How to Read a Book

Melissa Sweet has illustrated more than one hundred books, including Kwame Alexander’s How to Read a Book and How to Write a Poem, and has written and illustrated her own work. Her work has been featured in magazines, on greeting cards, and on living room walls. Melissa has received the Caldecott Honor Medal twice, among many other awards, including the Sibert Award, and is a New York Times bestselling author and artist. Melissa lives in Maine. You can visit her at melissasweet.net.

“This is a party for a select (but hopefully large) list of like-minded young literati, who know how to ‘squeeze every morsel of each plump line until the last drop of magic drips from the infinite sky’ and revel in their fandom.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books★ “[An] engaging and mesmerizing ode to reading…delightful and appealing.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)“[This] love poem to literacy conjures up startling, luscious images...By turns dreamy and ecstatic.” — Publishers Weekly★ “A linguistic and visual feast.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)★ “Colors pop and the imagination soars in HOW TO READ A BOOK, a set of instructions and a delicious ode to the pleasures of reading…Readers who will want to head right back to the beginning and soak in this lovingly rendered testimonial more than once…Sweet’s distinctive hand-lettered text, which itself becomes another part of the artwork, is a perfect complement to Alexander’s prose.” — BookPage (starred review)★ “Readers who will want to head right back to the beginning and soak in this lovingly rendered testimonial more than once…Sweet’s distinctive hand-lettered text, which itself becomes another part of the artwork, is a perfect complement to Alexander’s prose.” — BookPage (starred review)★ “A beautiful book not to be rushed through, but to be enjoyed morsel by tasty morsel.” — School Library Journal (starred review)