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!

Sometimes you need a reminder that we all started out small. The beginning of some of the most inspiring writers can show others that you aren't just born one thing. You can achieve and write great things, even with a humble beginning. This is such an excellent book for any child that has said to themselves they want to be a writer. Even for those who haven't, because they think they can't. These stories will prove them wrong.

Accessible, fun and very addictive to read!

I originally got this for myself (despite being 35 years old), but my 8 year old son swiftly nabbed it off me and devoured it in a few sittings. So, this review is based on my opinions of the chapters that I did get to read (about half), plus my son's very enthusiastic review.

It's an absolutely lovely idea for a book - approaching authors in an entirely different way, and exploring their childhood, rather than their adult years. There were so many fascinating bits of information here, with links made to their later writing, plus some amazing illustrations that really made my son laugh.

A brilliant book - can't recommend highly enough.

<p style="text-align: justify;">Kid Authors tells the stories of some great authors' upbringing and how their childhood came to shape their fiction. The stories are made simple and straight forward making them easy to read and enjoy. J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe,  Ronald Dahl, and Judy Blum are just some of the authors you get to drive into the childhood of. The red band that binds the stories together are how all these people had to face challenges, like childhood bullies, being orphaned or huge spiders, and the story shows how they still persevered. The stories are accompanied with simplistic illustrations illustrating events in each authors' story. I found Kid Authors very entertaining even though it is intended for children, and I think may avid reads would enjoy to read this book in order to hear about the childhood of their favorite authors.

A great and easy read! Engaging, heartfelt and colorful  Stories everyone will enjoy.

As a reader of children's books, both in my childhood and now I found this book to be very interesting.  Each author had a few pages that talked about their childhood and what inspired them to become an author.  Thinking from a child's perspective - the readers who come into my library though...
biography is not a big seller in my library, unless it is a current musician, sports hero, or assigned for a report and collective biographies are worse
most of the authors in this book were popular when I was a kid, while I do have some who check out Blume or Cleary it isn't much, having more modern authors would have been better

I could have done without the illustrations by Doogie Horner, but maybe those will appeal to the age range at which this is aimed. The actual content on the other hand was at times entertaining and interesting, but the racism and genderism inherent in the choice of writers featured here bothered me immensely, and it's why I cannot recommend this book. It's long past time to take a stand against white American males being the only important people in the world. We see it on TV, we see it in movies, and we see it in books. It needs to stop.

The book is not about children who are authors, but about the childhood of now well-known authors. The details are necessarily brief: each author gets ten or eleven pages on average, of quite large, liberally-spaced print and some of that space is taken up by the illustrations. At the back there is a half dozen or so pages with one paragraph 'also-rans' which is interesting because it includes writers like Alice walker and Maya Angelou who apparently didn't make it into the 'big time' here, but even in this section, most of the writers appear to be white American males like no one else is worth listening to.

The book has an introduction which I skipped as I routinely do, because introductions (prefaces, author's notes, forewords, prologues and so on) are wasteful of paper, are antiquated, and really tell us nothing useful. I rather get right into the body of the work than waste my time on frivolity.

Some of the stories are upsetting, when you realize what some kids had to go through to get where they got, and that isn't over today either, but how much more of a struggle is it for some authors to get ten pages in a book like this? Other stories are endearing or amusing, so there's something for everyone, but that said, the vast preponderance of coverage is of white American male authors which represent eleven out of the sixteen - almost seventy percent - who get ten pages here. Four of the others are British, and one is French.

That's a seriously limited coverage in a world where two-thirds of the planet's population is Indian or Chinese, fifty percent of the planet is women, and most of the planet isn't white. There are only three are non-white (two African Americans and one American Indian) authors represented here so it bothered me that children reading this might get the impression that only America (and maybe Britain) has anyone who can write, and nearly all those who can write are white men. This is neither an accurate nor a realistic impression, nor is it a useful one to give children in a world where whites are the real minority.

This is a skewed view which is already being hammered into young peoples' heads by the appalling number of novels coming out of the US which are also set in the US (or if they're set abroad, they star Americans, like no one else ever has anything to say or any adventures to write about), and largely written about white characters.

This Trump mentality is isolationist and very dangerous, so I would have liked to have seen a much wider coverage and more female authors (who get less than forty percent representation here). Also the youngest writer represented here was born in 1971! Almost half of them were not even born last century! 13 of the sixteen were born before the 1950's! It's not being ageist to ask for a sprinkling of younger writers! And could there not have been more females, more people of color, including an Asian or two?

