Author Spotlight: Chris Van Dusen
“Jack, from the back seat, said to his dad, This car is OK. This car is not bad. But it’s just a car. Nothing great. Nothing grand. It’s nothing at all like the car I have planned” – Chris Van Dusen, If I Build a Car
Chris Van Dusen is my favorite children’s book author. I know I am not supposed to have favorites but, I cannot help myself!!! I received “If I Built a Car” as a gift when my oldest son was 5 and it opened up a new world in the land of books for our family. We love Dr. Seuss. There are not many authors who write in a similar style with such brilliant rhythm and rhyme.
If I Built a Car is the book that started it all, so to speak. This book looks at what amazing things a car could do if there was a child designing it. The car can do everything from drive itself to fly and turn into a submarine. The pictures and words are great. We have definitely read this book at least a hundred times and it never gets old.
“Just turn off the switch and you’ll float off the ground, then flap like a bird and fly all around. Isn’t it nice to be up in the air? A room without gravity – that’s pretty rare!” – Chris Van Dusen, If I Build a House
If I Built a House is an adorable gander into what a house would look like if left to the imagination of a child. Inspired by the book, my daughter started with a hot glue gun along with a kleenex box, pompoms, stickers and a few other house hold crafts and got to work to create a “masterpiece”. It was so easy and so much fun to let this imaginative book inspire us! While we could not build an antigravity room like in the book, it was fun to create with no rules.
“And from that day they like to say their lives were free of “Paine.” It was a happy, peaceful place upon that isle in Maine.” – Chris Van Dusen, Circus Ship
Circus Ship is based on the story of a ship filled with animals that sunk near Maine. Locals sighted animals for years even though they didn’t officially find animal survivors. This adorable story has a much better outcome for the animals – and not so much for the cruel owner of the circus. I have read this book to a class of 8 and 9 year olds and kept their undivided attention. The result? This book is a favorite read aloud.
Mr. Van Dusen has too many great books to mention them all but the Mr. Macgee series is hilarious and Randy Riley’s Really Big Hit is perfect for the sports enthusiast/braniac in all of us. Chris Van Dusen will be visiting the Ludington Library on May 18th, 2017 at 4:00 pm!!! He has a new book: Hattie and Hudson and I can’t wait to get a hold of it.
What is your favorite children’s author?
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