famous author of children books.

[Melissa Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I want to thank Quirk Books for sending me this copy of Kid Innovators for an honest review.

I was interested to read and review this book because I work in an Elementary School as a 3rd grade Instructional Aide and I thought my 3rd graders would love this book. As an avid reader I was excited to read this book and to share it with my students, so that they might find an author to admire, or better yet, maybe they would want to write their own stories, like the authors mentioned. I own both the Kid Innovators and Kid Authors written by two different authors, but with the same amount of kid friendly facts.

Kid Authors is broken up into 3 parts: It's Not Easy Being a Kid, All in the Family and The Write Stuff. (Anyone fans of the Backstreet Boys?? No...I'm too old I guess teehee). I loved reading about the different authors as children. As a reader, I rarely come across stories of authors as children. Of course we hear about when they started writing and when their first book was published, but we don't get a glimpse of the magic or nightmares that create the authors imaginations. For J.R.R. Tolkein growing up in South Africa and being attacked by a Baboon Tarantula which is as big as a dinner plate, I can only imagine the fear that lingered long after. So it's no wonder why Frodo has to defeat a monstrous sized spider. This continues with the other authors. Stories from their childhoods and how it effected their future stories.

The book is filled with illustrations by Doogie Horner. Each mini biography follows the same kind of timeline. Where the person was born, how they got their ideas from a young age, how all of these children were vivacious readers and sometimes introverted, lonely, weird, and or bullied. I also loved how David Stabler the author made the reader aware that all of these kids had to overcome obstacles. I loved every story in this book and was excited to read on page 178 mini facts about more well known authors. I wish or hope Quirk comes out with a Part 2 of this book. Being a story lover learning more about my favorite authors is heaven.

What I also liked about both of the Kid Author and Kid Innovators books is that in the back is a bibliography so kids can pick up the books that the information was found from. If they are interested in more information about a certain author or if they have to do a research paper on a particular person they have those kid friendly books to look through.

I'm definitely interested in picking up Quirks other books in this series: Kid Scientists, Kid Presidents and Kid Artists.

According to Amazon, the writing in this book is at the reading level of 9-12 years so between 4 and 7 grade and the AR point is 4 so if your kid is looking to bump up their AR points this might be a good book to read.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kid Authors: True Tales of Childhood from Famous Writers is a great selection for a middle-grade budding author or avid reader. Author David Stabler's text is compelling and engaging, with just a mere hint of challenge to push a young reader's vocabulary (but nowhere near enough to frustrate her). He includes both highlights and some lowlights of a wide variety of authors, from ones young readers will have most likely read, to ones they should read – and stories about their lives may well entice them to do so.

But the truly jaw-dropping feature of this book is its artwork! Doogie Horner's illustrations are amazing; each one really looks like the person it's representing, and I don't just mean I knew it was Edgar Allan Poe because he's holding a raven. He's really got the faces of these authors nailed, yet successfully manages to age them down to their pre-teens. Additionally, most of the humor comes from the captions and dialog of the illustrations – that way the text can be more serious reference material, and the pictures can make silly (and really funny) jokes. It's the perfect balance, and it's even thoughtfully sized for smaller hands.

I got this to give to a child friend of mine, but it's awfully tempting to keep!

4.5 enthusiastic stars.

I received a prerelease copy of this book via Goodreads Giveaways, courtesy of the publisher, Quirk Books.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of stories from the childhoods of famous authors. I loved reading these vignettes from the lives of authors that I love and authors that I know my students love, too. The stories are written with just enough embellishment that they're exciting and entertaining, and I was very pleased with how inspirational as well as entertaining many of the stories were.

This would be great to use in a classroom as part of an author study, or just to read through to discuss themes of perseverance. I definitely plan to share some of these stories at the beginning of the year to direct my students to some authors they may not have tried before.

I received a copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, the illustrations for this series provides for very entertaining read and the writing adds the interesting fun and surprising facts about the authors as a child.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quirk books have instantly become one of my favorite publishers over the last two years. Whenever I see their name, I have come to expect the highest quality book around. The latest edition of Kid Legends is no exception.

