Children's Author of the Week: Oliver Jeffers

I first heard of Oliver Jeffers back in 2010, at my baby shower for Ben, when I received his book Up and Down from my wonderful friend, Eleanor.  I fell in love immediately with the illustrations and the story of two best friends, a little boy and a penguin.  When the penguin becomes determined to fly, the two are separated, and must find their way back to each other.  Ben and I then went back to read Lost and Found where the little boy and penguin are first introduced.

Then one day while shopping for a birthday gift for one of Ben's classmates, I came across The Day the Crayons Quit, a really fun book about a box of crayons that decides it time to go on vacation.  Each color writes a letter to the boy who normally draws with them to let him know why they need a break.  Each letter is colorful and clever, though I have to admit I had a bit of a problem with some of the gender assumptions of some of the colors (like pink, as one would expect).  But, all in all, it is a really cute book - a fun story for my older son, and a nice way to learn colors for my younger girls.

This week we borrowed The Way Back Home about a boy and a martian who run into each other on their respective trips to the moon.  It is, again, a cute story of friendship with delightful illustrations.  I was happy to learn that Jeffers has about ten more picture books for us to explore and enjoy.  I do wish he had a few with little girl main characters on adventures, but I'm hopeful that they're in the works!