how (and why) we started WTBA

The startup advisory board - October 2014

Sunday afternoons we talk. We loll in chairs, go on long drives, lie all over the bed, throw quilts on the grass or linger over lunch—it doesn’t so much matter how, we just talk.

On one of those days, in the midst of all the conversation, I mentioned that a friend had asked for advice about some troubles her little girl was facing. I knew what I would do. I would be reading. 

I had a couple of picture books in mind; a chapter book and a couple of poems. They weren’t ‘about’ the things troubling this little girl—but they were what I had read to my children when they were facing the same issues.

After a bit more talking, my carpenter son, whose reading tastes now run to fishing and hunting magazines, said: ‘But those stories teach you how to act.’  

He was right, great stories don’t lecture—what they do, over time, is build up a complex and flexible set of moral responses. They give us experience with choices both good and bad—and they let us see the consequences of those choices on more than just the decision maker.

They teach us how to act.

Those thoughts and that conversation brought form to a thought bubble that had been floating around for some time and we decided to put together a collection of especially wonderful children’s picture books:

Books to be read aloud and in private spaces,
Books that are joyful, affordable and special, but particularly ... 
Books that help with a child's need at a personal time in his or her life.

The site will be ever-evolving and, along the way, we sincerely hope it is an interesting, supportive and helpful resource for parents, grandparents, educators and friends.

xo