THE WELL-WRITTEN KITTEN A blog for all things related to children’s literature

This blog is for readers and their parents; I want to scour the bookstores and libraries for the best of the best including some oldies and classics.

I look forward to hearing from parents and children alike, and as always, I will do everything in my power to make sure this blog is family friendly and “kitten” safe.

My name is Candace Hardy. I am an author/illustrator from NW Ohio. My love of books goes back to my childhood when my favorite place to read was enclosed in the laundry chute which encircled me like a cage. With sheets draped around me tent-like, I was good for hours with my favorite CHERRY AMES NURSE series.

Today, I see children descending on our library browsing the rows of CD’s, and leaving, for the most part, bookless.

This blog is dedicated to children who love to read, love to be read to, have found reading boring, are emergent readers or are sophisticated readers looking for high interest age-appropriate reads.

The WELL-WRITTEN KITTEN will try each month to include some good reads from each genre.

To Mama and Papa Cats  To help the mama and papa kitten select the very best reads for their little litter as well as words of caution where appropriate.

PICTURE BOOKS Itty Bitty Kittys Books with a much lower word count and aimed at the earliest ‘listener’. Great for preschoolers who will enjoy the illustrations which often carry the story line.

For “Mewly” reading kittens These books are for the emergent reader; from the early reader who can pick out letters and repetitive words to the school age early reader who can begin reading for himself. Remember this child will often enjoy listening to a book with a higher interest level  than his reading level; nice time for Mama and Papa cat to read an early high interest chapter book creating a lifelong love of reading and books.

FOR THE Mid-Grade Kittens Mid-grade novels with a word range from 20,000 – 55,000, aimed at 8-12 year olds, some aimed at the “tween reader” and having a longer word count for the “upper middle grade”.

THE SOPHISTO-KITTY This is for the young adult reader; YA is the official category. The age of the young adult reader has dropped drastically in recent years. Perhaps wonderful books such as the HARRY POTTER SERIES have in part been responsible for that change. I very much consider the first installment, HARRY POTTER and the SORCERERS STONE to be a strong midgrade. By the time the child is reading DEATHLY HALLOWS, the series should be characterized as a YA because of word count, sophistication of language and subject matter as well as intensity. That being said, I hope no parent will overlook this amazing series because of content.

My advice to Mama and Papa cat is to be aware of your child’s reading choices but not censor.

 I’ll give each book a “catnip rating” .

Last but not least I’ll try to include THE WELL-WRTTEN KITTEN’s  Current Read; so feel free to read along and give it your own catnip rating.

 Last but not least I’ll try to include THE WELL-WRTTEN KITTEN’s  Current Read; so feel free to read along and give it your own catnip rating.