Andrew Clements Reflects on Reading in His Childhood

While reading the picture book 'Big Al' by Andrew Clements, I saw this in his biography.

"I was read to early, learned to read early, and was showered with books by parents who read constnatly themselves. All those characters and plots and stories and pictures were very real and important to me. I still enjoy my own childhood every day, and to write stories that play a small role in another's childhood is no small privilege."

I loved that!


"Big Al" is a fiction book about an ugly fish. This is not an educational  book about a science topic. "Big Al" is about friendship and judging others based on their appearance or them acting or doing things differently. As they usually do, this works out fine in the end with a little moral message that doesn't bash the reader over the head and ruin the story. It's a simple, short story.






Andrew Clements has written more books for middle grade readers than he has authored picture books for younger children. Clements is a favorite author of both of my boys. Some of their favorites are "Frindle" and "A Week in the Woods".