Could there not have been a Toni Morrison or an Octavia Butler? A Clarice Lispector or a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie? A Zadie Smith or an Elena Ferrante? A Lu Min, a Zhang Ling? No Jenny Han or Tahereh Mafi? No Jhumpa Lahiri or an Indu Sundaresan? There are so many to choose from, so it's a real shame that this book evidently went with the easiest, the commonest, the path of least resistance? It felt lazy to me at best.

These are the authors which do appear:

    JRR Tolkien (white, English, b. 1892)
    JK Rowling (white, English, b. 1965)
    Edgar Allen Poe (white, American, b. 1809)
    Sherman Alexie (American Indian, b. 1966)
    Lewis Carroll (white, English, b. 1832)
    Laura Ingalls Wilder (white, American, b. 1867)
    Zora Neale Hurston (black, American, b. 1891)
    Mark Twain (white, American, b. 1910
    Judy Blume (white, American, b. 1948
    Langston Hughes (black, American, b. 1902
    Jules Verne (white, French, b. 1828)
    Roald Dahl (white, Welsh, b. 1916)(
    Stan lee (white, American, b. 1922)
    Beverly Cleary (white, American, b. 1916)
    Lucy Maud Montgomery (white, American, b. 1874)
    Jeff Kinney (white, American, b. 1971)

The book had at least one inaccuracy: it proclaims that Joanne Rowling (now Murray) was Joanne Kathleen Rowling, but she never was. It was only Joanne Rowling (pronounced 'rolling'). The 'Kathleen' came about because her weak-kneed and faithless publisher declared that boys wouldn't read a book written by a girl. They insisted that she use her first initial and a fake middle initial. Not having any clout back then, she chose the 'K' for 'Kathleen', the name of her grandmother.

This is why I despise Big Publishing, but at least I have the knowledge that a dozen idiot publishers turned down her Harry Potter series and thereby lost a fortune. The sad thing is that now they're trying to make up for it by buying every idiotic magician series ever produced, which is cheapening the whole genre. This why I self publish. I refuse to let blinkered publishers try to tell me what my name should be. I'd rather sell no books than deal with people like that.

So, in short, this could have been a hell of a lot better and I cannot recommend it.

With its easy reading and humorous illustrations, this book is for both children and adults.  I learned so much about my favorite authors: their childhood, their inspiration for their stories.  David Stabler is a great story teller, I never felt like I was reading a bibliography.

Quirk books have instantly become one of my favorite publishers over the last two years. Whenever I see their name, I have come to expect the highest quality book around. The latest edition of Kid Legends is no exception. 

This book covers a wide variety of authors, the ones they did not dedicate full stories too are included in the index in the back.  Shakespeare to Rowling to Woolfe, the authors included in the book cover a variety of genres, so it would be at the teacher/parents discretion whether or not to cover particular authors. The stories are engaging and fun to read. When reading a few selected biographies out loud, my children were able to ask a lot of questions, which opened up a lot more conversation between us.

Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes. These two authors alone are the main reason I want to own a copy of this book. I have a huge fan of Harlem Renaissance and African American Literature, finding these two in the main section of the book, brought me a lot of joy. With the inclusion of Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man), Alice Walker (The Color Purple), Richard Wright, and Maya Angelou; Kid Authors offer a variety of well-known authors, with tidbits about their personal lives we would not have known (unless you did a lot of research).  Thank you for including these authors, sometimes I feel many African American authors are forgotten as time passes (i.e. Hurston), it's great to see their names referenced in a variety of literature for all ages. On the chapter about Langston Hughes, it says "he was voted class poet in eighth grade unanimously, but he had not written a poem yet, at least outside of his mind. So he went and started writing to prove himself." I read this line to my son last night, as he was also unanimously voted class president; and he got very excited at the thought of a famous writer also being class president. 

Having the ability to see how the author's childhood directly influenced some of their major works was huge. I was never a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but......I am now a little more interested and have added "Little House on the Prarie" to my reading list. 

I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking to add a great non-fiction children's book to either their in-home library or classroom library. My children are 5 & 8, I'm 34--we all enjoyed reading this book.

Kid Authors is a new middle grade (on the lower end of that spectrum, I would say) nonfiction book from Quirk Books in their series of fun stories about famous people when they were younger. Written by David Stabler, the book has many delightful color illustrations by Doogie Horner.

The book covers a diverse selection of authors, although most of them would be familiar to children, and they are mostly American. Some of the stories were more focused on specific events than others, which made them stronger in my opinion, and almost all related back to how they became authors. I found Sherman Alexie's really interesting, and I didn't know that Edgar Allen Poe was a foster child! Unfortunately, Laura Ingalls Wilder's was not much new if you're familiar with the Little House series.