This book covers a wide variety of authors, the ones they did not dedicate full stories too are included in the index in the back. Shakespeare to Rowling to Woolfe, the authors included in the book cover a variety of genres, so it would be at the teacher/parents discretion whether or not to cover particular authors. The stories are engaging and fun to read. When reading a few selected biographies out loud, my children were able to ask a lot of questions, which opened up a lot more conversation between us.

Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes. These two authors alone are the main reason I want to own a copy of this book. I have a huge fan of Harlem Renaissance and African American Literature, finding these two in the main section of the book, brought me a lot of joy. With the inclusion of Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man), Alice Walker (The Color Purple), Richard Wright, and Maya Angelou; Kid Authors offer a variety of well-known authors, with tidbits about their personal lives we would not have known (unless you did a lot of research). Thank you for including these authors, sometimes I feel many African American authors are forgotten as time passes (i.e. Hurston), it's great to see their names referenced in a variety of literature for all ages. On the chapter about Langston Hughes, it says "he was voted class poet in eighth grade unanimously, but he had not written a poem yet, at least outside of his mind. So he went and started writing to prove himself." I read this line to my son last night, as he was also unanimously voted class president; and he got very excited at the thought of a famous writer also being class president.

Having the ability to see how the author's childhood directly influenced some of their major works was huge. I was never a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but......I am now a little more interested and have added "Little House on the Prarie" to my reading list.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking to add a great non-fiction children's book to either their in-home library or classroom library. My children are 5 & 8, I'm 34--we all enjoyed reading this book.

[Anya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Choice book #2 Quarter 3


The book is Kid Authors, by David Stabler, the book genre is a autobiography.

This story is about authors when they were little. But also what were there attitudes and some hard times they were going through, but also the happy times. But also there adventures through forest and in there bedroom building things using the imagination to be used in there future books.


J.K. Rowling, Sherman Alexie, and Lewis Carroll


J.K. Rowling when she was little had a very big imagination which often got her in trouble by her teachers and in her parents. Her big imagination also got her wondering everywhere and getting in trouble by her little sister Dianne. She was also a very shy kid, but as the years passed she got less shy because of English and foreign language class. But also her glasse made her feel different but as soon as she took them off and put in contacts she felt normal so she started to speak up.


Sherman Alexie did not grow up like other kids. He grow up on an Indian reservation, where he was bullied because of his health problems, and found it had to call it his own place and home. His medical condition was hydrocephalus which means that he had fluids in his brain which would be lead to a surgery. Even though the surgery had some side effects it was the only thing that would make him live. The side effects lasted throughout his childhood, including bedwetting and seizures.



Lewis Carroll was a big book worm. When Lewis was just a little boy he would love to read books and solve many difficult problems. At a young age he was solving problems that his dad had learned five years before. And Lewis Carroll’s father was a very good at math and got a little studer when his son brought it up to him. Lewis Carroll stayed like that until he found out that he had a lot of free time so he went outside and put his smart mind to work. He built a roller coaster and a really big maze out of ice and dared people to go in to it sometimes people would be in there for hours. Otherwise you would find his head stuck in a book.




The main problem is that some of the authors hated school and had to get there grades up or they were getting bullied and had no confidence in them.


The author believes that if you get made fun of and you feel like you don't fit in then you should just work harder than anyone else and don’t forget who you always were. When J.K. Rowling would play the “cliff game” with her sister that was a thing that she would get made fun of because she rarely hanged out with her friends. But also when they made up stories together and then she shared with her friends and they thought she was weird. My last piece of evidence is when Sherman Alexie got bullied because of heis health problems, but also because he was the smartest kid in the reservation.



I enjoyed the book because some of the authors that I know were in the book and than others that I didn’t know of. But also all of the problems and if they liked school or not. My favorite person in the book was J.K. Rowling because I know her the most and a lot more people know her. The book does include your emotions because it made me laugh a lot, because a lot of the kids did a really bad thing or the adventures that they went on.

[June Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book from this series which I have read.

Kid Authors is a fun, engaging, informative book which I really enjoyed. The illustrations are colorful and humorous and will appeal to a middle-grader's sense of humor, in my opinion.

Part One of the book is entitled, 'It's Not Easy Being a Kid'. Whew! Just like the rest of us, many of these authors suffered greatly at the hands of bullies during their childhoods. Many of the authors in this chapter turned their traumatic childhood experiences into fodder for their later fiction writing.

