Great quick read. Full of interesting information about the featured authors. Would recommend to my students as a great introduction to several well known authors.

The illustrations make the book so much fun! There are fifteen main biographies and several more with one or two sentences with "fun facts". I always look for books that relate to the students and help show them that everyone is special.

I was given the opportunity to read this by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

When I was little, I absolutely loved reading biographies of authors and historical figures, so I was really interested in this book. It's full of fun facts about famous authors to give you some insight into their childhood.

Cute book and comparable to the his other books like this one. Each chapter focuses on a different author and their lives as kids and includes fun illustrations.

Such a fun book! I loved reading about the kid versions of authors. It was equal parts funny and eye-opening. A great read.

Kid Authors: True Tales of Childhood from Great Authors by David Stabler is part of a series that includes Kid Presidents, Kid Artists, and Kid Athletes. The book features true tales of famous writers, from long before they were famous—or even old enough to drive. Did you know that Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain) loved to skip school and make mischief, with his best friend Tom, of course! How about that a young J. R. R. Tolkien was bitten by a huge tarantula—or as he called it, “a spider as big as a dragon.” Did you know that as a toddler Zora Neale Hurston took her first steps when a wild hog entered her house and started chasing her! The inclusive collection of authors includes Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, J. K. Rowling, Langston Hughes, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, Stan Lee, and many more.

Kid Authors: True Tales of Childhood from Great Authors is an interesting read. The information on each author is short, but accessible and relatable to young readers that want to see authors as the children they once were, and understand that their favorite author had to suffer through somer of the same problems that they might face (or worse). I like that the authors discussed are varied, they all come from different backgrounds and write different types of books. This means that young readers and writers are likely to find at least one author described that they can connect with on some level. I knew some of the stories told, but did learn some new information and enjoyed getting a new look at authors like Rowling and Cleary. I would gladly have kept going with more information and more authors, but I think the book hit the right length and depth for the target audience.

This new take on biographical information of your favorite authors will definitely appeal to all age levels. It's fun and humorous look at the childhood lives of these authors as well as the illustrations accompanying the stories, will keep you engrossed in learning about their lives. The design of the book will make even the youngest reader want to learn more!

Kid Autors is a great read escpeically to inspire our students. I have recommended this book to my school librarian and to many of my students.

This was a really fun, quick and entertaining read. It was interesting to learn about the lives of the authors as children and I think kids will love this book. I'm definitely checking out the other books in the series!
Rating: 4 stars!

Another quick read, this is a lovely concept of a book. David Stabler chooses iconic writers from the last few centuries and looks back at their childhoods - the stories which shaped their lives, influenced their books and made them the people they were/are. The stories are kept brief and are decorated with beautiful illustrations along the way, making this book perfect for younger children (7 and up?). I'd certainly use this in my classroom as a tool to help the children recognise that everybody has to come from somewhere; using the stories of hardship, loss and struggle to show it also isn't always easy to be a success - something a generation of children who now believe they can all be immediate overnight sensations, celebrities and footballers must learn! (Speaking of which, Stabler also has a range of other books covering footballers, presidents and other figures of importance to children.)

Three of my favourite authors whose lives were looked at, included;
Obviously, JK Rowling (a hero of mine) - who was chucked in the 'stupid' side of the classroom and blighted by bullies for her intelligence and ability to tell a story (or 7).
Ronald Dahl - whose love for testing chocolate brought us the incredible 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', amongst other timeless classics.
Judy Blume - a girl who carried so much anxiety at such a young age, who channeled this into stories to help other children (particularly those hurtling towards teenage angst at a dangerous speed!)
A lot of the stories are previously unheard of for me, which makes this book really interesting. There are some very funny anecdotes, but there are also a lot of sad stories - moving home, poorly parents, prejudice and racism. Essential eye openers to show nobody is exempt from difficulties. There are many other authors, current and historical, whose lives are looked at in this book.
The only mild concern I'd say for some of my children, with regards to this book, is that the authors are not all necessarily well-known to the current young generation and, whilst a great opportunity to introduce them to new authors, might turn some away. For this reason, I'd recommend this to children who have a general love of reading, to all adults, and as a great classroom resource to dip into (maybe when looking at inspirational people in RE or as part of PSHE/citizenship when looking at overcoming barriers or how to reach our goals).
I'll certainly be taking a look at the other books in this series! A different take on non-fiction reading, which makes it engaging for all ages.