A paragraph in Langston Hughes's chapter really stood out to me: he was voted class poet in eighth grade unanimously, but he had not written a poem yet, at least outside of his mind. So he went and started writing to prove himself. That's like some predestination craziness.

One thing I was a little surprised with was the use of "Indians" to refer to Native Americans all the time. It made sense in the Laura Ingalls Wilder story because of the time period, and there's a great illustration of an exasperated Native American frustrated about how they'd left for a little and suddenly some settlers moved in. But otherwise, I was surprised they didn't use Native Americans as well, as it is so much more accurate and I think that's important in a children's book.

There are also little facts about other authors' childhoods in the back, which were pretty fun. The best one was absolutely Earnest Hemingway, that All-American Man, who was dressed in his older sister's clothes until he was 5 and his mother said he was her daughter "Ernestine"!!!

This is definitely something great to have in the classroom!

This is a fun read. I squealed with delight upon seeing some of the authors included. These stories are easy to read and not bogged down with overwhelming information. Perfect for those who are reluctant to read nonfiction.

This collection of short biographies of famous authors focuses on each author as a child, and what childhood experiences and situations led that person to become a writer. 
Including interesting biographies about authors such as Lucy Maud Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Roald Dahl, J.K. Rowling, Sherman Alexie, and Stan Lee; this book covers authors from a wide variety of backgrounds and time periods for an eclectic look at what inspires readers to become writers.

I loved reading about how particular childhood experiences like being bullied, being bitten by a giant spider, or growing up on a farm, directly influenced an author's published works. It's wonderful to see how these everyday things from childhood had a profound connection to the later writing that became so famous.

I was pleased to see many of my favorite authors in this book, and at the end of the book each page is filled with short paragraphs about even more authors, including just one little factoid about their childhood. So some authors get several pages of bio, and some authors only have one paragraph at the end. I liked that they added in extra authors at the back!

The writing is engaging and fun to read. The stories are inspiring and thoughtful, and I enjoyed reading through each one. This book really made me think about my roots, what first attracted me to books, and how I first began to experiment with words and wrote my own little stories in school. Each author's childhood story is accessible and memorable, and I was able to see myself in their shoes.
I loved this book! This would be perfect to read in a classroom or as a family!

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

Young readers will be inspired by the stories of some of their favorite authors humble beginnings.

An fantastic compilation of authors both old and modern from a broad stretch of children's fiction from J.K Rowling to Lewis Carroll. Great accompanying illustrations and doodles make this book widely entertaining and inspiring. I'd highly recommend this to every child with a creative mind!

Anecdotes about famous authors before they were famous.  My students will enjoy reading about J.K. Rowling and Jeff Kinney and will discover new authors.  Short chapters divided into three sections. Pencil drawings are dotted within each story.  Will be purchasing this as well as the others in the series.

Fun set of biographies of famous authors. Humorous illustrations and the type of anecdotes about their young days that is likely to appeal to younger students.  Stories highlight the ways in which they were independent thinkers or slightly quirky as children.

In Kid Authors, many authors that kids might encounter, on their own or in school, are highlighted in an easily digestible way.  Writers such as Langston Hughes, Mark Twain, Roald Dahl, Stan Lee, and J. K. Rowling are featured.  Interesting and humorous tales from their youth are shared, many that will be little known to students.  Some of these tales give fabulous examples of where the authors got their ideas or hardships they had to overcome in order to realize their dreams of writing.

Kid Authors is an excellent addition to this "Kid" series!  I expect that kids will gobble this up just as they have the first two books.  A must have for every elementary and middle grade library!

A super-cute, super-quick and super-informative read; I enjoyed this so much I immediately bought two of the other books in the series. I love the concept of looking at the formative experiences of writers; it's so relatable and the approach is both intelligent and witty. I really liked the illustrations too. These books are such a great idea and treat their subjects with affection as well as some gentle mocking. I loved it.

Kid Authors is a collection of short biographies on a wide array of authors. Each biography includes a few unique facts about the author's childhood, people who were important to the author and ways in which the author was connected to reading and writing. The passages were just enough to tease the reader and give a little background, but could leave the reader wanting more. The one thing that stood out to me was the vast variety of authors included in the book making this a title that didn't focus on one particular age group. The authors ranged from J.R.R. Tolkien and Mark Twain to Jeff Kinney and Beverly Cleary. This wide range makes me hesitant to order this book for my K-4 library. At the end there were some random facts about authors that weren't included in the book.  Again the range of authors was a curious one. My elementary students will not be reading anything by Alice Walker or Virginia Woolf any time soon. It may have been helpful to have two versions of this book. One for elementary students and one for middle/high school students.