Part Two of the book, 'All in the Family', has the sub-title of 'Siblings, Parents, Grandparents, and All Kinds of Relatives, These Kid Authors had a Family Member in Their Corner'.

Wow! This chapter included the inspiring stories of kid authors who overcame adversity and grief at a young age to become ground-breaking authors. Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes are included in this chapter along with Jules Verne and Mark Twain.

Part Three, 'The Write Stuff', has a sub-title of 'Comics, Library Books, and Candy Shops--Before They Were Famous, These Kid Authors Found Stories Everywhere'. I enjoyed this chapter very much because of the interesting facts and anecdotes shared about Roald Dahl, Stan Lee, and one of my top five kid authors--Beverly Clearly. Learning what originally inspired these authors as they built their characters and settings in their work as an adult energized and motivated me, as an author, to look into my past for new ideas for my writing projects.

The Back Matter for the book includes a fun section entitled, 'Try As We Might, We Couldn't Fit Every Kid Author into One Book'.

This section includes fun tidbits about authors such as Stephen King, Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglass, Charles Schulz, Ray Bradbury, C.S. Lewis, and Shel Silverstein. I thought it was the perfect way to end a wonderful book!

Highly-recommended to children, adults who are writers/authors, teachers, and librarians.

I borrowed this book from the local public library.

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[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short biographies of famous authors focuses on each author as a child, and what childhood experiences and situations led that person to become a writer.
Including interesting biographies about authors such as Lucy Maud Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Roald Dahl, J.K. Rowling, Sherman Alexie, and Stan Lee; this book covers authors from a wide variety of backgrounds and time periods for an eclectic look at what inspires readers to become writers.

I loved reading about how particular childhood experiences like being bullied, being bitten by a giant spider, or growing up on a farm, directly influenced an author's published works. It's wonderful to see how these everyday things from childhood had a profound connection to the later writing that became so famous.

I was pleased to see many of my favorite authors in this book, and at the end of the book each page is filled with short paragraphs about even more authors, including just one little factoid about their childhood. So some authors get several pages of bio, and some authors only have one paragraph at the end. I liked that they added in extra authors at the back!

The writing is engaging and fun to read. The stories are inspiring and thoughtful, and I enjoyed reading through each one. This book really made me think about my roots, what first attracted me to books, and how I first began to experiment with words and wrote my own little stories in school. Each author's childhood story is accessible and memorable, and I was able to see myself in their shoes.
I loved this book! This would be perfect to read in a classroom or as a family!

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

[Gail Sacharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is from a new series I discovered about stories of famous people when they were children. This one focuses on famous authors & is divided into sections. Section one tells tales of authors who had to overcome hardships or problems in their childhood & how some of those problems made them writers or gave them ideas for the books they wrote, such as J.R.R. Tolkien's experience living in South Africa when he was young & being bitten by a giant Baboon Tarantula which not only gave him a lifetime fear of spiders, but also gave him his Shelob character in The Lord of the Rings. Or Sherman Alexie's being raised on an Indian Reservation in poverty & difficult circumstances gave him a love for reading & understanding what it felt like not to belong in the "outside world". Section two relates tales of authors who had a relative who supported & encouraged them such as Zora Neale Hurston's mother, Lucy, who encouraged her to experience all she could in life or Langston Hughes's grandmother who was an abolitionist & taught him about civil rights & equality & fighting for one's freedom. Section three tells of experiences that gave famous authors story ideas such as the local candy store that Roald Dahl loved & his experience as a chocolate taster for a candy company that helped him come up with his most famous book, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory or Jeff Kinney's experiences with his siblings providing the idea for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The last section is a collection of interesting facts on many different authors. This was an interesting book which covered several of the authors I read & a few favorites like Tolkien & Lucy Maud Montgomery. I enjoyed it & am looking forward to reading more in the series.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a digital ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Review also posted on my blog, Books and Big Ideas

Kid Authors is a new middle grade (on the lower end of that spectrum, I would say) nonfiction book from Quirk Books in their series of fun stories about famous people when they were younger. Written by David Stabler, the book has many delightful color illustrations by Doogie Horner.

