Children's Author Spotlight: Oliver Jeffers

One of Jack's favourite authors is Oliver Jeffers. According to the lovely woman who works in the children's book section of my local Indigo store, when she reads Jeffer's Once There Was a Boy books, the boys sit very still and listen very intently. Imagine! Boys sitting still! These books are categorized as preschool to grade 2, though we have enjoyed them since Jack was a toddler.

Our favourite is still Lost and Found, the first one we purchased. This first story in the series is about a boy who finds a penguin at his front door. He then sets out on a mission to find out where the penguin belongs. It's an endearing story of friendship.




We next bought The Way Back Home, and have loved it as well. The boy finds an airplane in his closet and takes it for a ride, but he soon runs out of fuel and has to land on the moon. Then a spaceship also crashes on the moon. The boy and the martian work together to fix their equipment and in the process they each find a new friend.



In How to Catch a Star the boy, Oliver, tries all sorts of things to catch a star. In the end, when all of his ideas fail, he settles for a starfish found on the beach. This is a cute story that represents just what sort of plan a young boy would dream up in order to catch a star.




The first three books in the Once There Was a Boy series can be purchased in a small format boxed set. I gave this set of beautiful books to a friend with a new baby boy. To me, this collection is the perfect way to welcome a new boy into the world.




In Up and Down the boy and the penguin are together again. They play games like telephone and Parcheesi, they accompany each other on tuba and guitar, and then the penguin decides that he must learn to fly.




Oliver Jeffers has written many other children's books. Look for them on his website or visit his Amazon.com author page.

Knowing how much boys love these books, and how important it is to instill a love of reading in our children, I feel really good about recommending these books to you today.