Official Description
Funny and totally true childhood biographies and full-color illustrations tell the tales from the challenging yet defining growing-up years of J. K. Rowling, Beverly Cleary, J. R. R. Tolkien, and 12 other great writers.
Every great author started out as a kid. Before the best sellers, fan clubs, and beloved stories we know today, the world's most celebrated writers had regular-kid problems just like you. Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain) loved to skip school and make mischief, with his best friend Tom, of course! A young J. R. R. Tolkien was bitten by a huge tarantula—or as he called it, “a spider as big as a dragon.” Toddler Zora Neale Hurston took her first steps when a wild hog entered her house and started chasing her! Kid Authors tells their stories and more—the diverse and inclusive cast that includes Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, J. K. Rowling, Sherman Alexie, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, Stan Lee—through kid-friendly texts and full-color cartoon illustrations on nearly every page.

I enjoyed this book but my tweens didn't like it as much as other books in the series. I am not sure if it is because my children weren't interested in the material because they didn't want to be authors, or what the problem was really. I feel as though I would recommend this book to children who want to be authors, but I wouldn't recommend it to EVERY kid to read.

What a lovely accessible look at some of our favorite authors, as kids! The stories are fun filled with anecdotes from the author's lives really allowing you to get a glimpse of who they were...before. Plus, the illustrations are perfectly complementary and placed. Highly recommend.

Kid Authors features a series of interesting anecdotes about famous writers. Each mini-biography highlights various struggles (racism, poverty, medical conditions, absent parents, bullying, etc) that these authors faced while growing up and culminates in how they persevered to achieve success. There are also illustrations that add humor to these brief stories. My favorite sections were about the lives of J.K. Rowling, Edgar Allen Poe, Sherman Alexie, J.R.R. Tolkien, Zora Neal Hurston, and Roald Dahl. This book could be useful as a quick introduction to a variety of classic (Langston Hughes, Mark Twain) and contemporary writers (Stan Lee, Jeff Kinney) for an author's study or biography unit.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

This is an enjoyable middle-grades read, similar to others in the series. Kids will enjoy it.

This was a fun read for an adult and cool for kids. I found it will thought out and kind to the research that was entailed. It was a great resource in helping some kids find an author they could think is cool, and it was fun to envision their lives.

Kid Authors by David Stabler has unique short stories about famous writers when they were young. Each chapter highlights some aspect of a author's childhood. The tales are funny and heartfelt. What truly makes this book a winner is the fantastic illustrations by Doogie Horner. Brilliant! It would have been nice to mention more of the actual books they were famous for writing later in life so kids can connect the dots easier. Overall, young readers will be able to relate to the things that happened to these authors when they were kids. This book complements the rest of the series.

I was given the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review from Netgalley. This was really cute and I saw a lot of my favorite authors grow up and understood where their writing began. This book will be a great addition to my classroom library. Highly recommend if you want to learn more about favorite authors and the inspirations behind their writings!

Let me get straight to the point. I loved this book. I love the concept, the writing, the way it’s been put together—everything.
I keep mentioning in my reviews how the world of non-fiction for kids seems to have exploded now. There are just so many wonderful non-fiction books that are just as magical and adventurous and imaginative as a made-up story.
When I was growing up, most of the biographies or life stories in general written for children seemed to be about kings and warriors, inventors, scientists. There was hardly any writing about … writers! As a child who had her nose firmly buried in books all day, I used to wonder endlessly about the lives of the people who transformed my world every day. The man who wrote Alice in Wonderland—surely his mind must have been a fascinating place? Didn’t Poe ever get spooked out by his own writing? And where on earth does Rowling get her ideas from? Just how much of the stories they write is inspired by their own lives?
Kid Authors by David Stabler takes the life story genre to a whole new fun level. The book basically features a bunch of true stories from the growing-up years of some of the world’s greatest writers. What were these writers like before they became household names? Well, mischief makers, math geniuses, local superheroes, shy bookworms, adventurers . . . some with regular kid problems, and some who had to worry about things like locust invasions!
While the stories do talk about the adversities, obstacles and challenges these writers faced as children, they are told in a humorous, light-hearted manner, and accompanied by funny, quirky illustrations. Each and every one of them though is hugely inspiring and thoroughly entertaining.

Is there anything that didn’t work for me? Of course not!

An adorable collection of true stories from the childhoods of famous writers - including Beverly Cleary, who grew up in Yamhill! I know where that is! Woo!

A great book with such insightful stories about the authors we all know and love. This would be a fantastic gift for my sister!