The book covers a diverse selection of authors, although most of them would be familiar to children, and they are mostly American. Some of the stories were more focused on specific events than others, which made them stronger in my opinion, and almost all related back to how they became authors. I found Sherman Alexie's really interesting, and I didn't know that Edgar Allen Poe was a foster child! Unfortunately, Laura Ingalls Wilder's was not much new if you're familiar with the Little House series.

A paragraph in Langston Hughes's chapter really stood out to me: he was voted class poet in eighth grade unanimously, but he had not written a poem yet, at least outside of his mind. So he went and started writing to prove himself. That's like some predestination craziness.

One thing I was a little surprised with was the use of "Indians" to refer to Native Americans all the time. It made sense in the Laura Ingalls Wilder story because of the time period, and there's a great illustration of an exasperated Native American frustrated about how they'd left for a little and suddenly some settlers moved in. But otherwise, I was surprised they didn't use Native Americans as well, as it is so much more accurate and I think that's important in a children's book.

There are also little facts about other authors' childhoods in the back, which were pretty fun. The best one was absolutely Earnest Hemingway, that All-American Man, who was dressed in his older sister's clothes until he was 5 and his mother said he was her daughter "Ernestine"!!!

This is definitely something great to have in the classroom!

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kid Authors (Kid Legends) review…
Reading Stan Lee’s origin story is a ton of fun. Seeing how childhood experiences, such as Roald Dahl’s love of candy or J.K. Rowlings wizards and witches imaginary play inspired their authorial accomplishments is intriguing. Reading the backstory of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Lucy Maud Montgomery is delightful. Romping through the childhood adventures of Mark Twain, J.R.R. Tolkien and Jules Verne is fascinating. Seeing Langston Hughes, Beverly Cleary and Jeff Kinney overcome childhood challenges is inspiring. Two (casual and minimal) references to cross-dressing aside, a library check out would not do! This title has joined our home library and been embraced by all ages!

Kid Legends Series review…
Kid Legends is a multi-author, multi-illustrator series that is a big hit with students. The text and illustration have a casual style that often includes an undertone of sarcasm. Kid Legends is not as far over the edge or a busy as the “You Wouldn’t Want to be…” series, which I find annoying, but they use a little zest with the subject matter. This upbeat tone, even in the accounting of serious childhood struggles, maintains the positive message that all will come out okay for these kids who grow to be adults that make famous contributions to society. Each title (be it Kid Presidents, Kid Scientists, or Kid Authors) maintains a narrow focus on the childhood of the subjects, avoiding adult lives, and is even a little neglectful of their accomplishments as they sidestep any assessments of their talent, work, life or death. And there is the rub. While the books are fantastic at encouraging kids that the struggles of childhood are common through these enticing biographies, several of the subjects are inappropriate for children to engage with at this stage of their lives. Yet students laugh out loud, want to share tidbits, and thoroughly enjoy these titles. Even better, they are challenged to explore their own passions and interests!

[Alicea · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, HUGE props to the illustrator, Doogie Horner, for some of the most amazing illustrations I've seen in quite some time. I'd go so far as to say they would make truly excellent bookmarks. *hint hint* Kid Authors: True Tales of Childhood from Famous Writers by David Stabler is a collection of short biographies of famous authors covering their childhood and why they wanted to become authors. Up front I need to make a few critical remarks. While this was written for a child audience, I think it would be beneficial if some of the terms were defined either in a side panel or at the back in a glossary. Two good examples: integration and abolitionist. I read a few passages to some of the kids at the library and some terms that seem obvious to an adult haven't yet been learned by kids in upper elementary school. There were also some really glaring grammatical mistakes which gave the impression this was a rushed printing job. At one point, the word should have been 'real' and instead it was 'read' which of course has a totally different meaning. If this is meant to be a nonfiction biographical resource for children it should be held to a higher standard. I did like how there were additional facts and a suggested list of more books to read at the back. My overall impression is that it's a cute book which serves as a decent introduction for kids to famous authors (and biographies in general). I know there are other books in this series so I'm hopeful the quality has improved in these later volumes. :-) 5/10

[Teri Pardue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stole this from my kids this week because the pictures drew me in. It's a nice little collection, and I liked that the stories were about a diversity of authors (racially, time period they lived in, and genre of writing).

