Nap Time for Kitty...and Isla...and Momma

This ham above is my three-year-old, Isla. Like many three-year-olds, she no longer believes she needs a nap most weekends. But by 5 p.m. on the days she skips, the rest of the family strongly disagrees with her. My solution? I start by calling her "kitty". Then I invite her to her room, where I show her this irresistible cover:

And then together, we meow into a relaxed state. Before you know it, at least one of us is ready to nap . . . and sometimes it is even the right one!

Early Childhood Honors

Over the past year, Capstone Publishing has began marketing into the early childhood market. Making books for the toddler and preschool crowd has been incredibly interesting and incredibly fun.

Here at fiction, we are particularly proud of two new series, our Hello Genius board books and Little Boost picture books. This week our efforts were recognized; two of our titles were selected as winners of the 2010 Creative Child Awards Program, sponsored by Creative Child magazine. Pony Brushes His Teeth from the Hello Genius series won the Seal of Excellence Award, while Crabby Pants from the Little Boost series won a Preferred Choice Award.

Hello Genius!

Say hello to Hello Genius, our new line of board books for toddlers.



Featuring perfect topics for kids 0-4 (tooth-brushing, toilet learning, mealtime manners, and bathtime), these four new books were under many Stone Arch staffers' Christmas trees this past holiday.

As the parent of a 17-month-old boy, I know half of what I look for in a book for my son is something that appeals to me, too. After all, if it's a favorite, I might be reading it fifteen times in a row. These books are great for that. The text is fun, the illustrations are adorable, the colors are exciting—you're not going to be bored while you're reading these books to your child, and you won't roll your eyes internally when they look at you with those puppy-dog eyes and beg for another read. Really.

Here are a couple of our toddlers (Raini and Sofia) enjoying the Hello Genius books.