However, if it hadn't been for the quirky little pictures, I don't think I would have read it in its entirety. The author seemed to lack direction with his writing. Some stories read like biographies: citing dates (birth, when events happened, etc) and giving an overview of the author's childhood. Other stories were small anecdotes without any dates or other "biographical" information. They felt more whimsical. In both cases, the stories were disjointed. There were many instances throughout where one paragraph had no connection to the preceding paragraph. It reminded me of the way my children write nonfiction accounts of people - just including a hodgepodge of information without a specific goal.

The book was a nice idea and some of the stories were new to me and interesting. The execution was a bit poor, though.

[Gözde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tam 1 saat Kırmızı Kedi Kitapevindeydim ve gözüm bu kitaptan başkasını görmedi. Kendime tek kitap alma hakkı vermiştim. Başka bir şey beğensem bu kitabı bırakacaktım ancak kısmet olmadı. Şubat 2019 basımı olduğundan “ben bu kitabı nasıl görmedim” tribine girmeyeceğim. Bulduğuma sevindim sadece. Hızlı okunabilen rahat bir kitap, çocuk kitabı sonuçta. Hedef kitlesinin benim yaşımda birinin olmadığı çok açık. Hep verdiği mesaj kitap okumanın faydası -ki bunu çok beğendim. Her yazar küçükken zor şartlarda olsa bile okumuş. Bazılarını tanımıyordum. Ama Dahl, Twain, Verne, Poe falan derken kitap bitti zaten. İlk defa bir kitaba J.K. Rowling’i de eklediklerini gördüm çok sevindim. Başarısını az konuşuyoruz gibi geliyor bana hep. Yazarların çevresinden, kendi hayatlarından etkilenmeleri kaçınılmaz tabi. Çok sevdim. Hızlı okuduğumdan bir ara sıkıldım ama tanımadığım kişileri okumamdan da kaynaklı olabilir. Bence bu seri tutar, Hep Kitap yazarın tüm kitaplarını çıkartsın. Sayfa kalınlığı tasarımı falan çok güzeldi. İç renklere, resimlere bayıldım. Font büyüklüğü bile tam benlikti.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for the classroom! As a teacher, I am always looking for a book to share with my students. Kid Authors provides not just entertaining and humorous anecdotes about 16 well known authors but also provides a wealth of ideals to springboard into reading projects and experiences. The reading level is appropriate for upper elementary to intermediate grades and the authors included would all have works appropriate for students to explore. The authors included cover a variety of nationalities, ethnicities, and written genres. Many are authors students wil recognize (or should recognize) While reading, I thought of many activities I could use to follow sharing this book. Many of the stories emphasize themes of being bullied, not fitting in, loving to read, and using imagination to create: all issues students will recognize. Any book that opens up a wider world of reading is 5 stars with me. I will be happy to use this with students.

[Taffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opening line:
"Everybody loves a good story--and we all know that a well-told story has a beginning, a middle, and an end."

This was a fun and quick book to read. Little interesting insights to a few writers with cute illustrations for each.
Ronald, aka, J.R.R. Tolkein was bit on the foot by a Baboon Tarantula. They are ginormous! Remind you of anything spiders in his stories?
Roald Dahl loved candy. When he was thirteen he was sent to a dismal school BUT it doubled as an undercover testing lab for Cadbury! He us to daydream about the inside of that factory.
Sam, or Samuel Clemens or Mark Twain (his name has something to do with boats...) us to get into all sorts of mischief with his best bud, Tom.
There are more snippets of interesting facts about more kid authors at the end of the book
I think this would be a great addition to any home or classroom.

Thanks to netgalley for the early read!

[Sarahmarie Specht-Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I assigned this book to my 3rd graders as their last book of the year. I really enjoyed reading it! I find that there is an abundance of fiction available for younger readers, but quality nonfiction is really hard to come by. After hours of looking for good nonfiction books to round out the semester, this is what I came up with. I don't know that my students enjoyed it as much as I did, but I found it really interesting to learn about the childhoods of some of these authors. There are also adorable illustrations that break up the text and help to deepen students' connection to the authors. I did think that some of the sections went on for a bit too long, and it felt a little disjointed at times. Nevertheless, it's a great option for short, easily digestible nonfiction readings for kids and adults alike!